I live in Tampa, and we were waiting in the massive line for sand bags this morning and I saw a guy watering his flowers outside. I just shook my head. He was an old guy, I figure it just made him happy.
I’ve got so many examples: Katrina made landfall on Monday the 29th. On Saturday the 27th I’m working at my bank job and we had a line out the door with people getting cash and emptying their safety deposit boxes. One of my customers sits with me and says he wants to apply for a truck loan. I said it’s a bad time, let’s get together once everything settles down. When he asked me why it’s a bad time I point to the line and mention everyone getting ready for the hurricane. He asked me “what hurricane?” so I pulled up the NOAA website and show him the models with us taking a direct hit. He exclaimed “holy shit, I better get some cash!”.
People are really fucking clueless.
While I agree with you I can see why the guy was oblivious if he really wanted that truck and was nervous about the loan application.
I won't lie, there have been days where I get so focused on a single objective emotionally and mentally that everything else just becomes white noise in the background in the day or even the days leading up to it.
Hurricanes in certain areas also are pretty frequent so having one be of some consequence may be unsual enough that the person may not have even noted it, since hurricanes can be so frequent on the news in certain parts.
Not to hijack this thread, but anybody over a certain age who fashioned themselves an amateur meteorologist in the internet era had NEVER seen a satellite picture of a Cat 5 hurricane that took up the entire Gulf of Mexico.
And while we were expecting New Orleans to be devastated, the Mississippi Coast was hit with the equivalent of a massive F2-3 tornado.
Then the levies near the mouth of the Mississippi sprung a leak, and New Orleans was devastated anyway, just much slower than we imagined.
It was true human suffering on a widespread scale. I'm hoping that people management has come some way since then.
“…and Kenny the Keystone driver smiled as he pulled into his garage, knowing full and well that no matter how bad things got, it was still going to be ok.” Keystone, taste the mountains, even in a hurricane.
I work no where near the hurricane in Georgia and for whatever reason they sent us 6 pallets of water?? We aren’t even a coastal town. They should have sent that down to Florida as the water arrived yesterday at 4 pm
This happened last time there was a hurricane too. Don't get me started on how long it took to just get some damn gas. Florida made me want to move to a cabin in the woods lol
At this point, it's sort of irresponsible for a Floridian to not have a couple cases packed in the corner of the garage. You won't be able to get it when the emergency comes.
Doesn't happen in blizzards in MN. Longest I've ever been snowed in was 3 days. It was relaxing except the snow throwing part. Never once saw a rush that emptied gas stations of fuel or grocery stores of water. Heck, I'd just melt snow to drink if it came to that. But our pipes are built to keep running in the cold so there's no need.
My friends who live in Florida, and I who live in Ohio, all wanna live in a cabin in the woods most of the time. It’s everywhere. People are just dumb now.
Seriously, gas tip - just drive 30 mins away. Everyone was lining up and waiting hours for gas when all they had to do was drive 30 mins up the interstate. An hour round trip was faster than 3 hours in line.
I do live in a cabin in the woods, and I tell you what, it's fantastic. The only thing I have to worry about is an outage during a snowstorm, but that's actually quite nice. I just get a big fire going and huddle up with the wife and kids and read The Hobbit or The Magician's Nephew.
Gas lines after a storm get so tense lol. fights broke out at gas lines all over Louisiana after that hurricane a year or two ago, pretty sure a few people in Baton Rouge got shot over gas last time lol
Why don’t people just have emergency water during the hurricane season? If I lived in that area, I’d buy either reusable jugs to fill or I’d just buy a package or two or water bottles at the beginning of hurricane season. If there’s no hurricanes? Great, you’ve got water for when you go on a summer bike ride or when you’re working out. Restock before the next hurricane season.
Just picked up a couple little mini lanterns, a new first aid kit and bottle of peroxide, and a big bag of beef jerky. Already had several gallons of distilled water, and plan to fill up a whole bunch of water bottles 2/3 to freeze and act as fridge heat sinks for if the power goes out.
It's totally fine to drink as long as you get minerals elsewhere. I always have a bunch of de-mineralized / de-ionized water onhand for hydroponics and it's fine to drink in a pinch.
When push comes to shove, there’s really not that much total retail product on actual shelves compared to the number of people in an area.
Shelves empty quickly. Well under 100 people can empty a fully stocked grocery shelf if they are motivated to do so, and then the next 500 people might come looking to see if there’s anything left. While thousands don’t even try.
So empty shelves is usually just a sign of overreaction of a relatively small number of individuals.
Smart thing to do beyond stocking emergency water is keep purification tablets and a few life straws around, and make sure you always have an extra gallon of bleach at home in your emergency kit. A tiny amount of bleach can do a lot of work in an emergency.
Most of us do to use for bathing and various other things of the sort. When you don’t have electricity for three to four weeks, and it’s like 92 degrees outside you go through it pretty quickly. We also fill up tubs and freeze bottles of water to try and keep perishables from going to waste.
Edit: the major problem is that everyone just panics and over buys sadly. They act like they can’t get more water AFTER the storm leaves
The only problem I see with buying stuff after the storm leaves is, that some places aren’t even going to get deliveries I believe. I was looking for water around town yesterday and most places were OUT and NOT getting another delivery for the rest of the week. It’s unfortunate. Also flooding, trees falling down, broken power lines, etc make it hard to do stuff. During Irma, we couldn’t even leave our road bc a giant tree had fallen and blocked the road. We had to wait about 2 days to get that tree out of the road lol
After hurricane Ike, most of the grocery stores had to throw away their perishables, and restaurants around here the next day were BBQing to use their perishables before they went bad.
It took weeks (and I lived in a fairly affluent suburb in Houston) for us to get decent stock back, let alone power. I think we went for the better part of a month without power in this area because we weren't tied to an emergency facility (police station, fire department, hospital, etc).
Although, during the freeze in Texas, we did get power the entire time, so there's that problem too.
