Here Come The Stormz

Photo courtesy of
‘Hurricane Isabel’
courtesy of ‘John Griffiths’

Yeah, I was going to say here come the ‘Canes but the thing is? I’m from North Carolina where the ‘Canes have a whole ‘nother sporty meaning… but point is: This week marks the start of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season! WOO HOO! This year, the National Weather Service predicts a near normal period with nine to 14 named storms, four to seven of them becoming hurricanes, and one to three will be major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.

Pepco, your much-hated power company sent along some handy tips for your power survival: 1) Keep Pepco emergency numbers accessible to report outages or wires down. For outages, call 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662). 2) Make sure Pepco has the latest phone number registered in our automated Outage Management System, to identify your location and quickly locate the source of trouble. Customers can update numbers online at www.pepco.com or call Customer Care at 202-833-7500.

Other more general tips for the season include: 3) Prepare an emergency survival kit. This would include a flashlight, battery-powered radio, fresh batteries, essential medication, nonperishable food, and enough fresh water to last several days. 4) Develop a contingency plan. Decide what to do in the event of a lengthy power outage such as seeking temporary shelter with family or friends. I personally am covered since my total worry-wart Mother (love you, Mom) gave me this for Christmas.

Katie moved to DC in 2007, and has since embarked upon a love affair with the city. She’s an education reform advocate and communications professional during the day; at night and on the weekends, she’s an owner here at We Love DC. Katie has high goals to eat herself through the entire city, with only her running shoes to save her from herself. For up-to-the-minute news and reviews (among other musings), follow her on Twitter!

2 thoughts on “Here Come The Stormz”

  1. “I’m from North Carolina where the ‘Canes have a whole ‘nother sporty meaning”

    I’d like to make a ‘Canes joke in reply, but… my Bruins sure didn’t seem to laugh much at them this year.

    OK, so kidding aside, I’ve lived here for about 2 1/2 years now, and I’ve gotten the tattered remains of one hurricane in that time (Faye, last year). That barely even counted- we get stronger storms than that was about twice a week back home in Denver.

    So my question to you all is: Do hurricanes- not remains, but actuall hurricanes- really strike here? How often? And if they do, what can we expect from it in terms of roads, Metro, federal closure, etc.?

  2. For some of us, if it is hitting DC some of us will be heading toward the worst hit areas, not hunkering down.
    If a natural event is bad enough to adversely effect DC, other parts of the surrounding states are probably in worse shape.