Beware Of Irma

Wow! I don't know what to say. Way to much hype!!! It's not that bad. I have lived in South Florida my entire 59 years. I have been OUTSIDE for EVERY hurricane. Yes, outside. My wife, oldest son, (Youngest son is deployed to Miami. LMAO!!!!), neighbor John, and more will be on the SW patio for the first half, and the SE garage door will be open for the 2nd half. It should be a great party. The eye of Wilma was awesome. (I think a 133MPH cat 3 storm), Bucket list check off!!! Yes it is a PITA!!! But my friends in the neighborhood are the BEST!!!!!! We are one big a$$ family! Break out the grill and let's PARTY. I'll send pics on Sunday. PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They should have named it Dottie cuz this thing "Is a life sucking bitch from which there is no escape" Be safe John. A 5 and a 3 are not the same thing. It's as simple as a piece of debri hitting someone at 140mph. Do what you do but be alert.
Cliff

 

I'd think any remnants of the storm would be gone by Wed. around BG. It probably has the potential to be more of a problem at the Cecil event. Once these storms make landfall they tend to be pushed east.

 

I hope everyone is safe during the storm too. Living here, I have to admit, if the events in Houston had not recently occurred, I feel as if the leaders and media would be telling everyone the usual drill. "Be safe, smart, take precautions have several days of supplies etc. and leave if in the direct path". But because of Houston, there is so much -"We're all gonna die, Monster storm, Worst ever... no chance -sky is falling aaaaahhhhh" in the media, it's just way over the top.

 

Yawn

 

I promise you Cliff, I will stay safe. I have seen ALL the damage first hand. We are 5 miles from the beach so there is NO chance of storm surge flooding. As far as rain flooding, our soil is VERY porous unlike Texas. We had 12 inches of rain in 6 hours once. A regular rain storm, not a hurricane. I didn't flood even though I have to have flood insurance. I saw other houses flood though. Wind... I added on to my house 15 years ago and had to bring the entire house up to Miami / Dade county hurricane codes. Basically giant straps on every truss tap conned into the cement block wall. Miami / Dade county storm shutters on all the windows.
And now the rant.... Why do "they" tell you to buy water??? All cities have generators to run their water pumps. Once, my mom had low water pressure cause an uprooted tree cracked the water line down the street. The city had it fixed within hours. The news is telling people where they can buy water. Some D.A. congress person's office is giving away water. Can you imagine waiting in a line, in the HOT sun, to get free water that YOU DON'T NEED!!!! My neighbor's have in ground pools. If I need to flush the toilet I'm sure they will give me all the water I need, 5 gallons at a time. >
On a personal note, My son got deployed again, to Miami. LMAO!!!! Shoot those looters my boy!!!!!

 

Like I told many of my friends down in the Tampa bay area you are welcome to come 4 hours north and weather out the storm. There is food, water, power and covered parking for your Buicks

 

Dennis and all of you in Florida You are in my prayers. I have a home in Fort Myers and know your concerns first hand. I consider myself lucky that my wife and I and the car are in Illinois taking care of Mom. Hang in there.

Jim

 

No joy (or generator). I have demanded my deposit back. This will gain me nothing except a little satisfaction in the short run. I spent all day Tuesday looking for bottled water and propane. I was able to get one five-gallon bottle filled by a machine, but there were simply no bottles of water to be had in the Naples area. The bride and I went out for dinner Tuesday night, and just for kicks and giggles stopped at Home Depot. They had just received a shipment of propane, so I was able to swap out my empty propane cylinder. By the time I got to the cash register, there was a line of people trying to get their cylinders exchanged. I'll bet that they ran out in 10 minutes.
Something to think about - Governor Scott has ordered an evacuation of the Keys, and other mandatory evacuations could be required. This sounds great, but is really not very practical for some people. Many if not most gas stations around here are out of gas, water is difficult to purchase, and the type of foodstuffs that one would like to bring along are not easily found. To escape Irma (which is now the size of Texas), a family living in SW Florida would probably have to travel 500 miles northwest. Finding a place to stay much closer then that would be difficult. More so for us with our two big dogs. In addition, all of SW Florida would (as a practical matter) have to leave via I-75; I-95 for the East coast. To leave with a less-then-full gas tank onto a very busy interstate with a low prospect of finding fuel, and probably food if the evacuation becomes mandatory, is jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. I'll stay here.

 

I75 North in Sarasota was a parking lot yesterday as were many of the side road leading north. It took me a minute to figure out why. Then I realized it was all the people evacuating.
Cliff

 

IMHO,. . . (and thats all this is, HONEST OPINION) I just HOPE and PRAY all you guys who stay and PARTY IT OUT IN SE FLORIDA are correct in your evaluations/assumptions... IRMA is not a storm THE ENTIRE EAST COAST OF Florida or any US coastline has ever witnessed. Cat 5, 185 up to 200 mph gusts. . . BRACE YOURSELF. just say'n.
Wish you all the best...

Wheelz, Tampa Bay

 

Doubt anyone here remembers this one but 1960's Hurricane Donna wasn't a cakewalk for the Keys or the entire East coast..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Donna

I've always thought the real problem was how many people just have to live and build more and more infrastructure on the coasts..right where these storms have the most impact..

 

At 8 PM last night, I-75 had very heavy northbound traffic at exit 116.

 

Hey Bob, I'm not normally one to quote scripture, but Matthew has a bit to say about building a house on sand.

 

AMEN John!! Amen.