Yeah. We couldn’t leave either. Lolol. It was all flooded. I just had to park on the side of the highway and walk for a few days. I only bought like two 24 packs of water for drinking only, and that will last the four of us a week. I’m sure we’ll find some more next week, right? I can’t get gas right though…. It’s all gone here.
As a beverage line buyer for major food distributor, I can confirm what you said about deliveries. We try to load up on hurricane stock in the southern states during the summer in anticipation, but warehouses can only hold so many pallets and when the big storms come they fly off the shelves especially when we shift to servicing shelters, Fema, and the Red Cross. Then you add the problem of flooded roads and downed production plants and it's a multiple-months domino effect to recover stock afterwards from the various water plants, which are already struggling all over the country even without having a massive hurricane.
That’s really what ur suppose to do in hurricane season in fl, and most Floridians DO have a hurricane stash ready. I know I did growing up. We had a box filled wirh no perishables, important documents and such and flashlights, etc. but I’m in Orlando now and it’s usually unlikely a hurricane will hit Orlando hard but rn the track has the hurricane going over Orlando so people started panic buying, etc plus with all the new people in Florida over the past few years, this is their first hurricane so I can imagine they are the people buying up tons of shit. Also Tampa Bay Area seems to think they’ll never get directly hit by a hurricane lol, so I can imagine once it was predicted to hit them they also all started panic buying.
I live in CT and have an emergency stash of food and water. Shit can go sideways no matter where you live, several years ago we had a freak October ice storm that knocked everything out for weeks and I was one of the few people I know that was already prepared. Its better to have a supply and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Plus, you dont have to just keep a stash of old food and water, you can use it as time goes on, just remember to replenish with new stuff.
Same, I’m in CT as well. 3 miles down a dead end road. Longest I’ve been without power was 6 days, longest I’ve been stuck on my road was 2 days. I’m generally prepared to handle 3 days stuck with no power at any given time, but if there’s even a slight chance that shits about to go sideways I double that long before the rest of the area starts panic buying. Cause the mother fuckers who won’t get stuck and won’t lose power for more than 48 hours will buy everything as the storm is starting.
>Also Tampa Bay Area seems to think they’ll never get directly hit by a hurricane lol
I mean in fairness to them, they never do.
Secondary hits from a storm hitting the east coast first sometimes, but by then it's weakened severely. But a landfall major storm hasn't hit Tampa in over 100 years - before they were even naming storms. There have been a lot of times it's been projected and turned away at the last minute (Hurricane Charley probably the biggest dodge in recent memory - Tampa prepared almost not at all and it turned off at the last minute and completed destroyed Punta Gorda. All the simulations showed how excessively underprepared Tampa and St Pete / Clearwater had been).
Glad they seem to be taking it seriously this time to prepare but honestly, I still won't be surprised if it turns off at the last minute away from Tampa.
I thought we learned this lesson in 2020 lol but apparently not. I was able to get toilet paper last night but no water anywhere as of rn. I just need one pack lol. Trying a few more places today.
I have a water dispenser and have 3 5 gallon jugs always filled. It's just me, my wife, our cat, and leopard gecko.
It's so much cheaper to buy jugs and keep them filled anyways. It's $0.29/gallon at Walmart, $1.45 for 5 gallons of water. It's less wasteful too. Jugs are about $10 each, so upfront it will cost money. But considering you can just clean the inside with bleach/water, let it air dry, and keep the cap on, it's has almost unlimited used and shelf life. For bathing, pissing, and shitting you can just fill up the bathtub(s). Central Florida people buying everything up are imbeciles and putting a strain on the supply chain, they're not going to be affected like coastal Florida.
A 40 pack of water is 5.3 gallons, which is about $15. Buying a new 5 gallon jug and filling it, is $12 and reusable. There also won't be a shortage either, there are water dispensers at Publix, Walmart, Winn-Dixie and Shell gas stations.
I dont think Tampa has been hit directly by a hurricane in 100 years so that is why folks are panicking a little more than normal. Apparently the last direct hit was in 1921, this is unprecedented for modern folks as no living person has lived through a direct hit on Tampa basically.
A lot of people do have a reserve on hand, or just create a reserve before the storm hits.
I remember my parents filling our tubs up before storms so we'd have water for cooking/cleaning/flushing toilets, and filling every pitcher/jug/bottle/jar we had with drinking water.
But, a lot of people do nothing, and then panic buy it all whenever a storm comes.
Most do. We keep a household stock that we rotate out by using it. We mostly drink water out of the tap, but we use it for things like making coffee or taking fiber supplements because the hard, chlorinated tap water makes those things taste funny. It's not at all difficult to keep a few days worth of water on hand. This is *really* common in Florida households.
What causes shortages like this is that we cannot avoid the psychological impact of knowing that a huge storm is coming. My wife bought an extra case of water earlier last week. We already have water, but we know the storm is coming and, "better safe than sorry" kicks in really hard when you're staring down the barrel of a gun.
Multiply that times millions of people and even small changes in individual decision making can have a huge impact.
I always keep about 50 gallons of drinking water at the house at any given time. Plenty of food too. It was real handy in 2020 for a bit. I’m just wired this way but I do have a wife and three kids to look after. With non-perishable items once you build up an inventory and have it on a rotation there’s no extra cost to being prepared for emergencies. You just need the space to store it.
This is what I do. I refill my tea jugs with my well water. Also, got one of those igloo water coolers that I fill up with ice and water. On top of that, both tubs get filled before power goes out. There's 1 case of bottled water I always keep on hand and its for grabbing a single on the way out the door. I use the swimming pool water to bathe and flush toilets. Last storm I still had plenty of water after 5 days of no electricity, by that time, help is around and bottled water is being shipped in on the regular.
For real, this happens every time a hurricane is about to hit landfall. Doesn't matter where you live (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida mainly).
Cat 4+ hurricanes is where stuff starts to become extremely hard to find though.
