What part of the state are you in, Pea?

Well....we're staying. We're so far south that it would take a day sitting on the
highway to get out of Florida....776 heading north was bumper to bumper
already this afternoon. Hopefully, we'll get follow-ups from everyone after she passes.

This is the first hurricane since I've been in Florida that really has me scared. Besides her tremendous size, strength and target, this the first one I've experienced since I moved to SW Florida on the Gulf coast. I had a false sense of security when I lived in the boondocks outside of Williston in north central Florida. And, I now have many more family members down here to worry about...all spread around the state. I'm glad though that I'm not going through this alone, Joe will be a great support for me.

We're heading to the clubhouse
Saturday morning as it is our designated shelter. Loading sleeping bags, air mattress, a week's
supply of non-perishable food and water, clothes and valuables into the car to take with us. Everything else in the house will have to
survive on prayers and luck.

Tomorrow, I'm taking pictures of EVERYTHING inside and outside of the
house for insurance purposes. It will be impossible to remember what we
have if we have a catastrophe and are panicking. Bringing furniture in from the lanai and packing up breakables. Our house sits about 2 feet above the ground but
thank God we have flood insurance (we live just 2 miles
from Lemon Bay and 3 miles from the Gulf).

I went to Walmart, Publix, Winn-Dixie and Dollar General
this morning to get water and extra D batteries for the flash
lights...no luck. So, I picked up two of the 2 gallon jug coolers with
spigots that we can fill with filtered water along with empty milk
cartons. I went back to Walmart this afternoon and got extremely lucky.
A truck had just arrived with both water and batteries! I have to
give Walmart credit, they made sure that there was no riot. I waited in
line for about half an hour for the water, not bad under the
circumstances. They had 4 store employees controlling the crowd.
Everyone was allowed to buy 2 cases that contained 3 1 gallon jugs each.

Stay safe everyone!

I'm in Charlotte Harbor...charley ripped my house's roof to shreds...we had insurance then but no longer. They said something about 12 mile storm surge...i live two blocks from the river. My brother just moved to Georgia..actually is half moved. His unfinished interior is going to be host to a heap of florida family. My other brother and his kids, maybe even his step kid's kids, my brother's sons and their partners, and me and collection of pets. I'm taking my tamed ferals...all 13...the most i traveled with before was 5 when we ran from ivan. Bro has a very shady yard he said and i can have my pick of trees to park under to keep my brood cool. My older sister is head to georgia too but to a husband's relative. There is so much to do before i leave...i was hoping Thursday night would not be too late to leave and not get stuck in traffic...i need to travel in the cool of the night for the cats in the back of the unair conditioned truck...bro says its 6 hours to his place tho know ing how he drives it is likely more like 7 how i drive and with all the traffic getting out of dodge who knows.

Rhonda...please reconsider...you are so close to the water that club house is surely not rated for a cat 4 hurricane since there is only one building that is and it is the prison.

Anyone who is planning to go should go as soon as possible. Gas is already getting scarce everywhere and you stand a good chance of being stranded somewhere mid-state with no place to go if you wait too long.

Already this morning everywhere I went the refrain was the same: We were expecting a truck with gas/water/charcoal/whatever overnight, but for some reason it hasn't come yet.

I hope that we all are going to be safe but be prepared and ready for an emergency and leave if we have to. After this is over, we will breathe in peace again...

Current expected track shows it going up along the East coast.

I'm starting to panic a little. I have my own web design business, (www.bcp-design.com) and the thought of trying to pack everything up for the business PLUS packing things up for the family has me a bit crazy. I know that this hurricane is a big mother, but I'm still crossing my fingers that it keeps heading east and out to sea.

I'm exhausted trying to prepare for this storm. Our daughter lives in Ct. and wants us to fly there, but I don't want to leave the house.

We decided to book a hotel close by. Fairly new and is rated as a Cat 1 so I think it should hold up.

My main concern is flooding. We are in Manatee Cty and the last storm flooded our street halfway up our driveway.

I feel our windows and doors are not water tight.

So, I'm packing everything we truly care about in large space bags (the kind you vacuum out the air. They are water tight and will float. My husband has so many books and music (pianist) that are very old and he doesn't want to lose, so we bought big plastic tubs to put them in and hope they are watertight.

I have been running around for two days trying to find plastic drop cloths to cover our beds and couches in case the roof leaks.

I'm glad we got the hotel although such an expense, but at least I feel we'll be safe.

Most of our neighbors are leaving. I hope I don't regret my decision to stay.

Jane

Everyone PLEASE come and report back after it's over. I worry about all of you. And then we have Jose to worry about.

And then we have Jose to worry about.

Luckily for us, so far Jose is supposed to curve back out to sea after maybe tormenting those poor folks in the Leeward Islands.

Last night i went to get gas, stations were out i looked at one that had been empty of cars when passed it before and it was full of cars at the pumps. I drove over. The delivery truck was sitting right there and So was everyone else. We had to wait for the truck to dump its entire delivery before we could start fueling our vehicles...about 25 minutes just sitting there chatting with strangers.

I was worse a couple o days ago, I am west coast, my parents are east coast so we were waiting to see who should run to who. My mom is coming to us (my dad works FL. DOT) so he stays behind) hopefully the storm will shirt FL like last year.

I was looking at Google Maps Traffic this morning and going North is in the red on 95 and 75, so hopefully things will stay ok in Tampa and riding it out here is a good enough plan.

