If you had to evacute RIGHT NOW...

[Free4Life11]

...do you know your cities evacuation plans?

I know I sure don't! I think this is a good chance to look over that type of information and think about a personal plan in case you ever had to leave on a moments notice.

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yes I do :)

[Florida_Mom]

Here in my town, we have these cute signs on our major east/west roads with a picture of a hurricane, and an arrow pointing toward the direction of the interstate.

They also evacuate in sections -- color coded -- so that the most vulnerable go first.

[MagicKingdom05]

I'm in Chicago area (suburbs) so hurricane evacs won't happen, but if a tornado hit, I would know where to go to get out of the city.

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm in Chicago area (suburbs) so hurricane evacs won't happen, but if a tornado hit, I would know where to go to get out of the city.


What do you mean if a tornado hit? LIke if it obliterated the area--or is this on a warning. I'm curious.

(no tornados--at least not that often where I'm at).

[BuckNaked]

Yes, we know our evacuation route, and we have a week's worth of supplies that we could take with us.

[Free4Life11]

You don't evacuate in Tornado warnings. You grab a pillow or mattress is there is time and go into the basement or an interior room.

We hard the tornado sirens go off this summer while I was at work and we all had to go into the back storeroom. Scary thing is where my parents are in Nebraska, there ARE no sirens. We just watch the TV for updates.

[Nancy]

I'm not even sure that we have an evacuation plan here in Buffalo. If we get blizzards you are pretty much stuck wherever you are. One of our more infamous mayors during our Blizzard of 77 told the people to get a 6 pack and stay home.

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Blizzard of 77 told the people to get a 6 pack and stay home.


Now that is my kind of plan. :teeth:

Did he say it in humor or did this have bad consequences?

[Nancy]

Actually he said it in all seriousness. You would have to know this particular gentleman to know that..he was very colorful. I think a lot of us took it with a sense of humor and made it a joke...some though tried to make a huge thing out of it. Basically the city was paralyzed yet some just had to try and venture out and drive, they would get stuck, and stuck cars block snowplows. That is when he made the comment. We actually joke about it to this day in my house.

[poohandwendy]

We don't live 'in the city' and there are so many ways to get away from where we are, it would be a matter of chosing which way to go. Then again, we also do not face natural disasters of the large scale. The only things I can think of that would require a massive evacuation would be an earth quake...a really, HUGE one or a terrorist attack. Not sure that evacuation would be even feasible in that case because I am not sure which way would be safe.

[poohandwendy]

I'm not even sure that we have an evacuation plan here in Buffalo. If we get blizzards you are pretty much stuck wherever you are. One of our more infamous mayors during our Blizzard of 77 told the people to get a 6 pack and stay home.I sure hope he was voted out of office later. Everyone knows a 6-pack wouldn't last more than a few hours during a blizzard...;)

[cati]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[MinnieM3]

Here in my town, we have these cute signs on our major east/west roads with a picture of a hurricane, and an arrow pointing toward the direction of the interstate.

They also evacuate in sections -- color coded -- so that the most vulnerable go first.

Same here! I know they're important but I hate the reminders!! Yes, I know where to go.

[Kitty 34]

I live in a small town so no there's no official evacuation plan that I know of.

[pattyT]

I think when our house is done everyone will be evacuating to my house -
as we have the generator, the Wood Burning Furnace, and a fireplace!
10 foot foundation and 2x6 construction - we will be the safe place to be in a blizzard.
man I am not going to complain about raking leaves anymore...

[ToriLammy]

You don't evacuate in Tornado warnings. You grab a pillow or mattress is there is time and go into the basement or an interior room.



That's not really true, at least here in Oklahoma - folks are encouraged to evacuate and head to shelters if they live in trailer homes or homes that particularly vulnerable. The Weather Service in Norman and our local stations have gotten much better at putting out watches and warnings and it is during the watches that those folks should evacuate.

After having that Category 5 Tornado go within half mile of our house back in May 1999 DH and I have decided we'd evacuate also. We have a bag ready and our important documents are in a place they are easily accessible. The cats crates are ready too. We're outta here if that kind of storm ever comes near us again. It was devastating to see the damage it caused in Moore, Oklahoma City, Midwest and Del City.

[O2BNWDW]

Sure it goes straight up I-64 where it usually stops at Newport News, VA. That is because they have to close the interstate due to flooding from the Reservoir. :confused3

[Not so Dumbo]

There's never been a reason in my 29 years on living here that anyone has had to evacuate. We've had small tornados, large amounts of rain, and many a blizzard. Actually the oposite is true, everyone is incouraged to stay inside, but in the case of a blizzard most people just put their 4x4's in gear and drive we're used to alot of snow around here.