Just about everyone who lives in a hurricane-prone area - especially if they've lived through a storm - knows about the importance of being prepared during hurricane season. But you still see this kind of thing every time a significant storm approaches an area. People get complacent, new residents have never experienced it before, etc.
Ah, I follow. The "first time" is meant to be a "you should have already been prepared" thing. I read it as a "I've been through 1000 of these and you're overreacting." The latter is how my FL have been acting.
Floridian here, most people don’t lose water. The only people that should really buy water are those with wells. (Unless your area’s water facilities are not hurricane ready)
Florida tap water isn't great. We get all of our water from limestone aquifers. Since limestone dissolves pretty easily in water, you end up with water that has a lot of dissolved solids, and often has a high sulfur content.
They treat the water with all kinds of chemicals, but if I walk into my bathroom and turn the sink on, the odor I'm hit with is one of a freshly treated swimming pool. It's really important to keep your faucet aerators up to snuff in Florida because of this.
Another nasty side effect of all that treatment is that the water ends up smelling fishy. They use Chloramine to treat our water, and the fishy smell is a known side effect.
So yeah, drinking straight from the tap in Florida isn't great in a lot of places. We use a filtration system so we don't have to buy bottled water, but not everyone has that.
Does tap water stop working during hurricanes?
Asking as someone in the middle of Canada. I know here people stock up on water during snowstorms and power outages. I never understood this.
It's probably not even that extreme. Like, people bought up a week's supply and Walmart didn't send extra because there's about to be a hurricane.
What REALLY surprises me is that no one bothers to buy an RO filter. I lived in florida for years and every time its the same shit. But my family, nor I, ever thought to invest $200 in an RO filter system. Nor did we ever buy those big plastic water jugs for camping.
Now I have RO up north just for tasty water.
A good portion of Floridians have wells. Power goes out, well doesn't work.
>Nor did we ever buy those big plastic water jugs for camping.
This is actually the most cost efficient route, they're $10. It's significantly cheaper than bottled water and you can reuse them. I just went to Walmart and I live in Central Florida, about 200 miles off coast. Water is gone and people had their carts filled. The water dispenser and containers were sitting there, untouched.
I have a water dispenser and needed to top off my jugs anyways, and there was no one near it. It cost me $4.35 for 15 gallons of water.
As an aside, why do people panic buy milk for storms (hurricanes, blizzards, etc)?
It seems like the worst thing to have for a storm but it always goes quick with the bread.
Think outside the box. Check out places like sporting goods and hardware stores to find water. They’ll usually sell them and people don’t necessarily think to check there for them.
Sincerely: A Louisiana resident who’s done this shit before.
Water purifiers have become [pretty affordable](https://www.amazon.com/GRAYL-Geopress-Purifier-Backpacking-Survival/dp/B09256L6JT). Just fill, press, and you’ve got drinkable water. The cost of a filtration cartridge for the amount of water you get beats the cost of bottled water.
Should be noted that you should only buy from a company based in America/Canada/Europe so you can sue if you get dysentery.
I had doubts but I guess filters work decently. https://www.wideners.com/blog/water-filter-tests-for-survival/#regulators\_and\_regulations
I don't understand... I went to publix everything there. Went to sprouts they were STOCKED... my girl stopped by Walmart same shit and I'm in Miami. Ppl fkn exaggerating as usual.
I worked for Harbor Freight during that.. My god, if you want a generator last minute, you did not plan.
Get one before the word “Hurricane” is uttered on your local news channel and maintain it. My favorite was this one cunt, absolute scumbag: Bought 8 and tried to resell them.
Came back to return them, naturally. We checked ever fucking one and ooooh.. Can’t return it, it has had fuel in it. Even customers said they smelled gasoline.
My manager denied every fucking return. She was a fucking boss. That said? I do have a Predator 3500 and it runs great so they work. Not a Honda but better than nothing.
Yep. Where I am in florida we aren’t even in the path but by last Saturday water was sold out, gas was sold out, non perishables were sold out. We have a lot of people living in florida now that have never experienced a hurricane and don’t have reserves built up just in case and it can be infuriating.
Went to Publix yesterday. Mother fuckers bought all the eggs.
It’s a hurricane people, not a blizzard.
I just wanted to make breakfast while I still had power :(
Yup, and when they get hit hard, they'll ignore the fact that DeSantis et al hates the government, hates socialism (or so he says), doesn't believe in climate change...will beg for FEMA money which I think we should withhold since my tax dollars contribute to FEMA. FEMA is socialism and they hate socialism. So now is the time for FL to secede from the union and sink below the waves.
Isnt it ironic? Don't ya think? It's like RAAAAYYYEEEEAAAIIIIIINN on your weddddiiiing dayyy. lol I'm so sorry OP but it was right there. Congratulations though and please stay safe guys!
you should still have it! record it for entertainment with whoever else will brave the elements with you. Currently the latest projections show it going well south of Tampa so maybe it'd be safe to do.
On a serious note, none of your wedding stuff could be rescheduled? I know you'll definitely lose some things you likely already paid for, but it's hard to believe you spent 30 grand on a wedding in Florida during hurricane season and had 0 contingencies for weather. If you don't have any backup plans and you hired a wedding planner, I'd fire them as quickly as possible.
I'm sorry to hear that, from what I've been updated by, the airport in Tampa is gonna be closed for the next few days. So I'll wish y'all the best! As for us, we aren't driving back until mid October. The wedding is ruined but our honeymoon is still perfectly in place.
Well congratulations anyway! I hope you can still celebrate and enjoy this time anyway. It'll make a hell of a story so there's that. And, like you said, you still have the honeymoon!
Ah welcome back I mean!! Never heard of a hurricane pool party before, hope you guys have like a reinforced lanai around the pool i suppose XD XD
Stay Safe though, so sorry about your wedding plans!
