Hurricane Helene Preps

[Charles Brennan]

Hurricane Helene is headed (not far enough!) west of where I live, but that's not much help for a storm this wide.   
One side is halfway across the Gulf of Mexico, and the other side will probably reach clear over to I-95 with storm force winds.
And me in the middle.   
I'm not liking the numbers and they're not getting better with each update. 
Hurricane Debbie caught me with my pants down, since I was coming back from a funeral and by the time I was home, it was already raining in buckets.
So I decided this time, prepping a day ahead of time was probably a Good Thing. 

First, put the boat along side the house and out of the reach of all our tall oak trees.
Put the truck there for the same reason, and faced so that we can get outta Dodge in a hurry, if need be
The bedroom beside the boat is where we evacuate to, to ride it out since our primary bedroom  is underneath about 10 Oak trees, any seven of which could crush our bed in half, if they fell.   
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Managing hurricane preps is all about priorities.
Like protecting the SCAMP!!   
Seriously considered raising it, inverting it, lowering it onto the trailer I built for it, lashing it down and hiding it next to Urchin.
Just did not have enough time (and energy) to do that. 
This time.

Did the next best thing I could:
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As long as the Oak tree next to the carport doesn't come down on top of it, I should be OK.
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Lashed side-to-side and fore and aft.
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Those are 4 foot stakes roughly two feet into the ground.
Those same rebar stakes once held Urchin's trailer tongue in place, so that the trailer would not swing around, when the eye passed over during Hurricane Wilma, in 2005.
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Before hurricane prep:
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After hurricane prep.
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The horizontal 2X4 helps hold the top of the two gates from flapping.
The bungie cord holds the gates, in case the gate latch bounces free in the winds.
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Trash cans lashed to the house.
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Patio furniture folded up.
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And everything else on the back porch, stacked up out of the winds.
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Now it's just wait and see and/or deal with whatever comes our way.
Situated equidistant between the Santa Fe river and the Suwanee river, what could go wrong?!?   

I'll keep in touch, as circumstances permit.
Charles Brennan

[Captain Kidd]

Could be a rough ride - maybe cat 4. Hang on, we'll be thinking of you.

[Riley Smith]

I'm so glad I'm not there. Take care and keep an eye out.

[Frank B.]

Good on the preps, not your first rodeo for sure.  This morning the cone has narrowed indicating more confidence in the track.  Shifted just a hair to the east, certainly not what you would like. Take care. Hope all those inland take this storm seriously, lots of significant wind and flooding rain into Georgia and Tennessee. This is the time the SOBO's on the AT are finishing, hope they are getting the word on this thing.

[Norm L.]

The prep does look good. We do it even if we end up undoing it after a miss. I think the SCAMP looks good. It is quite low but strong winds will get underneath and try to rise it. But your tie-downs should be sufficient for this border risk.