What is the worst weather disaster you ever personally experienced?

[CL82]

I can't help but think that the best part of that story is what you did that led to the girl chasing you.

Haha honestly, I can't remember. We ended up dating for a couple of years though so it couldn't have been that bad.

 

[blkknight1]

3. Hurricane gloria. Wasn't too bad as I was only 5 at tge time and didn't understand what tge hell was going on only really remember losing power for a little while and dad taping the windows. We all stayed in my parents bedroom a d watched the little battery operated black and white tTV.

2, the blizzard of 2013. Being stuck in the house the worst was part. Neighbors came together to clear our entire street as the plows never did our small street anyway, not that the plows were out anyway. I remember the massive snow drifts as well.

1. hurricane charley. Was on vacation with my family for my sister's birthday in Orlando. I remember trees being uprooted power going out and all you could hear was the wicked winds. The next morning looked like a disaster zone.

 

[boog204]

Yeah, I actually do think about getting a Generac and putting in a master transfer switch. I just have not pulled the trigger on it.

In a previous life, I had a whole-house propane fueled Generac, and it was the greatest thing ever... Didn't have to run it too often, but for the few times it needed extended use, it was the freakin' best.

 

[Waquoit]

The 78 blizzard in CT was in February. Corny Thompson committed to UConn the first day of the blizzard.

Back then they used to say UConn would get the top five recruit when hell froze over

 

[upstater]

Christmas Buffalo Blizzard of 2022:

1. Who cares about the snow... maybe 3 feet, maybe 6 feet, people stopped measuring

2. 47 people died.

3. The snow wasn't the problem; the constant sustained wind (with regular gusts of 70mph) created whiteout conditions for hours at a time.

4. People abandoned their cars in the road rather than wait it out (smart, because they found frozen dead people in cars the next few days).

5. This made the roads impassable for emergency vehicles, so teens on snowmobiles buzzed around town strapping elderly folks to their backs and delivering them to hospitals.

6. People walked outside of their homes, became disoriented, and couldn't find their way bank. Many people were found in snow banks only 100 feet or so from their homes.

 

[NJHusky]

I just realized it’s predicted to be 39 Monday morning here…..time to go to take the ferry to key west 🤪

 

[Lafayette]

Unrelated but who remembers that squirrel that chewed thru a lead line from the electric generators in Hartford (might have been E Hartford) and power went out in Hartford county?

Squirrel was instantly turned into carbon ashes.

 

[businesslawyer]

Haha honestly, I can't remember. We ended up dating for a couple of years though so it couldn't have been that bad.

Your dating history had to be as pitiful as mine if you'd date with someone you disliked enough, or was scared enough of, to jump out a second story window to escape her.

 

[TheShot1990]

Speaking of jumping out the windows, remember how half the second floor Windows used to open onto a flat roof? One time I was being chased by one of the girls in the dorm and I figured I would go out a second floor window onto the roof and run in through another room. As I went to vault out the window, I heard everybody yell yelling "CL don't!!" Unbeknownst to me, I had picked one of the rooms that did not have the roof there, and I found myself falling from the second story of the dorm. I windmilled my arms to get my legs under me, landed on the grass and kept running, thinking to myself "what do you know I can jump from a second story window." after that from time to time we used to do it, but that first time I'll admit to thinking "awwww sh.......t!!!!!"

I'm sorry...but we can't let that little phrase slide "One time I was being chased by one of the girls in the dorm and..." without hearing more details. What did she look like? Why was she chasing you?

 

[prankster]

Speaking of jumping out the windows, remember how half the second floor Windows used to open onto a flat roof? One time I was being chased by one of the girls in the dorm and I figured I would go out a second floor window onto the roof and run in through another room. As I went to vault out the window, I heard everybody yell yelling "CL don't!!" Unbeknownst to me, I had picked one of the rooms that did not have the roof there, and I found myself falling from the second story of the dorm. I windmilled my arms to get my legs under me, landed on the grass and kept running, thinking to myself "what do you know I can jump from a second story window." after that from time to time we used to do it, but that first time I'll admit to thinking "awwww sh.......t!!!!!"

Like this:


But Joan Jett!

 

[NJHusky]

Without going into too much detail there are a few basic choices:

1) Small portable generator that can run the fridge and the boiler - 30 amp and 15 amp output but 110v only. Then you could run an extension cord from the generator to one of these to get the boiler going (get an electrician unless you are handy) :

Reliance 15 -Amp ProTran Manual Transfer Switch​

2) Get a bigger, 220 volt output generator and do what NJHusky said and have an electrician install something like this on the outside of your house to the electric panel

RELIANCE Power Inlet Box - 4 prong for 220v​

3) Get a whole house generator from Generac or Kohler - the big advantage here is you do NOT have to be home during an outage because it starts automatically during an outage. I'll bet these are $20k now to install and.....they want a service contract to "keep it running smoothly" every year

1 - probably 1k all in if you install the transfer switch yourself
2 - probably 3k - 1k for the electrician and 2k for a serious large 220v generator
3 - guessing 20k

If y are handy and understand electricity there is a 4th option…..

A 4kw generator with a 30a 240 output is prob $400 plus. If y want a dual fuel
Prob 5-600. So prob 1.5 with the electrician imo.

 

[thekollieman]

Ironically, i moved out of CT to New Orleans in time for Sandy to do nothing whatsoever in Nola while CT got smashed. I was in Nola for hurricane Isaac though which takes the cake for me.

 

[UConniki]

Blizzard of’78 in CT
Hurricane Ian in FL

I was present for both of those storms and hurricane Irma knocked the power out in Lee County and Sanibel for approximately 22days. The length of that storm was the biggest issue living in relative darkness, no power, no electricity, generators were running out of gas, thieves were circling our electronics store ( no power= no alarm = no insurance = sleeping at the front and rear entrances armed, and taking shifts with family, employees neighbors) eating hotdogs on the Coleman propane camping stove for almost a month.

