Gun Blog Variety Podcast #113 – Hurricane Matthew After-Action Report

In this Very Special Episode, Erin and Sean share their memories of evacuating from Florida and hunkering down in North Carolina, and talk about the lessons they learned from the experience

Stay tuned after the regular show for a quick update on Sean's opening day hunting adventures!

Beth, Barron, Tiffany, and Weer'd will return next week with our regular podcast format.

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and now on Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here. 

Thanks also to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support.

And a special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, Remington Ammunition and LuckyGunner.com.

Hurricane Matthew: the Cleanup

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

This ought to be the last Matthew post I do, thank goodness.

After a great stay in Atlanta meeting with friends of the blog and podcast, I packed up and drove all day, arriving home around 1 am. (This is why there was no post yesterday and why a post written on Tuesday is being back-dated to Monday.)

Driving home was uneventful save for the last few miles, where branches had been blown off trees and were sticking out into the right-hand lane. Fortunately for me, I saw them in time and they were easy enough to avoid, but someone who was not paying attention (or who had trouble seeing dark objects by the side of the road at night) might hit them and damage a tire.

My family is in good health (including my dogs) and the house is in remarkably good shape. I haven't yet gone up on the roof to check for missing tiles, but here is the extent of the damage so far:

Our old TV aerial was ripped out by the mounting bracket. We hardly used it, but it was a nice backup to the dish when weather interfered with satellite connection.

It fell and hit this tree, hurting it severely. This is rough on mom because she plants a new tree every time one of our dogs died. This is Shadow's tree. (He was a purebred black German Shepherd, 1996-2006. Shadow was a Good Dog.)

You can see where the wind did a number on the trellis behind the yard light. The light itself isn't working due to water damage; when the trellis fell, it tilted the light cover up and exposed it to the elements. To avoid potential shorts or electrocution, we aren't using it until it's looked at by an electrician.

Today is trash day. Our usual load is two bins and a trash can; everything to the left of the trash can is "yard trash": leaves, branches, etc that were blown off our trees, or into our yard from elsewhere.

We got off light for three reasons:

1. Matthew was a Category 3 when it hit ut
2. The eye never made landfall
3. We live 8.5 miles from the ocan. 

But the beachside took a total beating. Take a look at these:

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/hurricane-preparedness/flagler-beaches-closed-indefinitely/332343145

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/hurricane-preparedness/flagler-beaches-closed-indefinitely/332343145

What you are looking at is State Road A1A, which parallels the ocean from Key West to Georgia, undermined to its centerline. This is doubly impressive when you learn that the topography isn't just "road, then beach". Here's a pre-Matthew picture of the same approximate view as the above picture:

http://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/a1a-12th-street.jpg

What you have there is room for a car to park on the shoulder, followed by a hammock, followed by coquina rock. Combine that with a 12-foot width of an American traffic lane, and this means that Matthew scoured away at least 36 feet of rock, sand and soil during its stay here.

Remember, Matthew was a Category 3 and did not make landfall. Imagining what would happen if it had come ashore at a Category 4, I'm thinking that A1A would have just ceased to exist. Right now, the damage to both Flagler and Volusia counties is estimated at $425 million and climbing. They're probably going to try to restore the beach to its original condition, and I'm just thinking How about a nice concrete sea wall?

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20161008/food-water-available-in-flagler-for-hurricane-matthew-victims

Finally, here is a picture I took of the gathering storm clouds Wednesday night, the day before I evacuated. Pretty, in an ominous kind of way.

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #112 – Erin Packs Up the Welcome Mat(thew)

Erin is evacuating Florida ahead of Hurricane Matthew, which means that Weer'd is filling in as Backup Co-Host.

• Beth gives us some highlights from The Well Armed Woman National Leadership Conference.
• Four are arrested for murdering two and burning their bodies in a car. Who are these people? Sean takes a closer look.
• Barron is on assignment and will return in a few weeks.
• In the Main Topic, Sean and Weer'd discuss the apparently divisive topic of shot timers in gun school.
• What are the costs of being the person in the middle? What does it take out of a person when they are between two worlds? Tiffany tells us how straddling two different groups has its costs, but also rewards as well. 
• Before she packed her car and headed for the hills, Erin recorded us a quick segment about dealing with anxiety and stress... which should come in handy as she waits to see what the storm brings.
• Just because Weer is co-hosting doesn't mean he isn't doing the Audio Fisk™. This time it's the Presidential Debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
• Our plug of the week is for Armscor .22 LR ammo, available at LuckyGunner.