[Free4Life11]

That's not really true, at least here in Oklahoma - folks are encouraged to evacuate and head to shelters if they live in trailer homes or homes that particularly vulnerable. The Weather Service in Norman and our local stations have gotten much better at putting out watches and warnings and it is during the watches that those folks should evacuate.

After having that Category 5 Tornado go within half mile of our house back in May 1999 DH and I have decided we'd evacuate also. We have a bag ready and our important documents are in a place they are easily accessible. The cats crates are ready too. We're outta here if that kind of storm ever comes near us again. It was devastating to see the damage it caused in Moore, Oklahoma City, Midwest and Del City.

That's true. We don't have any mobile home parks where my parents are, but you are right. I stand corrected. It's just not the kind of evacuation where you have to leave the state, but it's the kind where you pretty much have to move as fast as possible.

[DisneyCP2002]

I know the tornado evacuation plan. My church is one of the shelter's in town. I don't know about any other disater plan but I'm sure going to find out after this.

[amh]

I don't know of our evacuation plan but we are prepared for earthquakes and its always enforced that we all should have emergency food and water because unlike storm you don't really know when a earthquake will hit and how big it will be. We can predict when a volcano might erupt by the earthquakes and other signsthat usually accompany the eruption. Our state does have tsunami evacuation on the coast and if Mount Rainier or Mount St. Helen were to erupt they have plans to evacuate towns and schools from the mud and stuff. When I was in High school we had an 7.0 earthquake and were evacuated to the football field I can remember when our county pushed for school earthquake plans. I just felt sorry for those who had swimming because we were out there for 2 hours and it was raining and muddy (usual washington weather) and they were still in their swim suit but we were prepared for that. I don't know of any evacuation plans for my city but I know that there are areas that have plans for when the mountain erupts or for tsunami warnings.

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I think we are most likely to be hit by a massive tornado. We have had a few hail storms that resulted in multiple fatalities, but that's not something to evacuate for. We have sirens but they are hard to hear if you aren't right next to the pole the siren is mouted on, so getting out and away from a tornado would be a huge challenge.

Like someone else said, in the event of a terrorist attack it would sort of depend.

There was a movie not too long ago about a massive meteor hitting Dallas. THAT would be something to evacuate for! And in that case I imagine we would follow the other millions of people on out of here! We live right next to a major north/south expressway so that would probably be the road we would start with.

[staci]

Well, we have a nuclear power plant about 5 miles away, so I know there are evacuation plans in the phone book, I actually do know what we are suppose to do, but I am willing to bet 1/2 the people here dont! I only know cuz I got bored enough to read the phone book one day!

[njmoms]

Here in northern NJ, we have evac supplies in tubs handy to throw into the car, and a "grab and go" pack each for home and at work. This is from the experience of 9/11. A lot of people in this area have hopefully learned that lesson. Luckily we live about 40 miles west of the city, so our evac route is straight west until we hit Ohio. We are also not immune from hurricanes here either, although anything above cat 3 is very rare since the waters are so much cooler this far north.

[totalia]

No. I don't think my city has ever had to deal with a situation where an evacuation plan was needed. The worst we've had in my area is tornado warnings. There's never been a need to evacuate and no tornado has ever actually come close to my city. Though one have hit up north near the capital city about 10 years ago and took out a few blocks.

There have been fires from droubt but none came near my city. We haven't had a real bad blizzard in... well many years.

[jlw29]

Well, we have a nuclear power plant about 5 miles away, so I know there are evacuation plans in the phone book, I actually do know what we are suppose to do, but I am willing to bet 1/2 the people here dont! I only know cuz I got bored enough to read the phone book one day!

Same here. We can actually see the plant from our house. The school always sends stuff about the evacuation plan home at the beginning of the year. I actually paid attention to it this year! The only other time I thought about it was on my way home the morning of 9/11/01.

[Miss Jasmine]

...do you know your cities evacuation plans?
Yes I do. However jobs keep us from following such plans. :guilty:

[mom2boys]

Our head of emergency services has been doing PSA encouraging citizens to have supplies on hand to shelter in place. In other words, we are on our own. No biggie for us. My biggest concern is that we are along a major route that would be used if it ever became necessary to evacuate DC and/or Baltimore. At least we'd have a head start & we know the back roads.

[Belle1962]

Motorcylces. Can't carry much except the clothes on your back (and maybe one child) but they would be able to "manuever" around long lines of cars (kinda like they do now in rush hour) and are good on gas.

[Pete's Mom]

Not sure what I would need to evacuate for? I live in a rural area with only 4 houses on my one mile stretch of road. I couldn't outrun a tornado. :confused3 Guess I'd better start sucking up to the nearest neighbor with a basement. :scratchin

[ducklite]

I'm not even sure that we have an evacuation plan here in Buffalo. If we get blizzards you are pretty much stuck wherever you are. One of our more infamous mayors during our Blizzard of 77 told the people to get a 6 pack and stay home.