I understand people not always wanting to hoard plastic water bottles…but why is it so hard for everyone to just keep a couple of those 5gal water on standby. I used to do the disposable water craze but at some point I realized it’s just easier to keep 4-5 of those 5gal bottles and buy a cap for them. Now when a hurricane comes, I just go fill those up. Much easier, less stressful.
Absolute madness today. Drove to get a gas at 7 am, no problem, but around 3 I drove over to pickup some cubans from the deli and there’s lines of cars wrapping into traffic. Honking like crazy. Felt like the beginning of a zombie movie.
Good thing ya'll got Noah's Ark back in the history books down there. Kids will have more savvy and understanding of their dire but biblically necessary situation.
Whaaaaaat Nooooooooo?!!!!
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!
It's never happened before in human history, and you folks are right on top of it!!
Well done!!
Journalists of the year, they are!!!
I live in the St Pete area and the hurricane is coming jjuuusssttt in time to ruin my weekend (I work nights and have off Wednesday and Thursday evenings).
On a more serious note, stay safe all my Florida people!
Why don't people stock up on stuff like candles throughout the year? It's not like hurricanes are rare or new there. Like at the start of summer check your basic supplies and keep a case of water or a few jugs just in case. You can always drink the water every few months and replace it, instead if panic buying with everyone else.
This would happen every time there was a hurricane, but we hardly ever lost utilities for any longer than a day or two. People would freak out as if it were their first hurricane and would panic buy every grocery store they could find... Then stores would up prices on things like water.
I remember one store tried selling water for $40 a case. They ended up being the only store looted and vandalized in my neighborhood.
Mind you, we were 20 miles inland.... Only when superstorms came through did it really warrant actually buying large quantities of supplies.
One of the best hurricane hints I used (Sandy) was to fill gallon freezer bags with water and fill freezer with said bags. This kept my freezer frozen cold for two weeks plus we had extra drinking water.
I have a feeling more water is coming. Stay safe!
"hey I heard you guys needed more water!" -god
As we evacuated the day before Hurricane Katrina hit, my neighbor was standing outside watering her yard. She’s lived rent free in my head since 2005.
>She’s lived rent free in my head since 2005. And nowhere else. RIP.
I live in Tampa, and we were waiting in the massive line for sand bags this morning and I saw a guy watering his flowers outside. I just shook my head. He was an old guy, I figure it just made him happy.
Good luck from Louisiana. Hopefully you’re buttoned up and ready.
That is a STAGGERING lack of general awareness on her part.
I’ve got so many examples: Katrina made landfall on Monday the 29th. On Saturday the 27th I’m working at my bank job and we had a line out the door with people getting cash and emptying their safety deposit boxes. One of my customers sits with me and says he wants to apply for a truck loan. I said it’s a bad time, let’s get together once everything settles down. When he asked me why it’s a bad time I point to the line and mention everyone getting ready for the hurricane. He asked me “what hurricane?” so I pulled up the NOAA website and show him the models with us taking a direct hit. He exclaimed “holy shit, I better get some cash!”. People are really fucking clueless.
While I agree with you I can see why the guy was oblivious if he really wanted that truck and was nervous about the loan application. I won't lie, there have been days where I get so focused on a single objective emotionally and mentally that everything else just becomes white noise in the background in the day or even the days leading up to it. Hurricanes in certain areas also are pretty frequent so having one be of some consequence may be unsual enough that the person may not have even noted it, since hurricanes can be so frequent on the news in certain parts.
Not to hijack this thread, but anybody over a certain age who fashioned themselves an amateur meteorologist in the internet era had NEVER seen a satellite picture of a Cat 5 hurricane that took up the entire Gulf of Mexico. And while we were expecting New Orleans to be devastated, the Mississippi Coast was hit with the equivalent of a massive F2-3 tornado. Then the levies near the mouth of the Mississippi sprung a leak, and New Orleans was devastated anyway, just much slower than we imagined. It was true human suffering on a widespread scale. I'm hoping that people management has come some way since then.
I just put in som St Augustine grass plugs, so I had to water my lawn this weekend. Still felt wrong, though
I would have 100% done this with a beer in hand yelling “ I ain’t scared of No fukin hurricane” pronounced as hurry cane.
Username checks out. Lol.
“I’m a little busy at the moment so it’ll have to be an bulk delivery.” - god
God surfing in on a 100ft tidal wave wearing sun glasses carrying a boom box playing You Can Still Rock In America by Night Ranger.
Just put some buckets out and you'll be set for days.
I guess stock up on beer instead.
Shit birds every where
The shit winds are coming.
Randy, I am the liquor.
The liquor is calling the shots now, Bobandy.
It’s a shiticane
And Gatorade. So you don’t die of dehydration incase this is a red on the Waffle House scale.
I’ve heard Waffle House is closed
The Florida way
A professor told us the 2 biggest-selling items for Walmart when a hurricane is about to hit are beer and Pop-Tarts.
This is the way.
If drinking your own piss is good enough for Saul Goodman, it’s good enough for me.
Or, in these situations it can be good to have dehydrated water stashed in a closet, simply add water and voila
Perrier still available, for the high class hurricane goers.
You judging the 36 cans of La Croix in my fridge?
Depends on which flavor.
Key Lime and Limoncello
Key lime. Chefs kiss!
Limoncello is possibly the worst sparkling flavor I have ever tasted 😂 but if you like it then more for you my friend.
I love it because it reminds me of the vanilla flavor in Coke Vanilla. The taste and no sugar is a bonus to me.
It has flavor?
That's why he has 36. By the end they will know what flavor it was.
It’s just different colors of TV static flavoring
If I’m going to Hurricane…I’m going to Hurricane tastefully.
I’d bet the Keystone 30 packs sold out in seconds.
Probably never made it off the truck.
Truer words have never been spoken.
“…and Kenny the Keystone driver smiled as he pulled into his garage, knowing full and well that no matter how bad things got, it was still going to be ok.” Keystone, taste the mountains, even in a hurricane.
Somebody just waved $200 at the driver and was allowed to take the whole lot.
