Friday Findings
I’m a curious soul – with a wide range of nerdy and geeky interests, ranging from space exploration to theological concepts. I often find interesting items when stumbling about on the internet – and on Friday’s I like to share my findings with you!
Even as I write this tonight, much of the East Coast is feeling the impacts of Hurricane Florence. This has been – and will continue to be – a disastrous storm for many people. Here on the coast of Southeast Virginia, we’ve moved from being in line for a near-direct hit, to now being out of the “cone”, but still anticipating Tropical Storm level effects.
With the advancements in technology, and with the ever-present phenomenon of social media coupled with the very slow advance of Florence, I wonder if this storm might be one of the most-reported and discussed storms since Katrina devastated the gulf coast.
For today’s Friday Findings, I’ve decided to feature items related to hurricanes in general. I do so a bit somberly and with grief for those who are currently losing property and who are in harm’s way. Hurricanes are fascinating storms, so I hope to share with you a solid balance of education, interesting information, along with some ways that we can all help.
Why do we name Tropical Storms and Hurricanes?
I had read the answer to this question a few years back, but had forgotten, so I searched again and found a short, concise explanation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). This article explains not only why we name storms, but when it started, who controls the naming conventions, and what happens if all the names for a given year are used up in one season: Naming Storms
Extreme Hurricane Facts
The Weather Channel provided this list of notable hurricanes – such as the longest tracked storm, season with the most storms, and the fastest storm recorded. Check out these facts here: Hurricane Historical Facts
Hurricane Rumors
As mentioned above, Hurricane Florence has been widely reported on through standard media outlets and social media. As such, many rumors have “cropped up”. FEMA has established a Hurricane Florence Rumor Control website in order to try to stay ahead of the rumor mill – which is a sad testament to how quickly we, as a society, tend to pass along juicy bits of sensationalized information, before we even check out the validity of it: Combating the Rumor Mill
The Waffle House Index
One story that I’ve seen floating around quite a bit is the Waffle House Index – it goes something like this: FEMA calls Waffle Houses to determine the status of disasters, because Waffle Houses are always open. If they are open and able to serve their waffles – things are either ok, or at least getting back to normal.
I wasn’t sure if it was true, so I first checked it out on Snopes. What I read there led me to dig a bit deeper – because, there was definitely some “truth” to the story, though maybe not quite to the extent that people have been sharing on social media this past week. At the FEMA website, I found this great article, which talks about the Waffle House Index…but goes a bit deeper into so much more. Well worth your time to read – check it out here: More Syrup, Please
How to Prepare for a Hurricane
What if it is you, your family, and your property that are in the path of a hurricane? What do you do, to prepare, beyond buying cases of water and loaves of bread with 75,392 of your fellow neighbors? The Ready.gov website has a really great list to help walk you through the steps to prepare for an impending hurricane. I particularly like how they broke it down by hours, so you have a bit of a timeline to follow. Poking around their website a bit more – there is some really good info here on other disasters or emergency situations. Might be a good website to bookmark: Hurricane Preparedness
What Can I Do, to Help?
My friend, Christy Britton, and her family were living in the New Orleans area in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. In this article, she shares how Christians can help in the aftermath of such destruction. There is also a link in here, to her own personal story of recovery from Katrina: Helping After a Hurricane
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief program is one of the largest and most responsive faith-based disaster relief programs in existence. They are often first on the scenes, and stay long after other relief agencies leave devastated sites. Their assistance is wide-reaching – from debris removal to feeding programs for those displaced by storms, fires, floods and other terrible situations. They do so with love, compassion, hard-work, and the desire to always point those who they are serving with hope-giving actions, to the only one who can provide true hope. For more information, or to see how you can get involved, check out these two sites: SBC North American Mission Board: Hurricane Florence and Send Relief
Hurricane Florence from Space
Finally, dear readers, I leave you with this video of Hurricane Florence, as seen from the Space – it gives us a better perspective on the enormity of Florence – the seriousness of the situation for those in her path – but also the incredible beauty of our planet and the weather that we experience in her atmosphere. Much love, friends – Stay Safe, wherever you are.
