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Originally posted by second:
It’s easy to forget that South Florida was once America’s last frontier, generally dismissed as an uninhabitable and undesirable wasteland, almost completely unsettled well after the West was won. “How far, far out of the world it seems,” Iza Hardy wrote in an 1887 book called Oranges and Alligators: Sketches of South Florida. And Hardy ventured only as far south as Orlando, which is actually central Florida, nearly 250 miles north of Miami. Back then, only about 300 hardy pioneers lived in modern-day South Florida. Miami wasn’t even incorporated as a city until 1896.

There was really just one reason South Florida remained so unpleasant and so empty for so long: water. The region was simply too soggy and swampy for development. Its low-lying flatlands were too vulnerable to storms and floods. As a colorful governor with the colorful name of Napoleon Bonaparte Broward put it: “Water is the common enemy of the people of Florida.”

So in the 20th century, Florida (the U.S. government paying the tab) declared war on its common enemy, vowing to subdue Mother Nature, eventually making vast swaths of floodplains safe for Trump to build golf courses. Water control—paid for by the Federal Government, and Social Security checks—also paid by the Federal Government, enabled the spectacular growth of South Florida.

But sometimes, as we’re about to be reminded, water and Mother Nature can’t be controlled.

www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/09/08/hurricane-irma-florida-2155
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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

is it Miami that is mostly landfill?

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Makes one wonder how Seminoles and other Native Americans survived hurricanes for centuries. They had teepees, right? No permanent structures in Fla, what's the highest ground in the peninsula? No weatherguessers except medicinemen and spirit dancers?

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Originally posted by 6stringJoker:

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Makes one wonder how Seminoles and other Native Americans survived hurricanes for centuries. They had teepees, right? No permanent structures in Fla, what's the highest ground in the peninsula? No weatherguessers except medicinemen and spirit dancers?

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I'm pretty sure it was because there weren't shady people building teepee parks on worthless land in the valley's and selling it to idiots.

I'm sure quite a few of the dumber indians at some point were washed away to never be heard from again. Their dumb genes were eliminated from the pool and nobody ever lived in the valley again until after Christopher Columbus found America on accident.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

How do you make a teepee withstand 100 mph winds?

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Is there any valley in Fla?

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“The average elevation in Florida is 6 feet,” London said. “Some places are as little as 3 feet above sea level. And sea level is going to rise as all that ice in the Arctic melts.”

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Elevation ranges from 600 to 1,000 feet (180 to 300 metres) (and more) above sea level. Forests and farmland line Central Indiana's gently rolling plains and river valleys. The highest point in Indiana is Hoosier Hill, at 1,257 feet (383 m) above sea level in northern Wayne County.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Just saw news show Irma down to Cat 2 before eye touched Florida coast.
Track shows down to Cat 1 about halfway up the west coast, then barely SW corner of GA, and NE corner of MS.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Saw on my Twitter feed that a sheriff down in Florida is telling people NOT to fire their guns into the storm.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Where is the Josie thread?

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Originally posted by Wishimay:
Well, my relatives that live in Naples are ok, no power, and the surge didn't get into the house, surprisingly (that's where the eye was). My bro went to inlaws in the Carolina's and says he can't go back because there's no gas in pretty much the entire south of Florida. I don't know if the tanks are sealed and water gets in and ruins it, or if they literally used everything that was left??

I can't imagine sitting around all day in 90 degree heat and no power, running water, food rotting, nothing to watch. I don't know why they didn't come up.

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Originally posted by Wishimay:
Here's something scary....the winter AFTER the 1935 hurricane was bad, followed by a really bad summer...


I hope we don't follow THAT...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_North_American_cold_wave

The 1936 North American cold wave ranks among the most intense cold waves in recorded North American meteorological history. The states of the Midwest United States and the Prairie Provinces of Canada were hit the hardest, and only the Southwest and California largely escaped its effects. February 1936 was the coldest month on record in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota, and rivals February 1899 as the coldest February on record for the continent as a whole.

The 1930s had previously seen some of the mildest winters in recorded North American climatic history – 1930/1931 in the northern Plains and Western Canada, 1931/1932 in the East, 1932/1933 in New England and 1933/1934 in the Western United States.[1] The northern plains had during the previous eleven years experienced six of their ten warmest Februaries between 1895 and 1976 – those of 1925, 1926, 1927, 1930, 1931 and 1935[2] – with only February 1929 being severe during this period.

Despite a warm March over most areas east of the Rockies, the extended winter from October to March was the fifth-coldest on record over the conterminous United States and the coldest since 1917.[3]

The cold wave was followed by one of the hottest summers on record, the 1936 North American heat wave.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Where is the Josie thread?

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Originally posted by Wishimay:

The other thing is, we're due for an ass kicking winter.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Where is the Josie thread?

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Out to sea, and apparently not coming to the mainland

Here in ATL, lights flickered a few times, but power never went out. No trees that I can see in the immediate vicinity toppled. News has images of some large ones having fallen over, and on yeah, the " city " is officially closed ( I'm assuming the govt ) , but otherwise all is well. Mostly.

This was no Opal.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Last night I heard Irma was 800 miles wide, from Memphis to Norfolk.

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Originally posted by 6stringJoker:


1959 Janitrol POS furnace...

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Originally posted by 6stringJoker:
They've froze on me twice, but no bursting yet.

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Originally posted by 6stringJoker:
I've been on the fence about those IR heaters for so long. They're a bit pricey still, but the electricity costs are super cheap compared to other electric heaters.

I'm just waiting for the stories to come out about how they cause cancer since they basically work the same way as a microwave does. Although, those stories could just be blamed on the IR heaters when it's actually long term use of cell phones that are frying our insides.

That's probably a good idea for the crawl space where my NW pipes are located. They've froze on me twice, but no bursting yet. Right now I have an older oil based one that costs a few bucks a day to run down there and only turn it on when it dips below -10 outside. I could have the IR ones on all winter and the flooring on the 1st floor should be nice and toasty.

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Originally posted by Oonjerah:
Will someone start a thread for Maria, or can she be discussed here?

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Originally posted by Wishimay:

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Originally posted by Oonjerah:
Will someone start a thread for Maria, or can she be discussed here?

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You can discuss anything you like, Oon, but I don't think there is much general knowledge in this pool about Puerto Rico to be had.

I feel bad for them, but I'm not sure taking on another broke country is going to do us or them any good. Our economy just isn't as resilient as it used to be...It's quite clear most of these islands should not be inhabited by people in average housing. You can use the "this kind of disaster level is rare" argument, but the fact remains it will happen again. Doing the same thing over and over is the definition of insanity. I think many of the people on these devastated islands should find a new living, and THAT we can help them do.... Sometimes, life's a beach and sometimes life's a bitch. Prepare or perish.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Although I don't conjure there is a country separate from US known as The United State of Puerto Rico, I do wish your pal the best. A little communication restriction is better than some alternatives.

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