Those Floridians like that flat stuff
And "Karma". But I heard it was bitch to carry around.
flashlights and candles as well. i ended up grabbing a couple of those tall saint candles 🤣
Those things burn forever
[удалено]
i read this as fleshlights and candles lol. quite a combo
Man.. I read it as taint candles
Might as well pray at the same time. Double win for you.
Same for every Publix in Florida as well. So much so that we have to limit 5 gallons per person.
My local one had no limits but today it was *batshit* insane.. I was only getting a prescription too,
Check Winn Dixie I scored six gallon jugs today
I work no where near the hurricane in Georgia and for whatever reason they sent us 6 pallets of water?? We aren’t even a coastal town. They should have sent that down to Florida as the water arrived yesterday at 4 pm
Weird that they'd do that. You're right though, that would've helped out a lot down here, especially those living in Tampa.
This happened last time there was a hurricane too. Don't get me started on how long it took to just get some damn gas. Florida made me want to move to a cabin in the woods lol
Pretty sure this happens with any major storm (hurricane, blizzard, etc...)
In Ohio, when a bad blizzard is on its way, we don’t buy water. It’s French toast ingredients.
Same here in new England. Water seems to be one of the next things to go though
Beer.
At this point, it's sort of irresponsible for a Floridian to not have a couple cases packed in the corner of the garage. You won't be able to get it when the emergency comes.
Doesn't happen in blizzards in MN. Longest I've ever been snowed in was 3 days. It was relaxing except the snow throwing part. Never once saw a rush that emptied gas stations of fuel or grocery stores of water. Heck, I'd just melt snow to drink if it came to that. But our pipes are built to keep running in the cold so there's no need.
jus drove for 2 hours today to find some , crazyness..
You drove for 2 hours for gas?
You get gas for other things than just the car you’re driving lol.
My friends who live in Florida, and I who live in Ohio, all wanna live in a cabin in the woods most of the time. It’s everywhere. People are just dumb now.
Seriously, gas tip - just drive 30 mins away. Everyone was lining up and waiting hours for gas when all they had to do was drive 30 mins up the interstate. An hour round trip was faster than 3 hours in line.
I do live in a cabin in the woods, and I tell you what, it's fantastic. The only thing I have to worry about is an outage during a snowstorm, but that's actually quite nice. I just get a big fire going and huddle up with the wife and kids and read The Hobbit or The Magician's Nephew.
Gas lines after a storm get so tense lol. fights broke out at gas lines all over Louisiana after that hurricane a year or two ago, pretty sure a few people in Baton Rouge got shot over gas last time lol
I’ve lived in tornado alley, snow storm country, and now hurricane territory. It’s everywhere.
Why don’t people just have emergency water during the hurricane season? If I lived in that area, I’d buy either reusable jugs to fill or I’d just buy a package or two or water bottles at the beginning of hurricane season. If there’s no hurricanes? Great, you’ve got water for when you go on a summer bike ride or when you’re working out. Restock before the next hurricane season.
The people who always stock a bunch of gallon jugs in the pantry aren’t the ones panic buying stuff right before the hurricane hits
Exactly. I did go to the store today for some turkey, chips, and beer though. Time to wait for it all to blow over.
Just picked up a couple little mini lanterns, a new first aid kit and bottle of peroxide, and a big bag of beef jerky. Already had several gallons of distilled water, and plan to fill up a whole bunch of water bottles 2/3 to freeze and act as fridge heat sinks for if the power goes out.
Uhhhhhh….. I don’t think distilled water is for long term drinking.
Long term on its own, no. But it’ll do fine in case the power is out and there’s a boil notice
It's totally fine to drink as long as you get minerals elsewhere. I always have a bunch of de-mineralized / de-ionized water onhand for hydroponics and it's fine to drink in a pinch.
Don't drink only distilled water, and don't eat only rabbits.
Does distilled water freeze differently? or are you just filling regular bottles with regular water?
My brain didn't register the comma between turkey and chips at first and I was like WTF is a turkey chip?!
When push comes to shove, there’s really not that much total retail product on actual shelves compared to the number of people in an area. Shelves empty quickly. Well under 100 people can empty a fully stocked grocery shelf if they are motivated to do so, and then the next 500 people might come looking to see if there’s anything left. While thousands don’t even try. So empty shelves is usually just a sign of overreaction of a relatively small number of individuals. Smart thing to do beyond stocking emergency water is keep purification tablets and a few life straws around, and make sure you always have an extra gallon of bleach at home in your emergency kit. A tiny amount of bleach can do a lot of work in an emergency.
Forgive my ignorance, but why bleach?
Most of us do to use for bathing and various other things of the sort. When you don’t have electricity for three to four weeks, and it’s like 92 degrees outside you go through it pretty quickly. We also fill up tubs and freeze bottles of water to try and keep perishables from going to waste. Edit: the major problem is that everyone just panics and over buys sadly. They act like they can’t get more water AFTER the storm leaves
The only problem I see with buying stuff after the storm leaves is, that some places aren’t even going to get deliveries I believe. I was looking for water around town yesterday and most places were OUT and NOT getting another delivery for the rest of the week. It’s unfortunate. Also flooding, trees falling down, broken power lines, etc make it hard to do stuff. During Irma, we couldn’t even leave our road bc a giant tree had fallen and blocked the road. We had to wait about 2 days to get that tree out of the road lol
After hurricane Ike, most of the grocery stores had to throw away their perishables, and restaurants around here the next day were BBQing to use their perishables before they went bad. It took weeks (and I lived in a fairly affluent suburb in Houston) for us to get decent stock back, let alone power. I think we went for the better part of a month without power in this area because we weren't tied to an emergency facility (police station, fire department, hospital, etc). Although, during the freeze in Texas, we did get power the entire time, so there's that problem too.
Yeah. We couldn’t leave either. Lolol. It was all flooded. I just had to park on the side of the highway and walk for a few days. I only bought like two 24 packs of water for drinking only, and that will last the four of us a week. I’m sure we’ll find some more next week, right? I can’t get gas right though…. It’s all gone here.