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and now on Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here. 

Thanks also to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support.

Hurricane Matthew: the Aftermath

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

For all who have been wondering: Everyone is all right. 

My family is fine, my dogs are fine, even our house is fine. The worst that happened is the wind knocked down the old TV antenna that we haven't used since getting the satellite dish, and the antenna struck and damaged one of mom's trees. So given what could have happened, this was in fact my best-case outcome, but that is mainly due to Matthew becoming a Cat 3 by the time it reached Daytona Beach and the fact that the eye never made landfall.

Prior to talking to them, I received an automated phone call from my home county regarding the state of affairs there:

•  Mandatory curfew in affect from 7 pm to 7 am. 
•  Power is out county-wide and will likely remain so for several days. 
•  Roads are obstructed but are being cleared.
•  Residents who evacuated are instructed NOT to return until they receive a phone call saying it is safe to return. 

This is me doing my "I Told You So Dance" in the direction of my parents. They are stuck in the dark, sweaty and miserable and bored, while I am sitting in air-conditioned comfort, with power and running water and internet connection, being Diva Prepping Fabulous.

I made the right decision.

No Longer a Watch: Hurricane Matthew Days 4-5

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

Hi, everyone. I'm fine. The reason you didn't hear from me yesterday is that after waking up and determining that Matthew was still going to make landfall too close to my home, I left the media event where I was a guest (and so did everyone else, really -- they closed the hotel where we were staying for mandatory evacuation) to go home and pack.

I am pleased to announce that I loaded up my car and was ready to go within 2 hours. This is impressive considering that I have a cute little 2-door coupe that isn't really suitable for hauling much. The bad news is that I never imagined I'd have to load ALL of the stuff into just my car, because I always figured that in the event of such a hurricane, I'd have at least one adult coming with me and we could share space.

That was a failure of imagination on my part, as both of my parents decided not to evacuate, choosing to risk injury or death rather than the inconvenience of sitting in stop and go traffic for however many hours it took to reach safety. Needless to say, I was astounded by this (and it will be the subject of another post), but I felt that just because they had chosen to die that I wasn't obligated to jon them in a suicide pact.

So I got in my car and headed northwest, away from the storm. I took back roads, and even so I was stuck in traffic for several hours, but I felt that even an inch away from the storm was an improvement. My initial goal had been to take shelter in Tallahassee with my family, as it was a both out of the path of Matthew and a place likely to have hotels or shelters available, since when I learned it was just me I decided to head up to Georgia and stay at a friend's house for a few days.

My reasoning for this was simple: I was likely to be nervous wreck Thursday night/Friday morning as I waited on news of the storm strike, and my choices were

1. Be a nervous wreck in Tallahassee, where no one would give a damn about me, or
2. Travel an additional 5+ hours into Georgia and stay with friends who would feed me and comfort me and take care of me. 

From my perspective, that's a no-brainer, so I drove all afternoon and evening to arrive in Smyrna, GA at 10 pm, which is where I am now. 

On Friday (today), I called my parents at 10 am to see if they were all right. I couldn't get them on the land line, but I tried dad's cell, and he answered. He said they'd lost power (and, apparently, telephone lines) at 7 am, but other than sitting in the dark and being bored, he and mom and our dogs were fine. Of course, the full force of the storm also hadn't hit them yet, just rain from the feeder bands, 

Fortunately for them, Matthew came ashore much further south than expected, and by the time it hit them (around noon, I believe) it was merely a Category 3 storm -- which at least isn't a major storm. Considering that my biggest worry for them was wind damage, this makes me feel somewhat better. 

I haven't called them yet, although I plan to try later tonight. I want to call them right now, of course, but I choose not to because the phone lines need to be left free for people who are calling for help and for the first responders who are coming to rescue them. Things ought to have calmed down by about 8pm tonight. 

I have no idea how long I will be up here in Smyrna, GA. It will depend on how much damage Matthew does to the infrastructure (blocked roads, downed power lines, etc) and whether or not my family is still alive. I will probably be staying here over the weekend; perhaps longer if I have no home to which I can return. 

In the meantime, I am playing Prettiest Little Prepper Refugee Princess up here in Georgia, where I plan to meet up with friends of the blog and even attend the anniversary party of a prepping store in the next town over. If you'd like to meet with me this weekend, let me know!