Irma...

[BJCHEV396]

Stay safe Florida.

[markinnaples]

Thanks guys. We're not looking great now that Irma has shifted west, but I think we're going to hunker down and ride her out. We shuttered up the house, secured everything outside and now we just wait. Appreciate the prayers.

[Lee Stewart]

Hurricane Irma threatens power losses for millions in Florida

Hurricane Irma poses a bigger menace to power supplies in Florida than Hurricane Harvey did in Texas because Irma is packing near 200 mile-per-hour winds (320 km/h) that could down power lines, close nuclear plants and threatens to leave millions of homes and businesses in the dark for weeks.

Irma's winds rival the strongest for any hurricane in history in the Atlantic, whereas Harvey's damage came from record rainfall. Even as Houston flooded, the power stayed on for most, allowing citizens to use TV and radio to stay apprised of danger, or social media to call for help.

"When Harvey made landfall in Texas it made it fully inland and weakened pretty quickly. Irma, however, could retain much of its strength," said Jason Setree, a meteorologist at Commodity Weather Group.

Irma has killed several people and devastated islands in the Caribbean.

Current forecasts put almost the entirety of the Florida peninsula in the path of the storm, which made landfall in the Caribbean with wind speeds of 185 mph (295 km/h).

The threat of the Category 5 storm, at the top of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, is grave enough that electricity generator Florida Power & Light (FPL) plans to shut its two nuclear power plants in the state, and officials warned that it may have to rebuild parts of its power system, which could take weeks.

Most Florida residents have not experienced a major storm since 2005, when total outages peaked around 3.6 million during Hurricane Wilma. Some of those outages lasted for weeks.

Setree compared the projected path of Irma to Hurricane Matthew in 2016, which knocked out power to about 1.2 million FPL customers in October.
FPL, a unit of Florida energy company NextEra Energy Inc., restored service to most customers affected by Matthew in just two days. But FPL spokesman Chris McGrath said: "With a storm as powerful as Irma, we want customers to prepare for damage to our infrastructure and potentially prolonged power outages."

He said it was too soon to speculate on the number and location of customers Irma could affect.

*SNIP*

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/storm/...cid=spartandhp

[Vern B]

No doubt there will be a huge number of outages, but there is already lots of help already staged there with more on the way. Consumers Energy from Michigan sent 80 service trucks south on Wednesday morning. They are staged in Lake City waiting to go to work. Power companies from other stars have sent hundreds more service trucks.

Hoping all my Florida family and friends stay safe this weekend.

[bergy]

We left Marco. I do have the 67 427/400 Corvette in my garage down there though. :-(

[JKZ27]

To all planning to stay and ride this out, I hope you've considered all options. We are trying to convince a family friend to come up from Cape Coral. This looks scary. Be safe, all!

[earntaz]

Originally Posted by JKZ27

To all planning to stay and ride this out, I hope you've considered all options. We are trying to convince a family friend to come up from Cape Coral. This looks scary. Be safe, all!

Know what you mean -- we have family in St Pete and they are sticking around ... UGH!!!@$ TAZ

[6667ss138]

My wife is in the Tampa area and I'm in Kansas. Sure wish I was there to help. She has lived there most of her life and doesn't usually get to excited or worried about these hurricanes living in the Tampa area but she is this time. A two story wood frame house filled with beautiful antique furniture that she has been collecting for years taking on 100+ mph winds has us worried. She is videoing everything and will go with her family to a shelter. My 67 Chevelle SS convertible is in the garage. Its fully insured with Hagerty so I guess I won't worry about that. All I can do from here is hope, pray and give her moral support.

[Lee Stewart]

Irma’s track shifted overnight: The eye of the storm is now expected to head up the state’s west coast, rather than the middle. Naples, Fort Myers and Tampa are now expected to bear the brunt of the storm. But because of the size of the hurricane, Florida’s east coast remains in danger, including from storm surges that will easily overwhelm some areas. But before the storm reaches the peninsula, the Florida Keys will experience its full force.

The National Hurricane Center downgraded Irma to a Category 3 storm Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. But the storm is expected to strengthen as it moves away from Cuba and toward the Florida Keys, where it is expected to hit Sunday morning. Irma will move along or near Florida’s southwest coast Sunday afternoon.

The National Weather Service said the west coast of Florida could see storm surges from four to 15 feet if peak surge happens during high tide.

Regardless of its track, all of Florida will likely experience damaging winds, rains, flooding and possibly tornadoes. The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for all of southern Florida and the Florida Keys until midnight Eastern Time.

[TDW]

Got me worried about the place that I built down there. I'm about 15 miles inland from the Gulf, with the Withlacoochee river running at the rear of my property. I have thousands of big trees all over the property, some 400 years old. Looks like the storm will be a direct hit on my place. Citrus County.