Tropical Storm / Hurricane Gonzalo

Hi Gary,

Looks like it's time to batten down the hatches, cross your fingers and hope for the best.

We'll all be wishing you the very best over the next few days and hope that you get through it all completely unscathed. I'll be hoping to hear from you soon that all is well. While I've never actually met any of my fellow Experts (yet) I really do get concerned about their wellbeing. I'll keep you in my prayers this week.

BTW, I said "yet" since it looks like Matt (usmc_mv) will be coming to Macaé to stay with my family for about a week in November. I'm really excited since we've had a very close online relationship for some time, I helped him with getting married here in Brazil and immigrating and even though that was not the greatest success story of all time we have developed quite a strong friendship through it all.

Take care and stay safe!

Cheers,
James

 

Thank you for the heads up Gary. Appreciate it.

My working husband and I, and two dogs are over here, visiting the island from Isla Verde.

We're facing east, at the Coral Beach Condos, 12th Floor, West Tower.

The east tower's east-side will be taking most the brunt, unfortunately.

We'll batten down the hatches.

That's a wonderful message James.

Hope your journeys are kind, and thanks for the well-wishes and prayers.

James, thanks! We'll be fine. The storm is not going to be so strong that I expect any problems here during its passage.

The aftermath can be a different piece of cake. Since the infrastructure isn't too good on the island many may find themselves without power and/or water. We're prepared for that. The cisterns are full and my generator is working just great.

Nice that Matt is coming to visit, I hope you guys have a great time!

Deborah, I hope things won't be too bad in Isla Verde. Do you guys have panels to cover the windows? Especially on a higher floor that would be handy. Talk to the owner of the place if there are no panels stored somewhere in the apartment.

  Hey! Gracias again Gary!

We don't have panels on the windows, (yet?).
I'm waiting to hear back from the realtor that rented this place to us, and ask him if these can be installed, and I've asked him where to go in case we need to evacuate. I'll share here what I find out.

Is there anything we need to buy prior, that will help us survive the aftermath ~ other gallons of water?
How many days of water is needed, based on your experience? And where-o-where are solar powered fans around here anyhow? We've been asking and looking for them.

It is so good to know that you and yours, wherever you are here on PR, will be okay.
Best wishes for us all here on PR.

Deborah, yes, try to get panels.
You should buy (drinking) water for at least a couple of days. Also make sure you have food for a couple of days.

Your condo may have water tanks on the roof so you could shower in case the water supply is interrupted. Maybe there's also a generator, ask your landlord.
If there's no generator make sure you have enough batteries and candles.
In the city power and water are restored a lot faster if the service is down after a storm than where we are,out in boonies. Maybe you won't even lose power and water at all.
Try to buy your supplies as soon as you can. Tomorrow there'll be lines everywhere and shops may run out of supplies.

We have a couple of water tanks with a total capacity of 1,500 gallons - that will keep us going for some time. Then we keep around 20 gallons of drinking water.
We also have a generator and I just bought 10 gallons of gas for it. There were lines at the gas stations, it's gonna be worse tomorrow!

After Jeanne (a tropical storm, not a hurricane!) in 2004 we were without power for 10 days or so and the water supply was down for some time, too.

I don't expect time but it's better to be prepared!

Hi Deborah:
Not sure if you if you have a battery powered radio, but WOSO 1030am is a San Juan station that's broadcasted in English.  It might come in handy for news and updates.  Stay safe!

Speaking of generators!! Be careful and stay safe. Hopefully it will lose some steam before it hits. It's happened before.

Okay. So here is the lowdown.

About 30 ago, I spoke with Roberto. He is a security guard here. He said that panels are not usually installed up high like where we are, and that the governor of PR will shut the power off, maybe around 1pm tomorrow, if the storm/hurricane is to arrive around 4pm. 

Roberto said that the apartment buildings here have an electric generator, and that the generator will help provide air conditioning.

~ I do feel for all, including animals, who may be harmed by the power being shut off ~ 

Roberto also said that just after the storm~hurricane passes, expect to feel "Hot, hot, hot". This is because the winds will bring hot air from further south.   

Is there anything else it'd be good for us to know?

We're headed out tonight to shop for supplies.

Gracias!

Great idea. A battery-operated radio.

DeborahMarchant wrote:

Great idea. A battery-operated radio.

