Hurricane Coming!

Hi All.

I live in south Florida, and it looks like hurricane Irma is coming right at us! My house (where all my cameras and other photo gear is) is fairly secure, and has gone thru one hurricane so far in it's life, but I'm wondering, does anyone know how well 4x5 gear can handle going thru a hurricane just in case we get hit head on? I would imagine my Linhof would need to be sent back to Linhof to be completely serviced, and my lenses would all need cla's , that is if they're even salvagable! Am I wrong?

Probably too late, but I'd expect a pelican case to protect it's contents in a situation like this. I'd probably tie the case down too.
If you insure it, make sure that paperwork and documentation is all good. If not, don't lose your account/password for the forsale forum here and ebay.

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Originally Posted by jp

Probably too late, but I'd expect a pelican case to protect it's contents in a situation like this. I'd probably tie the case down too.
If you insure it, make sure that paperwork and documentation is all good. If not, don't lose your account/password for the forsale forum here and ebay.

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Live in Port Richey, Fl. all photo gear packed and ready to move out.
Credit Cards, cash, important paper and clean clothes, the rest can be replaced if need be.
Good luck we are staying in place until ordered out.

I've heard some doseys, but "how will my 4x5 do in a hurricane" is the best.

Um....depends. Is it going to be underwater? Are you going to leave it outside? Will a tree fall on it? Or will your house remain water tight or you put it in a dry car? Good grief....every case is different. How could anyone possibly "guess" what will happen to one item in one house, in one city, in one moment in time????

A simple experiment will answer the question. Place your camera on the sidewalk. Position several "control" items beside in, in a line. A toaster, a cat, a loaf of bread. Get a garden hose and stretch it over to the experimental test range....

Reputedly, the dishwasher is a fairly good storage place. It is more or less water tight and is anchored in place.

Most modern 4x5's have been engineered to current camera-building codes to be hurricane-proof. It's the shark-nados you have to watch out for...

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Originally Posted by goamules

I've heard some doseys, but "how will my 4x5 do in a hurricane" is the best.

Um....depends. Is it going to be underwater? Are you going to leave it outside? Will a tree fall on it? Or will your house remain water tight or you put it in a dry car? Good grief....every case is different. How could anyone possibly "guess" what will happen to one item in one house, in one city, in one moment in time????

A simple experiment will answer the question. Place your camera on the sidewalk. Position several "control" items beside in, in a line. A toaster, a cat, a loaf of bread. Get a garden hose and stretch it over to the experimental test range....

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I was asking a serious question, after seeing those folks in TX waiting to be rescued on their roofs, I was thinking worst case, yes my gear would be under water, and I don't know how water tite my cases are. I asked the question as a real question, figuring maybe there was somebody here that has gone thru something similar, not for you to give a snarky answer to, that helps nobody.

If you have a boat in the garage, it might be a place to put stuff in that won't get wet from below...

Crazy as it might be, even an inflatable pool boat/raft in the house to put other stuff in would at least float if the floor flooded...

Put as much on the highest shelves, or 2nd floor above possible waterlines... Wrap cases/stuff in plastic bags if windows blow out and rain comes in... Maybe putting stuff in large picnic coolers and taping shut...

Hope you don't have to say; Toto, I don't think we are in Florida anymore...

Good Luck, and be safe!!!!

Steve K

I pride myself in good old fashioned American ingenuity. The Internet has created a lot of helplessness. Your question is "...does anyone know how well 4x5 gear can handle going thru a hurricane ..."

You've been in a hurricane, I've been in about 20 of them. Every case is different. I'll give an educated guess: 50% can handle going through a hurricane, and 50% cannot. If you are asking "can I immerse my LF gear in water?" The answer is no.

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Originally Posted by j.e.simmons

Reputedly, the dishwasher is a fairly good storage place. It is more or less water tight and is anchored in place.

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Probably the most counter-intuitive - but completely logical - advice I've ever heard. Not to mention that few looters or thieves would look in the dishwasher.

Just stay safe. I have no suggestions other than fastening the camera to an old Majestic tripod should prevent it from blowing away.

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned tying a small sandbag to the bottom of the centre-column yet . . .

;)


More seriously, the best way to guarantee safety for the gear (and yourselves) is to be somewhere else. Good luck.