 

[dvegas]

Hurricane Gloria got the 1985 Yale UConn football game cancelled. I had just started a (IMO) well paying job in NYC and couldn't wait to buy lots of beers and drinks for my old UConn housemates, who were either still in school, unemployed or making way less money than I was.

 

[Halloween]

Gotta go with the '73 ice storm. It's why I will only have gas stoves. We had all electric everything at mom's house so couldn't cook anything indoors for five days. We had charcoal and a hibachi to cook on outside - we used that instead of the larger grill because it was more efficient. We slept by the fireplace.

As I worked for the Stamford Advocate as a driver, I had to go to work. I slid sideways into a tree on the way downtown - almost pulled out of it, but my car was a '68 Olds Cutlass that had a pointed grille that extended about 2" out from the front edge of the hood. And that's what caught the tree, which was also where the hood latch was, so I couldn't open the damned hood. And then I had to drive a freaking van. Going out it was loaded with newspapers so there was weight. Coming back, the van was empty and I was fishtailing all over the place. Had to navigate around downed power lines and whatnot, but gotta say, it was beautiful - trees bent over the road creating glistening canopies.

I was at Storrs for the Blizzard of '78 (This just in: "Rhode Island is closed"). Being college kids with access to beer, it was fun, except for the kid in Crandall A who jumped from the 3rd floor window into a huge drift not remembering a steel bike rack was hiding in that drift. Ouch. My car was in the South Campus lot and got plowed in. The snow hit on Washington's Birthday, and I didn't see my car until the 2nd week of March. But once it was unburied, it started right up.

I lived in Crandall my freshman year then low and high rise the next three.

 

[CL82]

Like this:


But Joan Jett!

I haven't thought about the J Geils band in years. Slipping them into my playlist. Thanks!

 

[CL82]

Your dating history had to be as pitiful as mine if you'd date with someone you disliked enough, or was scared enough of, to jump out a second story window to escape her.

It was that stupid flirty stuff that teens do. And my plan was just to run through the window onto the roof, run around to the other side of the dorm and run back in through a different room. I just went one room further than the roof went.

I'm sorry...but we can't let that little phrase slide "One time I was being chased by one of the girls in the dorm and..." without hearing more details. What did she look like? Why was she chasing you?

Yeah, sorry, I just don't remember anymore. I probably teased her about something, maybe? It was all pretty benign as I said above. She was pretty, about 5'9" with wavy chestnut brown hair that went down to about the middle of her back. That was the reason that I was flirting with her in the first place. We were pretty serious for a couple years.

 

[CL82]

If y are handy and understand electricity there is a 4th option…..

A 4kw generator with a 30a 240 output is prob $400 plus. If y want a dual fuel
Prob 5-600. So prob 1.5 with the electrician imo.

I am handy, and I do understand electricity, but wiring in a transfer switch feels like a bridge too far for me.

 

[FearThePups]

Mine is Super Typhoon Pamela, 1976, island of Guam. Serving in USAF at the time, the storm raged for 24 hours in total as it stalled. 12 hours, then silent for 1 hour as the eye wall passed then a final 12 hours. Sustained winds over 190 mph. Island without power for 3 months.
Typhoon Pamela

On May 20, 1976—49 years ago this week—Typhoon Pamelastruck Guam. Described as a “supertyphoon,” Pamela generated winds up to 190 mph during its peak.

the term super typhoon is used for tropical cyclones with sustained winds exceeding 150 mph.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I lived in Eastern NC during Hurricane Floyd. I saw things I would not have believed if someone was describing them to me. Water can do amazing and horrifying things.

 

[Rocktheworld]

CT snowstorm in October of 2011 had power down for a week and pretty much canceled Halloween.

That was a crazy time.

Yup I was a senior. Lived in Oak Grove, which was basically on the campus grid, so never lost power. My friends all in Willy Oaks were not so lucky. Huge pine branches were weighed and iced down such that cars were trapped underneath. My place became the spot, mostly for people to take showers lol poor folks in I think cedar ridge got it the worst, no power for at least a week

Even worse was the series of storms we got in Boston late winter 2015. But of course I was on city grid and never lost power thankfully

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I am handy, and I do understand electricity, but wiring in a transfer switch feels like a bridge too far for me.

You absolutely need a professional and you should do it with a standby generator, not a portable (even if the portable generator has sufficient wattage).

 

[Kathy]

How do you wire it into your home? Thankfully, I had a generator for Sandy, but I was just running extension cords up to critical things like heaters, and the refrigerator, etc.

Sandy was definitely the worst I've seen. Urban sprawl in New Jersey creates a lot of light, even out into the suburbs. Everything was pitch black. I can remember driving down Route 10, which is pretty developed and everything was pitch black except for the occasional generated powered traffic light. It was eerie.

I remember the blizzard of 78 but for whatever reason it doesn't seem as impactful for me. For Sandy, we were without power for a couple weeks.

Had a portable in my house in CT. They put a small panel near the circuit box and an out let outside the garage to plug it into. Still needed to throw the switch in the basement add gas and start it. Kept the well, refrigerator, a few outlets and heat going.

Have an automatic whole house that runs on propane down here in DE - runs everything

 

[storrsroars]

She was... about 5'9"

Back in your day, that's a center for the women's team. At least a power forward.

 

[ihatepants]

I was living in Manila, Philippines during Typhoon Ketsana in 2009. Got ready in the morning to go out, walked down the stairs from my apartment, saw people in the street wading through chest high water and proceeded to go back to bed. Didnt have electricity for days.