I can't speak for the rest of you but there is no way

[malaise]

I could endure 30 hours of EF5 winds plus storm surge and blinding rain.
Dorian is going to destroy Freeport and all of Grand Bahama but as bad as that is, living through that madness is unbearable. Where do you hide from that?

[PJMcK]

1. At one of Trump's clubs?

Sorry for the snark.

[jpak]

2. and it's coming in at night

Those poor people will have to survive the night in darkness.

I

Can't

Imagine

[Phoenix61]

3. My heart breaks for them. There is no where

to hide. Sadly, I think there will be many casualties. I hope I am wrong but there is such a massive storm surge.

[CentralMass]

4. I guess we will never know unless we have to expereience it.

[Sogo]

5. The only way

would have been to evacuate days ago, which I realize is beyond the means of many people.

Thoughts and prayers for Grand Bahama....

[Amaryllis]

8. And these are not empty thoughts and prayers but very sincere ones.

[Sogo]

13. Yes. Absolutely.... nt.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

6. There's only one thing that can withstand the force of a hurricane,

and that's t.v. weather reporters. It seems doing a live shot in the middle of a hurricane is de rigueur for cub weather men and women.

[treestar]

12. just watched that through

very amusing. I guess, until one day one of them really gets blown away!

[LeftInTX]

17. That last guy and all the foam!!!! ROFL

[FoxNewsSucks]

35. Those are hilarious,

especially Horse Mask Jogger, and the others who run out and dance behind the reporters

[dameatball]

7. My only visit to the Bahamas was to fly into Marsh Harbor and then spend a week snorkeling and

fishing at Great Guana and some surrounding areas. It was magically beautiful and I can't even imagine what damage will be done by this storm. Even though the people there are somewhat used to dangerous storms, this thing seems on another level. And the area I am talking about is just a small portion of what will be affected. Hoping things will not be as bad as I fear they will be.

[unc70]

9. Been through very bad, but not this bad

Among the worst I experienced growing up was Hazel, but there were many others, though none as strong as Dorian. We were a couple of miles inland, and it was awful for hours on end. No power, no TV or radio, isolated in the dark with a kerosene lantern. Howling winds for hours on end, rain beating on the windows, the sound of trees snapping. Then suddenly, silence. Dead calm with the stars shining. After a few minutes, suddenly it all starts back again with the winds from the opposite direction, snapping about half the pine trees in the forests.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. I'm glad you don't have to go this one, my friend.

None of us who have been thru one will forget the noise. esp. the banging and cracking and falling of things noise, cause you have no way to tell what it is, and meanwhile the wind shrieks and roars and whistles at full volume for hours.
My first one, I did not even know wind could blow that long.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. Yes. That incessant, preternatural shrieking

The sound of a hurricane siren is still triggers an involuntary physiological reaction, even though I've not lived on a coast for 23 years.

[mcar]

11. We had a friend in Miami during Andrew

who said her brother was in the service in Guam further back when a hurricane hung over the island for a week. He said that people literally went mad from it. I can totally see that.

[pecosbob]

14. Anyone who's lived through it knows...you don't...you run.

We would load up the wagon and drive from Houston to Oklahoma city to visit relatives for a few days. Of course, when I was in Oklahoma City, it was the summer tornados you had to watch for.

[ornotna]

15. That would suck

Spent the night when Irma went by, but the eye was 45 miles to the east and a 3 by then. Thankfully the roof survived.

[Raine]

16. I'm a native Californian but going thru earthquakes seem like nothing

compared to hurricanes I couldn't live with the constant stress and fear of an upcoming hurricane. It takes strong tough people to live in places where you deal with hurricanes and tornadoes IMO.

[sir pball]

18. Just to nitpick, EF5 is a tornado designation, and is even worse.

30 hours of Enhanced Fujita EF5 winds would scour the earth about three feet deep. "Strong-framed, well-built houses leveled off foundations and swept away; steel-reinforced concrete structures are critically damaged; tall buildings collapse or have severe structural deformations; cars, trucks, and trains can be thrown approximately 1 mile"

30 hours of Saffir-Simpson Category 5 winds would just destroy everything other than reinforced concrete buildings."These storms cause complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings, and some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. Collapse of many wide-span roofs and walls, especially those with no interior supports, is common. Very heavy and irreparable damage to many wood frame structures and total destruction to mobile/manufactured homes is prevalent. Only a few types of structures are capable of surviving intact..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Fujita_scale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir%E2%80%93Simpson_scale#Category_5

[malaise]

21. I deliberately used that because one of the experts said

Dorian was as strong as an EF5. I am terrified for anyone who decided to stay. This is catastrophic. We have never seen a hurricane like this in our lifetime.
My worry is that this is still heading West.