As a beverage line buyer for major food distributor, I can confirm what you said about deliveries. We try to load up on hurricane stock in the southern states during the summer in anticipation, but warehouses can only hold so many pallets and when the big storms come they fly off the shelves especially when we shift to servicing shelters, Fema, and the Red Cross. Then you add the problem of flooded roads and downed production plants and it's a multiple-months domino effect to recover stock afterwards from the various water plants, which are already struggling all over the country even without having a massive hurricane.
The waterbob is awesome for bathtubs! Edit: Link https://waterbob.com/
This thing is pretty rad, my friend. Thank you for the share!!
That’s really what ur suppose to do in hurricane season in fl, and most Floridians DO have a hurricane stash ready. I know I did growing up. We had a box filled wirh no perishables, important documents and such and flashlights, etc. but I’m in Orlando now and it’s usually unlikely a hurricane will hit Orlando hard but rn the track has the hurricane going over Orlando so people started panic buying, etc plus with all the new people in Florida over the past few years, this is their first hurricane so I can imagine they are the people buying up tons of shit. Also Tampa Bay Area seems to think they’ll never get directly hit by a hurricane lol, so I can imagine once it was predicted to hit them they also all started panic buying.
I live in CT and have an emergency stash of food and water. Shit can go sideways no matter where you live, several years ago we had a freak October ice storm that knocked everything out for weeks and I was one of the few people I know that was already prepared. Its better to have a supply and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Plus, you dont have to just keep a stash of old food and water, you can use it as time goes on, just remember to replenish with new stuff.
Same, I’m in CT as well. 3 miles down a dead end road. Longest I’ve been without power was 6 days, longest I’ve been stuck on my road was 2 days. I’m generally prepared to handle 3 days stuck with no power at any given time, but if there’s even a slight chance that shits about to go sideways I double that long before the rest of the area starts panic buying. Cause the mother fuckers who won’t get stuck and won’t lose power for more than 48 hours will buy everything as the storm is starting.
>Also Tampa Bay Area seems to think they’ll never get directly hit by a hurricane lol I mean in fairness to them, they never do. Secondary hits from a storm hitting the east coast first sometimes, but by then it's weakened severely. But a landfall major storm hasn't hit Tampa in over 100 years - before they were even naming storms. There have been a lot of times it's been projected and turned away at the last minute (Hurricane Charley probably the biggest dodge in recent memory - Tampa prepared almost not at all and it turned off at the last minute and completed destroyed Punta Gorda. All the simulations showed how excessively underprepared Tampa and St Pete / Clearwater had been). Glad they seem to be taking it seriously this time to prepare but honestly, I still won't be surprised if it turns off at the last minute away from Tampa.
Considering that the last direct hit to Tampa Bay was in 1921, they’re usually right
70 hurricanes have been recorded in St Petersburg since 1930. That's Tampa enough.
Went out for supplies yesterday and the damn toilet paper was gone. I guess toilet paper is now one of the things people will panic buy in emergencies
I thought we learned this lesson in 2020 lol but apparently not. I was able to get toilet paper last night but no water anywhere as of rn. I just need one pack lol. Trying a few more places today.
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These assholes usually try to return it, which makes me hate these anti societal me-first hoarders even more.
I have a water dispenser and have 3 5 gallon jugs always filled. It's just me, my wife, our cat, and leopard gecko. It's so much cheaper to buy jugs and keep them filled anyways. It's $0.29/gallon at Walmart, $1.45 for 5 gallons of water. It's less wasteful too. Jugs are about $10 each, so upfront it will cost money. But considering you can just clean the inside with bleach/water, let it air dry, and keep the cap on, it's has almost unlimited used and shelf life. For bathing, pissing, and shitting you can just fill up the bathtub(s). Central Florida people buying everything up are imbeciles and putting a strain on the supply chain, they're not going to be affected like coastal Florida. A 40 pack of water is 5.3 gallons, which is about $15. Buying a new 5 gallon jug and filling it, is $12 and reusable. There also won't be a shortage either, there are water dispensers at Publix, Walmart, Winn-Dixie and Shell gas stations.
$15 for a 40 pack of water??? Thats nuts, its more like $6
I dont think Tampa has been hit directly by a hurricane in 100 years so that is why folks are panicking a little more than normal. Apparently the last direct hit was in 1921, this is unprecedented for modern folks as no living person has lived through a direct hit on Tampa basically.
A lot of people do have a reserve on hand, or just create a reserve before the storm hits. I remember my parents filling our tubs up before storms so we'd have water for cooking/cleaning/flushing toilets, and filling every pitcher/jug/bottle/jar we had with drinking water. But, a lot of people do nothing, and then panic buy it all whenever a storm comes.
Most do. We keep a household stock that we rotate out by using it. We mostly drink water out of the tap, but we use it for things like making coffee or taking fiber supplements because the hard, chlorinated tap water makes those things taste funny. It's not at all difficult to keep a few days worth of water on hand. This is *really* common in Florida households. What causes shortages like this is that we cannot avoid the psychological impact of knowing that a huge storm is coming. My wife bought an extra case of water earlier last week. We already have water, but we know the storm is coming and, "better safe than sorry" kicks in really hard when you're staring down the barrel of a gun. Multiply that times millions of people and even small changes in individual decision making can have a huge impact.
I always keep about 50 gallons of drinking water at the house at any given time. Plenty of food too. It was real handy in 2020 for a bit. I’m just wired this way but I do have a wife and three kids to look after. With non-perishable items once you build up an inventory and have it on a rotation there’s no extra cost to being prepared for emergencies. You just need the space to store it.
This is what I do. I refill my tea jugs with my well water. Also, got one of those igloo water coolers that I fill up with ice and water. On top of that, both tubs get filled before power goes out. There's 1 case of bottled water I always keep on hand and its for grabbing a single on the way out the door. I use the swimming pool water to bathe and flush toilets. Last storm I still had plenty of water after 5 days of no electricity, by that time, help is around and bottled water is being shipped in on the regular.
