North Carolina State of Emergency Declaration
North Carolina declared a “State of Emergency” on Friday, Sept 7th, 2018. The state made this decision almost a whole week before and over 1,000 miles away from the Category 4 hurricane was predicted to hit the East Coast. See this link
History of the Past Hurricanes that Have Started 100 Miles from where Florence Started
According to a Weather Channel article and I quote:
The closest hurricane to approach the United States from Florence’s position was Hurricane George (highlighted above) in 1950, but even George was 500 miles away
Here is the good old Hurricane Florence, trying ever so hard to make it all the way to us.
Chain of Events
Monday Ordered Water, Chainsaw, and Other Supplies
Amazon said it would be there by Wednesday, Sept 12th, 2018. Since the storm was not going to even hit North Carolina land until at the earliest of Thursday, Sept 13th, 2018 @ 8am, this should be fine.
Why did Water need to be Ordered?
My wife went to Target on Monday, Sept 10th, our normal shopping day, to find shelves already empty 4 days before it was going to hit.
Ordered the Water that was Available on Amazon
The prices were excessive, but I was not surprised. In a pinch, I ordered some seltzer water (bubly) and some Hint Water, which is flat and just has a hint of flavor. All of this is still water. Most water and other items were all saying that it would deliver on Monday, Sept 17th (the following week and too late) or the prices were just too high. All of these non-traditional waters, were available to be delivered on Wednesday, the day before the storm might hit.
Everything is Good and “On Time” Until…
Amazon tells me, it is “on the way, but it may be late”. I have never seen this: what the heck does that mean?
Looked up the UPS Tracking Number on Ups’ Website
Apparently, we have severe weather that I cannot see. Outside, was actually bright and sunny.
As you can see by the image, my area/zip code was not affected. Although, it is delayed by weather or natural disaster.
There is No Weather or Natural Disaster
Here is the legend from Noaa
No Possible Chance of Damaging Winds
About 10% chance of > 74 MPH winds
About 20 to 30% chance of 58MPH winds
And finally 70 to 80% chance of 39MPH winds
Is This Justified?
Should my packages be automatically delayed before there’s an issue? Or is it that too many other people have also ordered several items from online businesses, and UPS cannot keep up with the demand and there is no other UPS code to say, “we do not have the staff to keep up, and it is easier to just use the well-established and extremely vague code for an impending “natural disaster”? I say, create a new code and own it.
