Friends, family in the path of Irma

[SadieBlake]

My daughter is in the Caribbean in a place that's going to be hit by category V winds tomorrow :-(. The bright side for her is she's relocated to a pretty safe location a mile from the water and on high ground. Also she'll be in one of the relatively low wind velocity areas of the storm (I.e.not the Northeast quadrant).

My thoughts will be with everyone in the path of this.

Hugs y'all

S

[HappyMoni]

Sadie, I hope she is okay. These storms are scary and we all hope no one gets hurt.

Moni

[Dani]

I live in Miami and I will be leaving town in a few days. Never argue with anything bigger than yourself.

[SadieBlake]

Good call Dani, hugs and travel safe. Unfortunately that's not feasible on a relatively small island, there just aren't enough flights. She's gonna be fine, I hope Fla doesn't get hit so bad.

[Laurie]

I hope she will be safe Sadie.  I also have several friends in Florida and very possibly in Irma's path from Tampa to Orlando. Not to mention Stepanie (Steph 2.0) lives in that area also.

I hope they all come through this storm unscathed.

Laurie

[SadieBlake]

Thanks Laurie, there's not much news coming from the area, however the storm center passed a bit north of her location and so I'm pretty sure she's fine, will see about her apartment, car etc.

There's little news from the Caribbean, probably because phone and cell networks are down so we won't know for sure until those things are recovered.

Best wishes for the safety of your Fla friends, it's forecast to be hitting Miami Sunday as a category 4 and weakening to a still dangerous 3 as it gets to n.fla

[Laurie]

 Thanks to you too Sadie. The ones I've heard from aren't evacuating...

[Roll]

I'm probably looking at a forced evacuation by Saturday, as I'm on a GA barrier island pretty much center of the projected path. I don't think I've ever been more nervous about a hurricane. They tend to miraculously avoid where I am right in the corner of the GA coast despite being a barrier island (no direct hits in decades), but this one looks like it's going to be really bad even without a direct hit. On top of that, this time I feel I have something to lose, as I have a comic book and video game collection that is too large to move which I was planning to liquidate for transition funding.

[steph2.0]

I hope she will be safe Sadie.  I also have several friends in Florida and very possibly in Irma's path from Tampa to Orlando. Not to mention Stepanie (Steph 2.0) lives in that area also.

I hope they all come thought this storm unscathed.

Laurie

Thanks for thinking of me, Laurie. We're 35 miles inland from the Gulf, 70 miles from the East coast, and on raised ground in an area that's 60 ft above sea level. We're staying put. I have read Dave Barry's guide to Hurricane Preparedness: http://www.davebarry.com/misccol/hurricane.htm, and am as ready as I'm going to get. We all know that predictions are unpredictable, but if the forecast is accurate, and Irma stays off the East coast, we'll be 70-100 miles from the center. Your friends who are near me are a little closer to the Gulf but still in no danger of a storm surge. I'm scared for the folks on the East side, and Dani is smart to get the heck out of Miami. I hope this isn't another Andrew.

I experienced my first Florida Hurricane when Charley visited in 2004. The wind was out of the North, and the lanai on my house was on the South side. I stood there, bone dry, watching the rain billowing off the house next door and yelled, "So this is a hurricane? This all you got?!" So they sent four more that year. I keep quiet now.

Steph

[SadieBlake]

Just heard from them, they're all OK and their apartment is relatively unscathed. Happy news given that from what she said a fair fraction of buildings lost their roofs.

Quite relieved, I was worried we wouldn't hear for a couple more days but apparently they found a bar with cell signal.

It's a remarkable thing how resilient the cellular network is, I'm thankful for technology today.

[Chloe]

Atlanta getting a lot of wind and rain today . . .

Am OFF next two days thankyou IRMA!!?? 

How our Caribbean/Florida people fairing?? Any in need of electricity??? Pray that's the worst of it!!

I'm worried for my solar panels . . . they're still in full summer tilt mode (not flush to roof)

[steph2.0]

Everything OK here North of Tampa. Running off generators but family and friends ok and no serious damage.

Steph


- Stephanie [emoji68]🏼‍[emoji538]

[Deborah]

West Georgia is windy and raining now but it doesn't look like it's going to be too bad.  I just hope the power lines don't get blown down today.

On a positive note at least the oppressive summer heat is gone.


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[Roll]

Even though it cut so far west, where I'm from in southeast GA coast (Glynn county) is under water. Water covering past first floor of some places. Fortunately my house is highest ground on the island so I'm hopeful no damage (unless trees down). Even in Augusta area the power has been out most of the day (interrupted me mid viewing of It!).

[Laurie]

Everything OK here North of Tampa. Running off generators but family and friends ok and no serious damage.

Steph


- Stephanie [emoji68]🏼‍[emoji538]

Finally!  I missed this post yesterday. I'm glad you and yours made it safely.

Hugs,
  Laurie

[Dani]

Ladies,

I am back home in Miami now. Trees and branches are down all over town. Most of the big damage was in the Keys and we are still not allowed to drive there unless we lived in the Keys.

I have electricity and water. The utility and road crews are working overtime to clean up the mess.

Since my home was built to current Florida building codes, my home survived without any damage. The walls are concrete block reinforced with steel and the roof is strapped to the walls with many points of tie downs. The shingles are heavy tile and the windows are hurricane glass rated to withstand category 3 wind.

I think it is interesting to note that almost all of the damaged property are wood frame houses built many years ago and mobile or manufactured houses that just are not up to Florida's severe weather.

My heart goes out to my neighbors who for the most part survived because we had plenty of advance notice and shelters to go to. Now comes the cleanup and rebuilding. I am going out to see what I can do to help others.

[SadieBlake]

Now Maria has passed by and my daughter was on the edge of HC force winds so at least she only experienced it as a cat 1, so reasonable expectation things are ok in an immediate sense.

However St Croix took the full force this time, dead center of a cat 4/5 storm and so the no longer have a quick escape or easy resupply. Puerto Rico is right now being hit just as hard and so I'm a bit worried that need for emergency response in a much larger area will impact recovery efforts for the islands that had been hit directly by Irma.

So keeping them in my thoughts. One saving grace is her partner works for a large construction firm and so has a permit to be driving during the curfew and they're well prepared with supplies and have a generator and enough fuel to run it.

[Laurie]

Hoping for the best Sadie. Have you heard from them?

[SadieBlake]

Thanks Lorie, yeah she texted and they're fine, unfortunately st Croix is every bit as damaged as I'd figured, don't know what the impact will be.

4 major hurricanes this year including the biggest on record and the party in power is still denying climate change and playing politics over the health of the country <sigh/>

[Dena]

Thanks Lorie, yeah she texted and they're fine, unfortunately st Croix is every bit as damaged as I'd figured, don't know what the impact will be.

4 major hurricanes this year including the biggest on record and the party in power is still denying climate change and playing politics over the health of the country <sigh/>

http://www.hurricaneville.com/historic.html