[sir pball]

19. Very, very, few hurricanes make US continental landfall at Cat5.

Camille, Andrew and Michael are all I can think of offhand. But they all wrought Biblical devastation.

Of course, "continental" doesn't include any of the islands, they get slammed much more often.

[malaise]

27. True

Here it is with a new eye

[Hortensis]

22. We were thinking how that must be fraying the nerves.

Imagine taking care of children in the shelters. Or don't.

[malaise]

23. Yep - we've survived a few that lasted maybe eight hours

but not one was this strong or stalled out for 30 hours moving at 1mph. I'm a pretty even keel person but I'm not sure I could handle this one.

[Hortensis]

26. Some of the videos people are sending are very grim.

Wish I believed in praying.

[malaise]

28. LOL

That made me laugh because I've never thought about it - when they tell you evacuate, just go. It is a fact that some people have no resources to move - I wish them luck.
Many folks in our islands including those in Barbados who were spared last week love to say their gawd spared them but that means he went after Bahamians and I don't buy that BS. The weather scientists tell us why one island is hit and another spared.

[Hortensis]

33. Yes. But came to mind because a mother with a four-month-old

baby in serious danger was begging people to pray for them. I always hope the belief that a heavenly father is watching over them, all in his hands, does help people in trouble.

But I don't have it either. If you think Barbadians congratulating themselves that god loves them is BS, imagine a woman who wins a $25 raffle prize at a garden club meeting happily thanking god -- at length -- for cheating on her behalf. Speaking of enduring, I'm from California and was strongly tempted to suggest we should have a redo. But I held together.

[malaise]

34. I saw her and wondered why on earth she and her folks

thought they knew more than the experts. I would have been out of there in the middle of last week.
Are you watching the video from Grand Bahama - the storm surge literally covered cars for starters.
The Bahamas is as flat as a pancake. One man said water in his home covered the kitchen counters. That was from the storm surge, the roof came off bring more water from rain. The storm surge looked like the water in that South Asian tsunami. Damn!
I don't want to see the destruction in Grand Bahama. I know the island well. I'm sure there are many folks who drowned in this monster storm.

Folks from California are tough - you have to be.

[Arazi]

40. If you had no money where would you go?

Were they evacuating people off the island for free? Putting them up elsewhere for free and then transporting them home to...devastation?

[malaise]

41. Valid questions

I think they were evacuating folks for free but the second part is a real issue.
On the other hand young folks can start over - better to be alive than dead,
Of course that's easy for me to say.

[Mc Mike]

24. 30 hours, such a slow passage.

It could leave a person shell-shocked.

[malaise]

25. I remember just wishing Ivan would stop

and that wasn't even a direct hit - Gilbert was longer and stronger but it was my first experience with a major hurricane so it was actually exciting and interesting. And Gilbert was a baby to this one. No one needs more than one major hurricane.

[Mc Mike]

29. The back lines that the shell-shocked troops had,

don't exist for natural catastrophe events like this -- they get wiped out, too.

The jackanapes in charge have been pushing this 'personal reliability, self reliance, everyone should be a first responder' line on the public, while diverting money that should deal with this national security issue (international) from FEMA to the cowardly hyenas at ICE, coz ICE is dealing with 'national security' issues.

I know FEMA isn't going to help out any non-territorial neighbors of ours, but saw their flack saying your state and local EMAs are in charge of calling the shots, and their facilities and infrastructure get wrecked when the disasters hit.

[malaise]

30. Yes FEMA is now about the Con and his border wall

In reality immigration from Central America is a significantly less national security threat than the destruction from natural disasters.
These people are venal corrupt and cruel. It's all about enriching themselves.

They must deal with the guns and let children be children. If I were a teacher I'd resign before training for a gun slaughter.

[Mc Mike]

31. They want us working on first responder gunshot wound treatment,

while a gang of ICE goons goes by the nazi shooter, on the way to arrest some 'illegal' catastrophe refugees, who the shooter doesn't like.

[malaise]

32. Well stated

It's all sick

[FM123]

36. There is nowhere to hide from that.

I am just sad beyond belief watching the news footage of what is happening to our brothers & sisters in the Bahamas...

[malaise]

37. It's hard to watch

Looks like a tsunami hit them

[FM123]

38. Yes, it really is.

Here in South FL the islands in the Caribbean are so close to us, not just physically but emotionally - so when they hurt we hurt too.

[malaise]

39. Yes folks in South Florida and the Bahamas

have deep bonds.

[lambchopp59]

42. Simple. Behind the roll of paper towels the Donald will throw

Aiming for the WIPIPO, of course.