I just looked at the interactive weather map www.windy.com and it looks as though the east coast of Florida will be (somewhat) spared but the west coast will get slammed. And then on Monday, Hurricane Irma will head directly toward ME! :eek:

Much of my most important camera equipment is in Pelican cases that I have been buying on the used market for a couple years here in Atlanta at Wing's Camera. The rest will just have to fend for itself.

Our house is on a hill and Atlanta (in general) is 1,000 feet above sea level so flooding for me is not an issue. But as hurricanes do, they like to spin off tornadoes on their eastern side as they move; right now, that is my only fear. The Atlanta area is predicted to receive about 3 inches of rain and wind gusts approaching 80 miles per hour. So falling trees are a possibility. With that in mind, this afternoon I walked around our property using my cell phone to record "Before" views of the house, trees and my car. Let's just hope I do not need any matching "After" views. :eek:

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BTW, that interactive weather map at www.windy.com is useful for anyone in the WORLD to see weather conditions such as pressure, wind, waves, rain, snow, dust, cloud heights and much more. Check it out. It is free to use. Use your mouse to drag around the view you would like and/or click on the "+" or "-" buttons to zoom in or out.

For example, here is a world-wide view of air pressure and wind currents: https://www.windy.com/?pressure,33.877,-84.334,3

I just hope YOU survive! I would have packed up important gear and things and gotta out! A Cat 5 or 4 is something you do not want to mess with. If you have been through hurricanes in the past and thought I'll just ride it out I'd say not this one. We had family in the Philippines who thought the same thing with Typhoon Haiyan and six lives were lost in the strongest Typhoon ever recorded on land. What happens to you when you house is ripped from its foundation? I'd find somewhere else to live during hurricane season. Best of luck to you.

Well, luckily the east coast of FL was spared, so I had no damage, other than having a couple of trees that we had to remove as they were getting kind of weak, but thanks for all those that had serious answers, I never would have thought of the dish washer! And to the person that mentioned putting it on an old Majestic tripod, that's where it normally lives! :) I love my old tripod, I've even removed the original top plate, and mounted a quick release plate on it so I can take the camera off to use handheld easily when I want to, I just wish it wasn't quite as heavy as it is!

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We got hit with the eye in CF but I live in a third floor apartment so I wasn't concerned about flooding. Now what the fun part was was after the storm but still in the very strong wind gusts, I went out to shoot some fallen trees! LF gear holds up quite well in hurricane gusts when your camera weighs a ton! Course, I stuck every lens I own in my pack to use as a weight also.

Over 3 weeks ago I was living in Houston with Harvey approaching with the expected 50 inches of rain. It was serious preparation time. I placed all my photo gear in plastic tubs and then up as high as possible; on the washer and dryer, high shelves, kitchen counters, tables, tall furniture, etc. I got 3 inches of water inside and lost a lot of personal items and furniture but no losses of photographic items. I was worried the high water would be worse and didn't have a plan if it did.

It's not just the high water, it's the searing humidity after the hurricane. It's necessary to get your possessions aired out so that mold and mildew won't do damage. I pulled the carpets out of my apartment and neighbor's apartments as soon as we could. The interior mold showed up 2 days after the rain stopped. We worked like animals for several days. All the while with our homes no longer safe to stay in.

I've seen containers of dessicating gel the size of small sour cream tubs at the $1 store (microwave to renew), if I were at any risk of flooding I would buy a bunch of those, put them in large plastic bins with all my gear and tape the lids all around, then put everything on the 2nd floor or attic and leave them until repairs were complete. If the 2nd floor floods, camera gear isn't my biggest concern.

Given where I live, I should buy the dessicant this winter, because last spring the water came within 1-1/2" of the top of the dike at the end of the street here in Pierrefonds (Montreal). I didn't realise how close we were until the day before it crested, I had little time to prepare. The neighborhood got together to build a sandbag wall, but the army was nowhere to be seen in our immediate area, they concentrated on more upscale developments just east and west of us. But I'm not bitter.

I came through Irma without much damage, but a lot of people in my town and others nearby are without food. I've seen no sign of the Red Cross or FEMA, but local churches have set up hot food kitchens and the Salvation Army is runnibg food trucks all around the county. If you have a few spare bucks, it would help a lot of people if you sent a contribution to the Salvation Army.