Storms and Studios

[chris23]

Just out of curiosity: What do you those of you with lots of gear and studio equipment do when you know there is a significant storm approaching?

I also see Julio Di Benedetto hasn't posted since June. I hope he's okay. I know he lives in Florida, but I'm not sure how far south. Julio, I hope you'll be able to check in at some point. Hurricane Irma looks terrifying.

[APK]

Yes, one very scary bit of weather.

I'm up in the attic of North America, so not affected.
But I imagine serious gear guys would fill the car/van with the important bits and head north,
leaving family and relative to care for themselves.  ;)

[phobos]

Hope everyone affected by the storms/hurricanes will be OK. Stay safe, you can replace gear/houses/cars etc but you can't replace yourself and loved ones.

[petekelly]

Too right, forget about the equipment (and pretty much everything else) in that kind of scenario - it must be terrifying.
Hope Julio is okay.

[Scott M2]

It must be especially tricky (to protect the gear) for all the people with basement studios.  :-\

[thirdsystem]

Watched that horrendous storm unfold on CNN last night. The reporter lad that was in Naples , Florida , deserves a medal for his reporting. Unreal stuff.

I think Julio stays near the coast in Florida, recall his beautiful, coastal, photograph album cover. Hope all is ok with him and his family/home/studio.

For me it would be wife/bairns/dugs/cats/Fender/FAX/etc into the motor and head North. Would be gutted about the rest of my gear though.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Thats a great title by the way.

Thanks so much for your concerns.....all is well, myself, family and studio.

It was very sketchy for a while as Irma was slotted to plough through the east coast of Florida and hit my area with a Cat 4, 130 mph winds   It ended up going to the west coast so we got lots of wine (I only wish though there was not much else to do) and rain but nothing too serious.  Lost power for a bit but no real hardships, which would be no AC in September is sort of like no heating in winter, sure you live but its very unpleasant.

This was my 5th Hurricane, 3 in 2004,2005. One last year and now Irma.

Hurricane Jose is out there but looks to stay in the Atlantic and send some good waves to surf.

It is always a humbling experience to feel the power of our plant and the fury of mother nature....she gives and she takes,

[petekelly]

Great to hear you're okay, Julio !
As you know, we don't get hurricanes and the like over here in the UK, but when we do get storms / bad winters, it makes me very aware of the power of nature.

[APK]

Good to hear all is well, Julio  :)

[chris23]

Great news! And you really meant "wine" and not "wind", right?  ;D

[Scott M2]

Glad you weathered the storm well Julio and "wine" really did work in that sentence.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Thanks everyone.

I saw the typo but thats all one can really do.....drink or "whine" because its so damn hot if the power goes out. ;D

Studio safety.....If damage to gear happens its 99% of the time from water from a compromised roof so I cover the studio desk with monitors and outboard gear with a tarp, same with the keyboards.  I have in the past emptied the studio of "precious" pieces and placed them high in the strongest part of the house, the middle and this time I was going to do as APK suggested to fill our cars with equipment which were in our garage.  That is the best, well and insurance as a backup.

The worst part of a hurricane is waiting and trying to second guess direction. People got really scared with this one and caused a nightmare of an exodus either away from the coasts of Florida or actually leaving the state altogether.  I know people that left my area on the east coast to go to the west coast of Florida as Irma's was supposed to hit us only to find out that her path changed and slammed in to the west coast instead where they had gone for safety.  Best thing to do is just batten down the hatches and wait it out.

[Castleview]

Great to see you back Julio, and glad to know that your studio survived.

Good thing that storm weakened a bit over Cuba.

[CausticReverie]

I live in the Florida Keys, so Irma had me freaked out. My studio is in a bedroom on the second floor of a concrete building with hurricane shutters, so I was relatively sure my gear would survive. I did end up backing up my current projects to Blu-ray, disconnecting the studio computer, and moving it into the middle of the room, on the off chance that one of my windows somehow got damaged anyways.

Lucky to report, I escaped this storm relatively unharmed. The winds were strong enough to lift the air conditioner off the roof, and a gust through the vent blew out the A/C filter and broke a light fixture in an adjacent hallway. The storm surge was on the other side of the highway, thankfully, so no salt water intrusion on the downstairs either. 

[chris23]

Freaky. Glad you had minimal damage.