Irma...

[markinnaples]

So as of the latest reports, we're in the bulls-eye for Irma.
After what Texas just went through, say some prayers that this thing takes a hard northern turn and meanders out to sea.

Anyone else in SoFlo?

[earntaz]

Our prayers are with you Mark. Stock up on drinking water and fuel and if you have a generator -- that's a plus ... TAZ

[SS427]

Get one of these, Aqua dam. Pretty neat deal as long as the water does not rise more than 30". Expensive but then again, far cheaper than not having one if it is anything like the last one. Good luck and stay safe Mark!

http://www.snopes.com/texas-house-saved-inflatable-dam/

[Mr70]

Four of my relatives are visiting here in Il.this week that came from Stuart Florida.
They're stretching their trip a few more weeks now because of Irma currently @ a category 5 & 180 mph winds.
I agree,I would take this very seriously,until they say not too,based on what happened in Tx.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/us/hurricane-irma.html

[COPO]

We just left St. Thomas, USVI on Friday, so timing for us was great. Hate to see the destruction a Cat. 5 will cause there as it looks like a direct hit is imminent.

[77Z28]

Checking in from Savannah, Ga here. I feel for those affected by hurricane Harvey and those in direct path of hurricane Irma. Savannah experienced hurricane Mathew last year which at Category 1 was a wakeup call for us. Savannah hasn't been a target in a long time. My neighbor had 2 trees fall on his house and is just now back to pre-damage condition. My neighbor rode out the hurricane and regretted it. You got to leave.

One projected path I saw had hurricane tracking up east coast, scary! Stay safe everybody, Todd

[Lee Stewart]

They are giving Floridians PLENTY of time to evacuate. If you live in the projected path of Irma, get out now. If you wait for the last minute there is an excellent chance you will not be able to evacuate.

From someone who lived through Katrina: 2 weeks no power, 4 weeks no internet or TV. It took 5 days just to clear the downed trees so I could leave my condo complex.

60 people died from Harvey. How many of those could have been avoided if they had evacuated.

Don't be a statistic . . . be safe.

[bergy]

We're on Marco Island getting everything secure. Leaving to stay with friends inland later today.

[Mr70]

Yikes.. https://www.facebook.com/hmoyaduran/posts/1859486114091995

[markinnaples]

bergy, where are you headed? We've put up most of our shutters and secured most of our outside stuff, but will finish that tonight. Depending on the route it decides to take, we may go to Orlando but we're waiting until tomorrow to decide. Hopefully it continues to turn north and avoid a direct hit on FL.

If it doesn't hit us directly and downgrades a little, we may stay in Naples at either our house or a friend's new house that is all poured concrete construction and in a community where all the houses are close together so the winds can't get between them as much. We'll see where she heads over the next 24 hours and go from there.

[Chick_Maggot]

Best of luck, Mark.

[bergy]

We're right on the water in a single story house. Highway 75 is 30 mph max all the way from Marco to Tampa!

[markinnaples]

Are you on the road now Bergy? Heard that the traffic wasn't that bad earlier.

Thanks everyone. My family is my first priority, obviously, so we'll play it by ear as to whether we evac or hunker down. Whatever keeps them safe will be my decision.

[earntaz]

All you Floridians -- be safe and for sure don't try to second guess this bit_h ... she is deadly. TAZ

[Lee Stewart]

https://s26.postimg.org/xurpq7l15/AArpwm_D.png (https://postimages.org/)

https://s26.postimg.org/fgh6m88qh/AArpy_Pf.png (https://postimages.org/)

[Mr. Chevy]

This is footage from the Maho Beach web cam on St. Maarten of Irma coming through with 185 MPH winds. Maho beach is where you watch the airplanes fly low into the airport on the island. The famous Sunset Bar is there also. The wife and I have been there several times.

Thoughts and prayers go out to those affected...

