What have you been through

[chadtm80]

What Tropical systems have you been through and describe the experiance, conditions etc...

[VanceWxMan]

Went Through George in Sept 28, 1998 2nd story of house was all jacked and lost my master bedroom my puter was ok. We were forced to evac out of military housing so we the neighbors all carpooled up to Memphis Tennessee and had a PAID vacation from our Insurance company
I have also been through 2 that hit S. Korea in 2000! I rode that one out it was only a Cat 1 to 2 and in korea there is no such thing as a STANDING TREE when a Typhoon blows in. TREES EVERYWHERE!!!

Now My wife went through HUGO! (Goose Creek SC) she can tell you some stories!!!

Aaron

[cycloneye]

But I will only talk briefly about Georges because it was the most close the eye passed my location (10) miles and my condo was shaking a little as those hurricane force winds (80-100) MPH came here and caused extensive damage in all of Puerto Rico.

It was not a good experience at all with that one but about Hortense and Hugo the first one was mainly a rain event with massive flooding in Puerto Rico and Hugo brushed the northeast corner of the island also with extensive damage to the north of PR.

[Rob-TheStormChaser]

lol While I've never been in anything like a Cat 1 or higher..I have seen a few come up this way...like Hurricane Bob...in 1991..I was just out of the War and home and starting college and we got slammed! I'd love to be in a Cat 4 or 5 ONLY if I was encased in a shelter that wouldnt collapse on me! I would absolutely freak, but would be great video and audio. I just missed Hugo in 89 bye a mere few miles....seems like the weather I'm always lookjing for never is around, but when you least expect it....its like getting hit by a bolt out of the blue! (3 times in my case...lol ow!)

[Stormsfury]

Well, obviously I've been through Hugo ... got the eye for about 30 minutes ...

Let's see ... it's quite a list of storm that I can remember.

David - 1979 (very heavy rain producer 6.06" of rain at CHS, and gusty winds, but not bad)
Subtropical Storm - 1982 (very heavy rain producer, gale force winds - 7.70" of rain fell measured by me)
Diana - 1984 brushed CHS, pounded Wilmington, NC.(138 mph gusts)
Bob(Cat. 1) - 1985 - made landfall at Fripp Island, SC - I was at summer camp the night it made landfall a little bit inland - wasn't even aware a storm was coming until that afternoon by looking at the low level cloudiness shooting in...I made a comment to a lot of my fellow campmates that it looked a lot like a Tropical Storm was moving in ... 3 hours later, the camp counselor stated Hurricane Bob was going to come ashore that night ... Fripp Island, SC reported 92 mph. My old location recorded 70 mph winds.
Hugo (1989) - Two page account of my experience
Floyd (1999) - Wide expanse of the wind field - peak gust here to 77 mph ... 81 mph at Downtown Charleston (Waterfront Park) - 4" of rain ... heavy tree damage in Summerville, and Ladson. Heaviest rains fell about 80 miles NE of here and on up into Eastern NC ...
Irene (1999) - Hardly any wind, but extremely drenching rains in a short time ... 4.78" in just 3 hours.
Tropical Storm Kyle - 2002 - Unbelievable height to the thunderstorm tops - sky took on the darkest blue I'd ever seen during the thunderstorms ... This T.S. was unlike any I'd ever seen, because this one had tremendous lightning strikes ... very unusual for a T.S. - not a lot of wind, but tremendous rainfalls for a small T.S.

[Derek Ortt]

A sideswipe from a cat 3. Only received minimal gale force winds. Major problem was beach erosion. No tornadoes or flooding that I know of, as well as no wind damage

[vbhoutex]

I've lived along the Gulf coast or within 50 miles of it for 48 years.

1st I remember-1956?-Flossy-Gulf Breeze, FL-Direct hit-Cat 1-minimal damage.

I'm not sure about this stretch of time, but I know we went through at least the fringes of several TS and/or Hurricanes.

Next I remember(of significance)-196?-Elena(?)it was an E named storm)Tallahassee. FL-Cat 1-direct hit-LOTS of tree damage.

1969-Camille-Gulf Breeze, FL-120 mi from the eye and we had 100mph winds with gusts to 110mph-watched 40'+ waves wash clear across Santa Rosa Island at points where it was at least 1/2 mile wide. Long, long diatribe if I tell all including the aftermath. Many who know me have heard it already. Even though I was 120 mi from the landfall the TOTAL EXPERIENCE made me understand how INCREDIBLY STRONG MOTHER NATURE IS. I WOULD NEVER WISH WHAT I SAW AND/OR EXPERIENCED AS A WHOLE ON MY WORST ENEMY!

I'm not sure about this stretch of time, but I know we went through at least the fringes of several TS and/or Hurricanes. At least one had winds in the 60 mph range with gusts to 80. Minimal damage.

