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QUESTION: How does Church Hill fare during hurricanes?

Jessica asks:

So I know we’ve had our problems with sinkholes and landslides, but generally speaking, how does Church Hill fare during a hurricane or higher-than-normal rain volume? Looking ahead to the weekend and wondering if I need to be alarmed or if I should be prepared, but consider myself alright, given that we’re on the hill.

The power could be out for some days if it gets cray cray up here. Don’t park under a big tree. Stock up on essentials. What else?

Previously: Gaston / Irene / Sandy

18 comments

crd 09/30/2015 at 8:37 PM

With the saturated ground, I’d say lots of trees down, meaning a few power outages.

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crd 09/30/2015 at 8:50 PM

john go back and look at hurricane history, I think it was 1996 when we had something similar happen. Lots of downed trees, not sure how long the power was out. The outage around Irene was anything from three or four days to ten days. Gaston outages were less but there was more damage, see the sink hole at Chimbo as evidence.

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JB 09/30/2015 at 9:10 PM

Hi, Mom! You made the news again!

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jean mcdaniel 10/01/2015 at 5:50 AM

Because of our large trees, we tend to have power outages from toppled trees. With all the rain in the last few days making the soil saturated, this increases the chances of a tree being uprooted. The longest we have ever been without electricity was 10 days.

Some tips for surviving that we have done in the past…
Whoever has the largest pot makes the clean out the freezer soup ( we usually have more than one flavour going ). Whoever cooks with gas cooks it. Everybody brings bread and BYOB ( bring your own bowl )

Otherwise, be gratefull nobody got hurt, and give the utility workers some soup.

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Eric Huffstutler 10/01/2015 at 1:06 PM

Church Hill has one thing going for it… the key word “Hill”. We average 150-feet above the river level so flooding is not an issue. The land undulates with peaks and valleys and it is one valley, Shockoe Bottom, where the waters run to.

There are a LOT of old trees, many with a shallow root system, and when the ground becomes saturated with rain, the soil is soft enough that a good gust or steady wind can push them over causing property damage and power outages. Also, the power station for our area is down by Brown’s Island next to the Troutman Sander’s building and can also flood as it did with Gaston. Keep plenty of water on hand as with Gaston in 2004, we had contaminated water we could not use for several days. We did have a 30-foot sinkhole at 31st and Grace open up and a hill slide as well with Gaston.

There have been several strong hurricanes who’s remnants passed over Richmond and residual flood waters that travel down the James have created havoc. Hurricane Hazel in 1954 took out the steeple on the old Trinity Methodist Church at 20th and Broad. Hurricane Camille in 1969 cause a lot of flood damage but so did Agnes in 1972 where flood waters reached up to and over bridges crossing the James River. The Shockoe area and beyond looked like New Orleans.

Just be prepared for power outages that can last a week or more. You can cook if you have a gas range but also can utilize your propane grills so get those tanks topped off. Plenty of batteries and a means to charge your cell phones (like in your car) if you don’t have a land line. Plenty of gasoline in case there is any sort of evacuation. Make sure anything that can be picked up by a gust of wind is secured or stored away. Put down patio umbrellas. Bring your pets indoors. If you have trees close to the house and they could possibly have limbs broken off or topple over, go to a safe house somewhere. Have plenty of food or rations on hand and bottled water.

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Eric Huffstutler 10/01/2015 at 1:11 PM

Also have “cash” on hand because ATM, debit/credit systems, or power in general can be down and no way to pay for things without cash, if stores are able to open up makeshift registers.

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Eric Huffstutler 10/01/2015 at 1:13 PM

I am CERT Certified and if anyone in my neighborhood needs any kind of help during or after the hurricane, or advice to prepare, please let me know. You know where I live at 407 N 27th and can reach me on Facebook under my real name or here.

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crd 10/01/2015 at 1:41 PM

I should have said Isabel not Irene in @4. Isabel was a huge storm and really powerful. I had power out for four days, threw out a lot from the ‘fridge. Other than that, have lots of batteries, charge your cell phone ahead of time, and don’t park under a big tree as John already said.

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Eric Huffstutler 10/01/2015 at 3:18 PM

crd @10… oh yes, Isabel in 2003 was deep hitting because we had several trees down at our summer place up in the Blue Ridge at George Washington National from the winds and soaking rains.

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Melissa 10/02/2015 at 9:05 PM

Can’t stress enough about keeping your cars away from trees. If a city tree falls and damages your car (or your home), it’s all on you or your insurance. They call it an Act of Nature … even if the tree is dead or dying and the city has been alerted about a potentially dangerous situation. Don’t learn the hard way.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 10/03/2015 at 9:59 PM

Wasn’t there a case not long ago where a tree fell on a house and the man complained to the city several times about it but they ignored him. He was able to sue the city?

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