Rich

https://youtu.be/-Y9P1BbKBCA

[Lee Stewart]

https://s26.postimg.org/3jv45s6k9/AAru5_EA.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Latest forecast for Irma

Believe it or not - this is an improvement. They are now saying it will only be a Cat 4 when it makes landfall and quickly drop to a Cat 3. Andrew (1992) made landfall as a Cat 5.

[EZ Nova]

Lee. let's not paint a pretty picture?

Andrew, even though a Cat 5, just went east/west across the Homestead Miami area. Irma, running north/south and inland even at a lower Cat 3 after hitting land, could very well be much more destruction the Andrew???

Only good part is central Florida is less populated than the coastlines.

I Honeymooned for 3 weeks last summer in Cuba (being Canadian I've been there 4 times). And some of their housing is just grass-hut construction? Those are the people I'm concerned for as I've seen first hand their living conditions and being a poor country. Cubans will survive, there the "Cayo's" (Cuban for Keys) are going to be hit pretty good being on the NW side just off the Island.

To all, be safe and take cover.

[Lee Stewart]

https://s26.postimg.org/u4jl5v1bd/image.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Uh Oh

[bigsixman]

My thoughts are with everyone in the path of Irma and those that were in the path of Harvey.

[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/hurricane-irma-threatens-power-losses-for-millions-in-florida/ar-AAruRZp?ocid=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]

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. :frown:

[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.

[Lee Stewart]

https://s26.postimg.org/q03gkzyyh/image.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[bergy]

Our home is directly on the water on Marco. Pool is 4' above "dry land" - house is 6' - 7' above. Looks like I may have a 67 Corvette insurance claim. Ugh!

[TDW]

Our home is directly on the water on Marco. Pool is 4' above "dry land" - house is 6' - 7' above. Looks like I may have a 67 Corvette insurance claim. Ugh!



Sounds like Marco got whacked pretty bad around 3:30. I hope you didn't get hit too bad. Best of luck.

[Lee Stewart]

Everyone OK?

[bergy]

We're going back down to Marco this morning. Got word from a friend on Marco yesterday that we had minimal damage! Thanks to those who prayed for everyone in the path of Irma! :-)

[300deluxeL79]

Any word out of the Keys yet?

[TDW]

We're going back down to Marco this morning. Got word from a friend on Marco yesterday that we had minimal damage! Thanks to those who prayed for everyone in the path of Irma! :-)

Great news!


I have a lot of trees down, some fencing crushed, and of course no power. The river is still one foot from flood stage, so hopefully it will not flood.

[Lee Stewart]

Any word out of the Keys yet?

Access restored to displaced residents of Upper Florida Keys

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/access-restored-to-displaced-residents-of-upper-florida-keys/ar-AArNFnE?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

[Lee Stewart]

After Irma, Florida prepares for days — and maybe weeks — without power

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/after-irma-florida-prepares-for-days-%E2%80%94-and-maybe-weeks-%E2%80%94-without-power/ar-AArOeuf?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

[markinnaples]

Hello Everyone, Just wanted to let you all know that we’re OK. We had some damage but in consideration of what we went through, it’s relatively small.
The storm was pretty dramatic but in some ways I’m glad we stayed as I was able to prevent further damage to our house a couple times.
We are still without power and cell phone coverage at home, but we were able to go to Ft Myers with family and they are in a pocket with both electric and cell service, so thank God for that.
Hope you and loved ones are all OK and that your homes are in-tact. I appreciate the messages of caring and concern over the past few days, thanks.
Mark

[earntaz]

Glad to hear you and yours are OK ... I have relatives in Clearwater and they OK but are still without power -- TAZ

[77Z28]

Here in Savannah, GA the storm was much different from Mathew a year ago. Irma brought tremendous storm surge flooding due to it occurring near high tide, but winds were much less. School cancelled for the week, most have power back-on. South central GA got hit pretty bad with winds with many still without power. Thoughts and prayers for those still affected and with property loss. Todd

[Lee Stewart]

Florida Keys Are Closed to Tourists

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/florida-keys-are-closed-to-tourists/ar-AArVB2t?li=BBnbklE&ocid=spartandhp