1983-Houston, TX-Alicia-Low Cat 3 at landfall 50mi sse of us(W Galveston Island)-Winds in Houston sustained at 90mph with gusts to 105mph-Tornados galore!-One came over my house just off the ground. It tore a 24" dia maple tree out of the ground in the front yard, lifted it about 2' in the air and twisted it back and forth, dropped it back to the ground upright and the entire center of the tree dropped out leaving it in a cup shape. It died about 4 years later. Scarier in many ways than Camille, I think because I owned everything and had to deal with any problems that might arise. No power for 6 days. We were very lucky at our house. Many did not fare as well as we did.

Several small TS's and Hurricane Jerry, TS Claudette, and others. Nothing incredible for us at our place but we did get the effects to some extent.

2001-Allison-Most incredible TS anyone has ever seen. Again we were very lucky! We only had 11" of rain at our house on the worst night in 8 hours. Total for both passes of storm was 16"+. Barely kept water out of the house. Rainfall rates of up to 6"/hr. east of us with rates to 4"/hr at our house-I know because I had to empty the gauge 2x and once was after an hour!!! Over 20,000 homeless in Houston and $5B+ in damage. Have you ever seen 18 wheelers float down a freeway? We had it on three of ours! Online all night with Ticka(ask her about her story!!!)Houstonia, and several others making sure all was well and beginning to realize by about 2am that most of Houston would be under water by 6am!!! As terrible as this sounds, I am glad the 36" in 12 hours fell about 8 miles east of me, because if it had shifted about 5-8 miles more west the damge and death toll would have been much higher!! Most of the area over which the heaviest rain fell was more sparsely populated than most other areas of Houston.

2002-Houston-Faye-A DUD HERE! I went to work! I was supposed to chase it, but it wasn't enough to chase so I went to work. Maybe in 2003!!!!

[Rainband]

Mostly tropical storms here. Although Gordon was a cane briefly before he poofed away lol. We have lots of near misses but I have never seen it too bad here. The storm of the century now thats all together different.

[OtherHD]

Here is my small list of tropical system experiences...

Tropical Storm Fay: Nothing special. The winds weren't all that strong and we got about 2 inches of rain. Wasn't a direct hit.

I was in San Antonio when Allison hit.

Tropical Storm Frances: School got cancelled and the winds were pretty strong. Just about the only thing I can remember is all the leaves on the ground when the storm left. Not a direct hit.

Tropical Storm Charley: 1998 was the first year I toook an interest in tropics. I was at school, and when it was let out, the winds were blowing pretty strong, there were torrential rains, and the tree outside my school was snapped and broken. On the way home, I heard that Tropical Storm Charley had formed, which took me by surprise. It went from practically nothing that morning to a full fleged TS. Still not a direct hit.

Others that I can't remember: Tropical Storm Dean (direct), Hurricane Jerry (direct), Hurricane Chantal (direct), Tropical Storm Allison (direct).

[Guest]

After living on the Gulf Coast for 40 years - I missed Hurricane Carla by one year - she hit in 1961 and I was born in 1962.

I have been through all the hurricanes/tropical storms that hit the gulf coast since that time. Only one I didn't get to experience here in Baytown was Alicia - I was attending Summer School at SFASU in Nacogdoches, Tx.
150 miles north of Houston - we still experienced 60 mph winds and driving rains - my drive home took me 5 hours due to flooding and debris in the roadways. Once I got about 80 miles from home - I started seeing the electrical outages. My parents lost over 50 trees in their yard. We were without electricity for 7 days. We worked from 5 a.m. in the morning till 8:00 p.m. at night cleaning my parents yard. They have 5 acres and over 100+ trees. Just think of cutting all them down and hauling them off and one thing I remember since it was in August - the heat afterwards was horrendous. I was a gypsy for several nights - going from relative to relative that had electricity and etc for good meal and hot bath.

My next experience as David alluded in his post - was during TS Allision - when she first formed in the GOM - she made a bee-line for Galveston - I live 5 miles from Trinity Bay and that is an extension of Galveston Bay - we got wind and rain and rain and rain - this was on Tuesday. Then Allision did her FAMOUS loop and headed back to Houston - well my husband worked on I-10 and the 610 loop. This is the area that received 34 inches in less than 8 hours. He was trapped at work. By 5:00 p.m the water was so deep he couldn't drive out. I was frantic caused I worked in North Houston about 45 miles from my house and for some unknown reason - I told my boss I was leaving at 4:15 and I actually drove through door high water by the time I got to Beltway 8 - I was driving a Pontiac Firebird. I got home and my husband called and said it was flooding and he was stranded. He was the only one in a mechanic shop of 200 people where his cell phone worked. At my house - we didn't get the torrential downfalls like Houston was - my husband kept calling and saying the the water was in the shop - the time now was around 9:00 p.m. at night. - they had to try and get stuff off the floor and it was a losing battle. At 11:00 p.m. - he called and said he was going to his truck and try to get some sleep - the water was getting deeper only knee-deep now. I was on the computer and in the chatroom - very upset - I had my stepdaughter who was worried to death about her daddy trying to determine if the rain would ever going to end. At 3:00 a.m. - I hadn't heard from my husband and the pictures from the t.v. in that area were horrific - I was scared to death something had happened to him. I called him and he was still sleeping in the truck - but get this - the water now was up half way around his truck - which meant it was getting close to waist deep for him and he is 6 ft tall. Everyone at his jobsite had evacuated to the second store of his mechanic shop. The rain was still coming down. He said people were panicing - management didn't know what to do or they were walking around in a daze. Finally that morning it quit raining. He said they were surronded by nothing but water. They waited until 3:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon and the water hadn't receded at all and no one was able to rescue them - so my husband waded 15 miles on I-10 East at certain points he was walking in neck deep water to get to Northshore where we had a friend who had a dually truck to pick him and a co-worker up. He finally made it home around 6:30 p.m. - I had been up 24 hours straight and I never went to sleep - kept watching the radars and wanting the rain to stop. At our house on the East side of Baytown - we only received 12 inches of rain. I can tell you - the feelings I experienced having a loved one trapped in this storm was something I never want to experience again.