Try to find one with a solar panel and a hand crank charger. They also have a special band where you can receive storm related info.

Also I hope the governor will NOT switch the power off. That's a recipe for trouble. Sila Calderon, the governor back in 2004, ordered that prior to the landfall of Jeanne and getting it back up was a major pain in the behind.

Those battery operated tap lights work pretty good too. We used them instead of oil lamps for light.

DeborahMarchant wrote:

Roberto also said that just after the storm~hurricane passes, expect to feel Hot, hot, hot. This is because the winds will bring hot air from further south.   

Is there anything else it'd be good for us to know?

Ask Roberto about the mosquitoes...
If you're without power after the storm you'll know what I'm talking about. 

Hi Gary (and all) -- Roberto will probably be around later tomorrow to ask him about those aftermath monsters. He did tell me that this week, he contracted that 'bad virus' that's going around right now here. It's from a mosquito bite. He said he felt worse than having dengue. It is more physically painful all around than having dengue.

To help ward off those buggers, we use a combo of neem, lemon eucalyptus oils, and sometimes we just use a great product called "Burt Bees Herbal Insect Repellent". It squirts out in a stream, so we squirt it on our palms to apply, even on our clothes and hair. It smells pretty good ~ I've even had compliments We also live waaaay up high on the 12th floor too, on purpose, because up here there are less chances, you probably already know about, of becoming a blood feast. Those invisible gnats called "No-See-Ums" are active right now too. This being their Fall Season in September through October, we arrived here right in the middle of the No See Um Season. 

~~~~~

We went to the Pueblo grocery store tonight, here in Isla Verde, and were surprised that no one but us were stocking up, and there were ALOT of people there. --- Thanks to you Gary, we are prepared, or at least better prepared than if I hadn't signed up for this forum And because of you, our realtor, our landlady, and a good friend of ours, here on PR now know too. They had no idea about Gonzalo until I gave them a heads up, like you did here. Thank you.

~~~~~
Well. For more info about Gonzalo, there's this.
It's a Youtube with more info about Gonzalo, and other storms and hurricanes happening now or about now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm9_ED6jW9U

Thanks!  Good to know that you guys are prepared.

The dengue like infection should be chickungunya. Many people contracted it on the island.

Things are looking better for Puerto Rico - the predicted track shifted to the east and if this verifies we're gonna have a lot less wind compared with yesterday's predictions.

Still it's going to get 'breezy' and we will get a lot of rain.

That's good news, Gary!  You all stay safe, prayers to everyone islandwide!

Hardly a breath of wind this morning in Bayamón, and just a little bit of rain last night.  Very nice morning, actually.  Hope everyone further east fared well.

Here on Isla Verde, where was the storm? 

With all the people wishing it'd go away,    maybe it did   

If you're concerned about mosquitoes you may want to look for Raid (or any other brand) Mosquito Coils, those green ones that you light. They burn all night and are quite effective. Use them a lot here in Brazil and I guess they should be available in PR too. They'll take care of most bugs including the Noseeums.

We dodged the bullet! Gonzalo stayed to our north east and since it's a relatively small hurricane we hardly got any rain and no strong winds at all.
Our neighbor islands of St Maarten and Anguila got the full blow though. Quite some damage and according to unconfirmed news 7 people missing..

Thanks,for the updates everyone! I'm so glad everyone safe.  Prayers to your neighboring islands with missing people 

Hey you WJ. 

About warding off the mosqs, I just saw the aerosol version of this, today at the local FreshMart in Hato Rey! This version is better for the air because it's a pump, not an aerosol. How Cool!  http://www.amazon.com/EcoSmart-Organic- … B001CRQW7A

Gary, glad to hear that PR was spared the blast and that everybody is OK there. Prayers going out to the surrounding islands that took the hit, especially for the missing.

Cheers,
James

Wheww! It was like a drill for us here.

I found this Facebook last night, in the process of trying to know what Gonzalo was up to, I hunted around online for up-to-date news about that character, because our battery operated radio didn't tune into any English speaking weather news. 

This Facebook provides insights from those on the ground, and most impacted by glad-to-be-gone Gonzalo.
https://www.facebook.com/NWSSanJuan

I made a little video of satellite pics of Gonzalo which shows how Gonzalo started to move NW  just before hitting PR.

Click here for Youtube video