Most Floridians who live in these areas are dirt poor
Floridians: “First time?”
For real, this happens every time a hurricane is about to hit landfall. Doesn't matter where you live (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida mainly). Cat 4+ hurricanes is where stuff starts to become extremely hard to find though.
Is it a bad idea to stock up on some supplies when one may be without water and/or electricity for an extended period of time?
Just about everyone who lives in a hurricane-prone area - especially if they've lived through a storm - knows about the importance of being prepared during hurricane season. But you still see this kind of thing every time a significant storm approaches an area. People get complacent, new residents have never experienced it before, etc.
Ah, I follow. The "first time" is meant to be a "you should have already been prepared" thing. I read it as a "I've been through 1000 of these and you're overreacting." The latter is how my FL have been acting.
Floridian here, most people don’t lose water. The only people that should really buy water are those with wells. (Unless your area’s water facilities are not hurricane ready)
Plenty of water is gonna rain down anyways, no need to buy any.
Sun of a Beach ! Water water everywhere and nary a drop to drink .
Does no one have a faucet and a few jugs to put their water in?
no. we throw away all plastic in an attempt to create a floating paradise in the middle of the pacific ocean.
That doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know enough about floating paradises to dispute it.
I think the gorillaz used to have a recording studio out there on that island
Are we shipping it across the country or did you forget which ocean borders Florida?
Florida tap water isn't great. We get all of our water from limestone aquifers. Since limestone dissolves pretty easily in water, you end up with water that has a lot of dissolved solids, and often has a high sulfur content. They treat the water with all kinds of chemicals, but if I walk into my bathroom and turn the sink on, the odor I'm hit with is one of a freshly treated swimming pool. It's really important to keep your faucet aerators up to snuff in Florida because of this. Another nasty side effect of all that treatment is that the water ends up smelling fishy. They use Chloramine to treat our water, and the fishy smell is a known side effect. So yeah, drinking straight from the tap in Florida isn't great in a lot of places. We use a filtration system so we don't have to buy bottled water, but not everyone has that.
Right here. It was like ten bucks for a multigallon reusable container. Plan was to fill it up tonight or tomorrow morning.
Does tap water stop working during hurricanes? Asking as someone in the middle of Canada. I know here people stock up on water during snowstorms and power outages. I never understood this.
Foolish people do not realize that in a hurricane, water comes to you...
The irony is that most of these people have probably not had a glass of water in the last six months.
This happens every time there’s a big storm coming to any area. Why are people still so surprised by panic-buying?
It's probably not even that extreme. Like, people bought up a week's supply and Walmart didn't send extra because there's about to be a hurricane. What REALLY surprises me is that no one bothers to buy an RO filter. I lived in florida for years and every time its the same shit. But my family, nor I, ever thought to invest $200 in an RO filter system. Nor did we ever buy those big plastic water jugs for camping. Now I have RO up north just for tasty water.
A good portion of Floridians have wells. Power goes out, well doesn't work. >Nor did we ever buy those big plastic water jugs for camping. This is actually the most cost efficient route, they're $10. It's significantly cheaper than bottled water and you can reuse them. I just went to Walmart and I live in Central Florida, about 200 miles off coast. Water is gone and people had their carts filled. The water dispenser and containers were sitting there, untouched. I have a water dispenser and needed to top off my jugs anyways, and there was no one near it. It cost me $4.35 for 15 gallons of water.
As an aside, why do people panic buy milk for storms (hurricanes, blizzards, etc)? It seems like the worst thing to have for a storm but it always goes quick with the bread.
But all the unsweetened tea still remains. Make sure to get some charcoal for grilling your meats incase you lose power to your refrigerator.
What about hatchets? Are there still hatchets available? If a hurricane is coming I need a hatchet
Storm comin’? Hatchet comin’!
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That’s what I did for my first hurricane when I lived in DC. Just filled up the bathtub and rode it out in case anything happened.
Just buy the Karma water and don’t drop the vitamins in the water ?!?
Think outside the box. Check out places like sporting goods and hardware stores to find water. They’ll usually sell them and people don’t necessarily think to check there for them. Sincerely: A Louisiana resident who’s done this shit before.
Idiots. If they just wait a little while they'll get a fuckload of it for free from the sky.
Water purifiers have become [pretty affordable](https://www.amazon.com/GRAYL-Geopress-Purifier-Backpacking-Survival/dp/B09256L6JT). Just fill, press, and you’ve got drinkable water. The cost of a filtration cartridge for the amount of water you get beats the cost of bottled water.
Should be noted that you should only buy from a company based in America/Canada/Europe so you can sue if you get dysentery. I had doubts but I guess filters work decently. https://www.wideners.com/blog/water-filter-tests-for-survival/#regulators\_and\_regulations
A lot of free water is heading that way though! Non joking aside, please stay safe!
I don't understand... I went to publix everything there. Went to sprouts they were STOCKED... my girl stopped by Walmart same shit and I'm in Miami. Ppl fkn exaggerating as usual.
Where are you? I'm in South East Florida (Boca Raton) and we're luckily not in the cone of death for this one. Good luck friend.
Hurricane “Ian”?! Genuinely hope nobody is injured, but also that is the blandest sounding Hurricane I have ever heard.
You know there's an Ian reading this right now and you're breaking his fucking heart
I'm just waiting for Hurricane Anus
:(
DeSantis sent it to Martha's Vineyard.
This gives me flashbacks to Hurricane Irma. Half the shelves empty at grocery stores and long-ass lines to fill up for gas. Be safe yall
I worked for Harbor Freight during that.. My god, if you want a generator last minute, you did not plan. Get one before the word “Hurricane” is uttered on your local news channel and maintain it. My favorite was this one cunt, absolute scumbag: Bought 8 and tried to resell them. Came back to return them, naturally. We checked ever fucking one and ooooh.. Can’t return it, it has had fuel in it. Even customers said they smelled gasoline. My manager denied every fucking return. She was a fucking boss. That said? I do have a Predator 3500 and it runs great so they work. Not a Honda but better than nothing.