Even though I jokingly wishcast for a storm - I am like David - when its my own property - its tens times worse.

Patricia aka Ticka1

[Aslkahuna]

four typhoons come overhead while I was in the Philippines and many pass close enough to produce TS force winds. My first typhoon was Emma in Nov. 1967. The storm came up from SE Luzon (where it hit as a 140kt STY) and by morning we had squally rains and strong winds but the winds stayed down until after the eye came over. While the eye was passing over, I went outside to check on damage and watched the low clouds circulating around us. After eye passage, it was typhoon city with the second wind as the off duty forecasters in town estimated Cat 1 winds. Officially, Clark AB did not experience typhoon conditions but damage on base suggested otherwise-I now know that the wind sensors there tend to read low because of their location.

Then came Typhoon Irma in Nov. 1974-the worse ever at Clark officially. The sight of the full sunlight on Mount Arayat 12 miles to our east while we still under the eyewall was amazing. In May 1976, Olga came over the house at night the skies cleared completely as it did so followed by a wild night with the second wind. Olga was an unusual storm taking two days to cross the island and lingering around Luzon for a week. Massive flooding resulted. In Nov. 1977, we had Kim whichwas a Cat 2 intensity storm when the eye passed south of Clark. Strongest winds were just south of the base but it was still almost as strong at the base as Irma was. Can't even begin to list the storms that passed nearby as there are too many.

In the US, I've only had one hurricane brush by with TS force winds where I was located. That was Gladys in 1968. Here in SE AZ we have had three significant experiences with EPAC storms. The first was Newton
in 1986 which brought 64mph gusts to parts of the Post and town. In 1989, Raymond brought general winds gusting to 60mph as the center passed just west of our Weather Station along with 3-6 inches of rain. In 1992 Tropical Storm Lester gave us 45-55mph sustained winds with gusts of 70-85 mph and also 3-6 inches of rain. While not much compared to other experiences, Sierra Vista is some 300+ miles inland behind 8-12000 ft mountains for storms coming from the SW so to have one hit us so strongly in quite unusual.

Steve
8)

[BreinLa]

Been through many since I have lived here all my life, 51 yrs to be exact lol but the last two were enough for me ANDREW and LILI I want no more thank you lol

[Southernmost Weather]

A bunch of tropical storms since 1992 in Key West. Hurricane Georges in 1998. The eye passed to the west of us. The storm packed a lot destructive power to the lower Florida Keys (north of Key West to 40 miles). My house is concrete with 4-ft thick walls. From Georges, my damages were: lost all my trees, some facia damage and that's really it. I know a number of other people who lost a lot more. I live about a quarter of a mile from the true geographic southernmost point in the continental U.S., and that's near the ocean, so I get a lot of street flooding from these things. Never considered evacuating for any hurricane threats.

[StormCrazyIowan]

Not a one Maybe someday.....

[mf_dolphin]

Trust me Jacki it's not something you want to go through more than once. Mother Nature is an awesome sight when she's pissed off!

[StormCrazyIowan]

Yeah, I know, sometimes I let my curiosity get the best of me!

[MScoast]

Fredrick, but I was so young that I hardly remember it. Elena in '85...It was the day before my 15th birthday. I had gotten tickets to the Bon Jovi concert and it was cancelled! I was soooo upset. She tore Biloxi apart, atleast that's what it felt like when I was outside helping my parents clean the yard. Georges in '98...I was scared to death. You could hear the trees snapping, debris hitting the house, and tornados passing by. My house flooded, but not too bad...just had to replace the carpet in the den. And a tree fell on the house, which only caused minimal damage and also nearly put me into cardiac arrest when my crazy husband got on the roof with a chain saw in the middle of the storm. Last year, we went through a few tropical storms. Isidore tore our beach up. We had no piers left and it also damaged several casinos. The flooding with Isidore was terrible because of storm surge. Lili wasn't as bad, but then again...everything along the beach had already been destroyed or damaged.

[Rob-TheStormChaser]

I've been thru hell with this computer! lol but that is another story entirely! I guess if you guys get slammed down south and have to start all over again...I know exactly where you're coming from!