zea3 said:
P.S. If you have an Intex style pool you should go ahead and take it down. I dont think one of those would survive a direct hit.
Really? I thought the advice I usually hear regarding AGP is to fill it to the top or near the top allowing for the forecast rain levels to prevent catching wind and hope for the best in that regard. With a lot of rain, as expected in this slow moving storm, overflow will be a real issue. Plus, it may be that you NEED that water after a storm. If it is clean enough you can use it, even with no power, if you keep it chlorinated. I might not drink it but I'd sure want to keep that water and all the costly chemicals that it takes to rebalance a fresh fill.
I think if I had an AGP and worried about overflow, I'd secure a garden hose with the head about 5 inches below the rim of the pool. I'd snake that hose through the yard, the side yard and out somewhere very close to the front door. Might have to string several hoses together. Then during the storm if I could somehow see that the pool was threatening to overflow, I'd step outside and take a long suck on that hose to start a siphon. If the hose was empty to start (has to be empty, be sure of that), one draw would be all it took to get water moving out of the pool. It would flow until the pool level fell enough to break suction. Now, from my front door the water would naturally flow down the walkway to the street, your situation might be different.
And, that trick probably would not work a second time, since the hose would then be full of water and sucking on that enough to get a siphon started is much harder. Possibly one could raise the hose up into the air above your head, long enough for water to flow backwards to refill the air gap at the pool and drop it to the ground to get it started again, maybe.
I think that 5 inches would be enough space for storm rainfall, given that you could use this trick to get another 5 inches out if you had to. Odds are that the rain will continue long after the winds have passed so you ought to have a chance to go out and tend to the pool at some point if you must.
I do like the sand bag suggestion. If our spa was hit by a tree that water would surge into the living room doors. I have always thought that I would just partly drain the spa since it is so elevated and nearest the house. That would mean that while the pool was running the spa would be out of circulation, not a bad thing, I guess.