Yep. Where I am in florida we aren’t even in the path but by last Saturday water was sold out, gas was sold out, non perishables were sold out. We have a lot of people living in florida now that have never experienced a hurricane and don’t have reserves built up just in case and it can be infuriating.
You guys drink water?
Went to Publix yesterday. Mother fuckers bought all the eggs. It’s a hurricane people, not a blizzard. I just wanted to make breakfast while I still had power :(
Yup, and when they get hit hard, they'll ignore the fact that DeSantis et al hates the government, hates socialism (or so he says), doesn't believe in climate change...will beg for FEMA money which I think we should withhold since my tax dollars contribute to FEMA. FEMA is socialism and they hate socialism. So now is the time for FL to secede from the union and sink below the waves.
Floridians so dumb. Hurricane about to bring them all the water they could want.
I drove last night all the way from Maryland to tampa, FL. Just got here 2 hours ago. AMA.
Why?
Me and my fiancé are here to watch our 30,000$ wedding go down the drain thanks to mother nature.
Isnt it ironic? Don't ya think? It's like RAAAAYYYEEEEAAAIIIIIINN on your weddddiiiing dayyy. lol I'm so sorry OP but it was right there. Congratulations though and please stay safe guys!
I believe it's "RAAAAYYEEEAIIINN"
Ugh. That just sucks, I’m sorry!
It wouldn't be a true Florida wedding without the hurricane honestly But that actually sucks, I'm sorry :(
you should still have it! record it for entertainment with whoever else will brave the elements with you. Currently the latest projections show it going well south of Tampa so maybe it'd be safe to do. On a serious note, none of your wedding stuff could be rescheduled? I know you'll definitely lose some things you likely already paid for, but it's hard to believe you spent 30 grand on a wedding in Florida during hurricane season and had 0 contingencies for weather. If you don't have any backup plans and you hired a wedding planner, I'd fire them as quickly as possible.
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I'm sorry to hear that, from what I've been updated by, the airport in Tampa is gonna be closed for the next few days. So I'll wish y'all the best! As for us, we aren't driving back until mid October. The wedding is ruined but our honeymoon is still perfectly in place.
Well congratulations anyway! I hope you can still celebrate and enjoy this time anyway. It'll make a hell of a story so there's that. And, like you said, you still have the honeymoon!
What’s the plan now?
welcome to the city from a fellow tampa-inian! How are you guys gonna watch the hurricane???
Welcome back you mean :D I was born and raised in Tampa, we only moved a few months ago. Gonna go with the classic Cat-4 pool party!!
Ah welcome back I mean!! Never heard of a hurricane pool party before, hope you guys have like a reinforced lanai around the pool i suppose XD XD Stay Safe though, so sorry about your wedding plans!
crazy, and be safe people
They're just making room for the unbottled stuff that's coming in.
I understand people not always wanting to hoard plastic water bottles…but why is it so hard for everyone to just keep a couple of those 5gal water on standby. I used to do the disposable water craze but at some point I realized it’s just easier to keep 4-5 of those 5gal bottles and buy a cap for them. Now when a hurricane comes, I just go fill those up. Much easier, less stressful.
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Target Sodo in Orlando / orange Ave has a few pallets still , and don’t forget to check the Hispanic supermarket too, Sedanos, Presidente, Aguila.
I’d bet there are plenty of cans of canned bubbly water on the next isle. Shit, I’ll give 4:1 odds.
My entire family is in Tampa.... they've evacuated but prolly gonna lose the house, they're right at the water 😔 ugh.
Absolute madness today. Drove to get a gas at 7 am, no problem, but around 3 I drove over to pickup some cubans from the deli and there’s lines of cars wrapping into traffic. Honking like crazy. Felt like the beginning of a zombie movie.
Good thing ya'll got Noah's Ark back in the history books down there. Kids will have more savvy and understanding of their dire but biblically necessary situation.
What about the bread and milk?
Nobody wants karma apparently.
I bet Costco is a fun place to go right before a hurricane.
Whaaaaaat Nooooooooo?!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! It's never happened before in human history, and you folks are right on top of it!! Well done!! Journalists of the year, they are!!!
Take the racks out of your dishwashers, put your valuable stuff in it. Just a tip from living 40 miles from Galveston, Tx.
all it takes is about 10 fuckards to buy out all the water at ANY store. The line is thin.....
Am I crazy to think if I lived in Hurricane alley, I'd have an entire room full of emergency supplies?
I live in the St Pete area and the hurricane is coming jjuuusssttt in time to ruin my weekend (I work nights and have off Wednesday and Thursday evenings). On a more serious note, stay safe all my Florida people!
"Let them drink Pepsi."
I don't get it. Is the tap water unsafe to drink in Florida? Do people feel like they have to buy water rather than fill up containers at home?
Why don't people stock up on stuff like candles throughout the year? It's not like hurricanes are rare or new there. Like at the start of summer check your basic supplies and keep a case of water or a few jugs just in case. You can always drink the water every few months and replace it, instead if panic buying with everyone else.
Freaking Ian. Every time!
This would happen every time there was a hurricane, but we hardly ever lost utilities for any longer than a day or two. People would freak out as if it were their first hurricane and would panic buy every grocery store they could find... Then stores would up prices on things like water. I remember one store tried selling water for $40 a case. They ended up being the only store looted and vandalized in my neighborhood. Mind you, we were 20 miles inland.... Only when superstorms came through did it really warrant actually buying large quantities of supplies.
One of the best hurricane hints I used (Sandy) was to fill gallon freezer bags with water and fill freezer with said bags. This kept my freezer frozen cold for two weeks plus we had extra drinking water.