We are under 'watch' as of right now. Having been through Diana, Hugo, Bertha, Fran (no power for 5 days and looters around), Felix, Ernesto and others that I can not remember their names, you pre-prepare no matter how serious the storm may be. You treat the mild tropical storm the same as a Cat-5 in reference to preparations in reference to gasoline, batteries, water and bread, tarps and rope, and keeping the cellphone charged as much as possible.
I have a weather / am-fm / tv band radio and also have a police scanner. I hate to say it but NOAA doesn't update latest coordinates until 20 minutes after the hour and by then, The Weather Channel, Internet, and local media has already broadcasted them over and over again. The only time NOAA is more current is when the storm is in close proximmity.
Around here, information is held back to make sure law enforcement and 'emergency management' gets in place then the information is released hours later to the media where they play 'hero'. You learn so much more about what is going on in the storm with the police scanner monitoring the police, emergency management, sheriffs, highway patrol, red cross, weather band, aeronautical weather, city traffic control, and I have on my scanner the ability to listen to marine band which makes listening to marine emergency channel 16 possible because of the more detailed forecasts on the water. I also have frequencies to the local power company's fleet trucks two-way radio system that a friend who works there gave me. Also, in my good ole truck, I have a CB and you learn about what roads are passable or not monitoring channels 9, 19, 11, 14, and locally here, 5, 28, and 30 where alot of local talk takes place and people test their linears out.
When the Weather Channel comes nearby to do their on-site report at the top of the hour, I usually go down to the beach and try to meet them.
You know what parts of the city is without power, where trees have fallen into which streets making them impassable, where the traffic lights have gone down, etc. More than what the radio and tv stations know.
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The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. -- Albert Einstein
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