Ernesto!

I posted the following article on my eBay blog:

Growing up and living on the North Carolina Coast, hurricanes are expected. The past few years we have been very blessed to have had very mild hurricane seasons. We might be lucky again this year (*knock on wood*) as Ernesto has been downgraded to a tropical depression. Per The Weather Channel:

The center of Ernesto will emerge over the waters of the Atlantic during the next few hours. When it does so, it should strengthen back up to tropical storm strength with an eventual landfall just north of Charleston, South Carolina Thursday during the late afternoon hours. Yet again, locally flooding rains will be the main threat from Ernesto although it will also kick up the waves along the coasts of South and North Carolina; rising between 15 to 25 feet. Some beach erosion is possible all the way to southeast Virgina by Thursday night.

All hurricane watches have been dropped however tropical storm warnings remain posted from the northern half of the east coast of Florida northward to Cape Lookout, North Carolina.

Our family always keeps a hurricane surival kit just in case! Key supplies include:

• Bottled Water (1 gallon per person per day) 3 day supply
• Canned Food (that does not need to be heated to eat)
• Wipes/Purell
  
• Extra buckets to fill with rain water (to flush toilets if power is loss)
• Batteries
• For flash lights and radio
• Board Games
• A tub filled with water (great for water for bathing)

If there is a storm warning, it's good to do the following things:

• Catch up on laundry (you may be without power for days!)
• Remove anything outside that can fly away and break cars/windows (place in garage, storage sheds, etc)
• Board up those windows!
• Clean out your freezers (if you lose power, a lot of food will spoil. It's good to trash the extra before it gets smelly!)
• Buy dry ice and place in freezer/fridge. It works great for keeping food
• Check up on your elderly/shut in neighbors, see if they need help

Good luck everyone and stay safe!