Frankenstorm Mandolin Questions

[Mandolin Mick]

This is for those who live in areas effected by this awful storm ...

Here in Wisconsin we deal with tornadoes, so we take the mandolin and head for the basement when things get rough outside. If you live in an area that has to evacuate because of hurricanes, do you take the mandolin with you? What about those of you who have an extensive MAS collection? What if you're in a public shelter and have to leave with literally the clothes on your back?

[John Anthony]

Well, we live in the heart of Amish country and the storm is supposed to land right on top of us - it already looks Biblical outside. the pastor suggested we build an ark. But we're not in an evacuation area, so we've hunkered down with plenty of supplies. My wife and I are planning a few days of music making and sundry other activities that can't be mentioned on a family-friendly forum. Ahem.

[JeffD]

With a hurricane you generally have several days notice as the weather channel makes hay. So its more likely a planned evacuation, where you decide to vist Aunt Gertie further inland and have a day to load the car. Some folks stay home as long as they can and then get forcibly evacuated. I grew up on the shore, and the times I have been evacuated, I was long gone before the order came.

River and stream flooding is a little different, its hard to know how bad its going to get and whether putting the mandolins upstairs is good enough, or packing up and going to Aunt Gertie is required.

[Phil1580]

I'm lucky to be in just-missed Florida....but I had a thought. What about obviously putting the mandolin in its case, then putting it in one of those garment bags that you vacuum the air out? Would have to be watertight of course, but I think they claim to be. Best of luck to anyone dealing with this storm.

[John Flynn]

...pastor suggested we build an ark...

So I guess loading up the ark "two by two" for us would mean one F-style with F holes for bluegrass and one A oval for everything else.

Seriously, good luck to everyone in the path of this storm. It is headed our way also, but we should be on the edge of it and we are as ready as we can be.

[EggerRidgeBoy]

I've done things a bit backwards, since I drove yesterday from Ohio to Washington, DC, for a banjo concert at the Birchmere. I figured it might well be canceled, but it had not yet been when I got on the road yesterday morning. It had been by the time I arrived in DC, though. So I am now planning to drive to State College for the same concert at Penn State - assuming there are no power outages or flooding on the route or at the venue. This is the second time in two years that I have managed to time a visit to DC in conjunction with the arrival of a hurricane.

I realize many on this forum might not approve of such efforts to see eight banjo players onstage, but if you can imagine a concert featuring David Grisman, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, Jesse McReynolds, Mike Compton, etc., etc. you can perhaps understand my zeal.

That is all a bit off-topic, I guess. Although I have experienced three or four hurricanes in my life, I have never been in an evacuation zone and have not had to make any instrument-related decisions. Tornados are a much more frequent threat in my part of the country, and those leave you with little time to do anything but head to the basement. As has been noted above one usually has a good bit of warning when a hurricane is headed your way. Not that people always take advantage of that time - a very good friend of mine used to live in a house right on the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi, three doors down from her parents. Having spent their entire lives there, the family was very familiar with hurricanes and hurricane warnings, to the extent that they were a bit blase about evacuation orders, an attitude that almost cost them their lives when Katrina hit. They lost virtually everything to the storm, including several musical instruments. There wasn't much they could have done to save the piano, but if they had left earlier they could have taken the guitars and such with them to their "Aunt Gertie's".

Anyway, everything is shut down here in DC, but it looks like the New York area will get the worst of it. Thoughts to all in the storm's path.

[allenhopkins]

Winds kicking up here, with possible 65+ mph gusts forecast, and quite a bit of rain. I moved all the instrument cases to the "dry" end of my basement lair, with the exception of those that are kept off the floor by some homemade racks I built a few years ago, when moisture intruded briefly. Had to get a seam re-glued on my K-1 mandocello after it sat in a wet case for a day or two.

Far enough inland so that the major force of the storm is largely spent by the time it gets here, but Sandy's so damn big that we're getting a good deal of her influence before the "eye" makes landfall in NJ. Last year, Irene brought huge amounts of rain to the Hudson Valley, the Binghamton area, and off into New England, but it all went east of us; we got a day's mild soaking, no more.

Floods around here are limited to low-lying areas around streams, and "spot" areas during deluges, like road underpasses etc. Even during 1972's Agnes, when Corning and Elmira got badly flooded (apparently the exploding glass ovens at Corning Glass, as the Chemung's waters reached them one by one, were pretty spectacular), the Mount Morris dam on the Genesee held, and only a few riverfront cottages in Rochester needed sandbagging.

Houses along Lake Ontario are expected to suffer pretty extensive beach erosion and local inundation, since the north wind is supposed to produce 20-foot waves (and I'll believe that when I see it!). Joan's calling our kids in Boston, to see how things are going there, but most of us here are just staying home and checking our trees for damage. Good luck to all who live closer to the path of the storm...

[J. Galoshes Esq.]

I'm in West Philly playing my mandolin as we speak. Things sound really scary outside. Any sea shanty recommendations? Seems appropriate.

[allenhopkins]

Not a chantey, but --

[journeybear]

I've been through a bunch of storms here, even a few "mandatory" evacuations (using "" because they are not strictly enforced), and never had to worry. The worst was Wilma in 2005, the worst year on record, I believe - ran out of letters for names, went to the Greek alphabet - with a storm surge that left 3/4 of the island under at least some water. I was fortunate to be living near the highest point of the island, a whopping 14' above sea level, which was enough. A friend of mine decided to evacuate and had one seat left in his car. I considered it, but passed - it's uncertain when the authorities will let people back in, and until they do you are stuck in some college fieldhouse or gym or other enormous room, sleeping on a cot with hundreds of unhappy people - and it's a good thing I did, as the storm just glanced us (the storm surge came after it passed) but went right over the evacuation center. Another time a friend who lived in a high rise let me stay there while he bugged out and visited his folks in South Carolina - and the storm missed us but hit him up there. These things are awfully unpredictable, even with the warning and time to prepare. It seems you just have to hunker down and wait it out. At least that's how it goes here. Mainland landfalls can be worse, as the terrain can facilitate flooding. That's what happened last year with Irene, and what I fear most about Sandy.

These days I live in a somewhat lower area, about three blocks from the water. I have taken to leaving my instruments on top of my double-stacked dressers, some seven feet above the floor, which is three feet above street level, which is probably five feet or so above sea level. I think that's enough. If we ever get a serious threat, though, I am putting them in my storage unit, which is in a very solid converted factory or warehouse, nearly twenty feet above sea level. If a category 4 or 5 storm is coming right at us, for sure going to hit us, I think I will grab them all and hit the road. So far this situation hasn't arisen. The closest we came was Ivan in 2004, a category 5 that caused a mandatory evacuation. (They have to decide on an evcuation far enough in advance to enqable people to make the drive of over 100 miles to the mainland.) It travelled west along the southern shores of Cuba, with a predicted northward turn, putting us in its sights. As it happened, it travelled so far west before turning that it missed us. The place was like a ghost town fro two or three days. Kind of nice for a change, actually. Afterwards, T-shirts appeared with a satellite view of the storm, with the phrase "Premature Evacuation." Classic.

That said, my thoughts are with the folks up north in harm's way. I hope things don't get too bad.