OMG! I remember that--how funny!

Anne (who traded blizzards for tropical storms and got the better end of the stick in her opinion)

[ducklite]

We are pretty far inland, and the whole town doesn't evacuate, just those in mobile homes, lower lying areas right by lakes, and a few other vulnerable areas.

I DO know where the pet friendly shelters in my area are though. I have the names and numbers with a map hanging on the bulletin board in my pantry closet.

Anne

[ThAnswr]

We had about an hours notice for Charley. First it was going to hit Tampa. Then it hit Fort Myers. Then it went out to the Gulf. Then Charley hooked a right into Charlotte harbor and that little red arrow on the tv screen had us all saying: "what the ****.............

We now have a saying. When somebody tells you a category 4 hurricane is headed your way in an hour, hunker down because you're screwed.

[Talking Hands]

Yep, I know exactly where to go and I can even walk to the shelter if need be. It is the high school I sub at and is about 6 blocks north of me. But I am not in an evacuation area. We are inland and in flood zone x. Also this house survived Andrew so I would just stay here and hunker down.

[JimMIA]

...do you know your cities evacuation plans?

I know I sure don't! I think this is a good chance to look over that type of information and think about a personal plan in case you ever had to leave on a moments notice.
Yep, sure do! Down here, we also know the evac plans for the Keys and the West Coast and how those might affect us too.

[novajeanjellybean]

Yes maam. I will be going straight to my grammy's house in PA. :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc

[cteddiesgirl]

I live in Indy and there's really no evacuation plan. We basically just have tornados. So those that live in mobile homes need to go to a shelter and people in sturdy buildings and homes just hunker down in a basement or inner room. For my house, it's the hallway.

But being a city that has many, many tourists, conventions, races, sports, etc. you never know if there will be a terrorist attack. Especially since it's widely known in this area that we also have a huge warehouse filled with very dangerous chemicals.

If I need to evacuate, I'm only 1 minute away from US 31. And have loads of family between here and Florida. If I'm elswhere in the city, I have my choice of Interstates 65, 70, 74 and 69 and US 40, 52, 36 and 421.

We're not known as the Crossroads of America for nothing. :)

And any which way I go, I have family there.

[crazyme5kids]

Long Island would be a nightmare to evacuate. Not many options as far as what direction to head, meaning west. Some people would make it off by heading to one of our two ferry services that go to Conn., until they got shut down due to rough weather. Yep, I think in a catagory 4 or 5 hurricane people would be asking. "Why didn't they evacuate?"

[Charade]

Blizzard of 77 told the people to get a 6 pack and stay home.


Add some nuts and it's almost a weeks rations!

[Miss Jasmine]

We had about an hours notice for Charley. First it was going to hit Tampa. Then it hit Fort Myers. Then it went out to the Gulf. Then Charley hooked a right into Charlotte harbor and that little red arrow on the tv screen had us all saying: "what the ****.............

We now have a saying. When somebody tells you a category 4 hurricane is headed your way in an hour, hunker down because you're screwed.
This is why you need to look at the cone and not the line from the NHC. The NHC thought about doing away with the line this year, I almost wish it had.

[ducklite]

This is why you need to look at the cone and not the line from the NHC. The NHC thought about doing away with the line this year, I almost wish it had.

I agree--I always look at the cone. IMHO, even if you aren't going to take a head-on hit, if you are in the cone you're going to get some nasty residual weather. If I'm in the cone, I start looking at bringing in the lanai furniture, etc.

Anne

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Also this house survived Andrew so I would just stay here and hunker down.

That's wonderful your home did well.

But there are people now who are homeless who said the same thing about their homes and Camille.

:(

[Crankyshank]

We have no evacuation plans or routes here. There's never been stronger than a Cat 3 hurricane hit here. We get plenty of warning if a hurricane is going to head up the North Atlantic to prepare. You don't evacuate for blizzards. I just make sure we have a blizzard food kit just in case and have a list of pet friendly lodgings for New England and New York.

[ThAnswr]

This is why you need to look at the cone and not the line from the NHC. The NHC thought about doing away with the line this year, I almost wish it had.

I'm laughing right now because you had to be there. All of sudden we're all screaming "Charlotte Harbor", phones start ringing, people knocking on the door. It was like the Keystone Kops.

Thank God, we were all safe.

[Miss Jasmine]

I'm laughing right now because you had to be there. All of sudden we're all screaming "Charlotte Harbor", phones start ringing, people knocking on the door. It was like the Keystone Kops.

Thank God, we were all safe.
I can imagine, especially since we have Ophelia just sitting of the coast here making south and west wobbles. Oh goody. Not the same strength as Charley but nerve-wracking none the less.