I just got back from Dunnellon, I live 10 miles to the South in Citrus county. SR41 has very heavy North bound traffic. One gas station there had fuel and thankfully for the people needing it it was on their side of the road with a very orderly police presence coordinating people going in and coming out. With the projected track I might consider The SR 19 that runs up the West side of the state, it is 4 lane, traditionally very lightly traveled and it can carry you further west away from the projected track. I worry that so many people are just going to end up further North in Georgia or South Carolina and inside the projected hurricane track.

I'm not panicking but I think a lot of people around the Jax area have been since yesterday lol. At walmart they had cops protecting the employees because I guess there were people yelling at them due to there being no water. I saw someone had got arrested but I didn't see what happened with that. Crazy~ Some gas stations were out of gas and most places sell out of water as soon as they get it in. My dd in Orange Park said that same thing is going on there. She went to Publix and they finally had water but were limiting everyone to 6 gallons and some people were getting really mad yelling and stuff.

I am in evacuation zone B in Duval Co. and they are calling for voluntary evacuations here but I am staying here. Hopefully it won't be too bad. My main concern is there is a small river branch behind our property and when it rains for an extended amount of time we can flood. We have a natural spring and clay soil in some parts of the yard so it doesn't drain in those areas. Luckily the city went down and scraped out all the ditches a few mos ago on our street so maybe that will help out.

We got flooded out in Louisiana in 2005 with Rita so I know what 'can' happen. We were mandatory evacuated there and couldn't get back to our house for over a week due to the flooding and all the shelters were already full of Katrina victims from a month prior. No hotels for States over, at all. People were camping out in store parking lots and getting MRE's from the National Guard and basically mostly just helping each other. There were no restaurants open, no power, no gas pumps working, no atm's working. etc etc. Complete nightmare! No way am I evacuating again unless I absolutely have to lol. The thing about Louisiana soil is, it takes forever to drain. Here is more sand so drains away faster.

If I was in South Florida, getting a direct hit from Irma, though, I would definitely leave!

~SJN

Everyone be safe.

Looking better for Central/Northern FL today, since they say now it should drop to a category 2 by the time it gets up mid-state,

Mandatory evac. here. Going to our church which is on high ground. My mom was just discharged from hospital & has some mobility issues, so that is our biggest concern right now. I sure wouldn't want to be on the highway!

We re in south Florida, broward county, and are staying put. I got the shutters up this morning, and everything small enough brought into the house. I think we will be fine... more worried for my neighbor with a damaged roof. He tried trying a tarp down over a leak. Crazy. I'll check in when it's passed.

Ok, I've "downgraded" back to full panic mode down from scared s.....less. This morning early NOOA showed Irma as a 2 in my area…I'm about 1.5 hours from Jax beaches, just south of Camp Blanding. Recently they downgraded it to a 1. I never thought I'd be happy to be looking forward to a 1! Who knows maybe it will go down to a tropical storm before it reaches me.

Sunday and Monday will be our bad days but we're ready. All I have left to do is move the outside potted plants and those in the greenhouse to the garage.

The computer tracking models have moved this quite a bit West. Each update seems to bring it closer to the Gulf. I like the tracking on this site as it only includes the National Hurricane Center and the "European Model". The European Model is not update as often as the NHC model.

http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/

oldmangroot(10b), you and i must count our blessings after the 5 pm forecast! Palm Beach Co

Our thoughts and prayers are with you. May you all get through this safely. Amen ...

Well I finally got everything done and put away. That took longer this time since my girls are not taking it seriously. But it's all done all I have left is to drop the clam shell shutter over the side door. I wish you all good luck.

Joe and I have everything battened down as much as we can and have taken everything we need to our community shelter. We'll be moving over there shortly....just enjoying a little more time at home before we spend 2-3 days at the shelter.

Irma's eye is currently forecast to come right up the SW coast over us. Anything higher than 12 foot storm surge will get into the house (8-12 is predicted) as we're in a 10' flood zone with the foundation putting us another 2' above the ground. I hope

Praying that everyone stays safe. Please check back in here when Irma is gone.

Rhonda, Joe good luck and be safe. May god watch over you.

Rhonda & Joe, Really hope all turns out well for you and everyone in Irma's path.

Craig

Thanks everyone! Joe and I have been hunkered down since yesterday afternoon. If you know me, you know that I don't know a stranger. So, I've made lots of friends in the shelter :) Joe, on the other hand, considers himself to be a grouchy ol' crocodile LOL

We've been getting near tropical storm strength winds and rain for a few hours. Current forecast shows the eye coming right over us around 8:30 this evening. I'd be kidding lying if I said I wasn't scared to death. I hope our house holds up.

Please be safe. Prayers going up.

Rhonda

Best wishes to everyone. Stay Safe and be well. I went up to Sarasota to stay with some relatives, because Fort Myers might get 6-10 ft of storm surge.

Stay Safe Y'all, Thursday my mom came to Tampa to escape the hurricane, then the track put it coming right through Tampa, so we all ran to Fort Pierce...Poor Momma has ran from the storm twice in one week! LOL. Thank goodness we have the ability to mobilize!

My lil old house in Tampa has no shutters and the roof is past due for replacement, I have no idea what to expect, but I just caught myself thinking about what flowers to plant next month... lol I might be living in my car and here I am thinking ummm seeds, bulbs, or starts. lol

Ha! SweetMonkey - our house is the same. Wondering what we'll be coming back to...

BTW, now it looks to go right through Tampa again.

Thanks for your prayers! Good news is that Irma has left the SW Florida building. It was only a cat 2 when it hit here.

Been sitting in the dark with the exception of battery backup emergency lights for over an hour. The clubs generator had a dead battery. When they got the battery jumped they found out it was out of propane. No problem. We'll just pretend we're camping lol

We'll find out tomorrow morning when we return home how much damage, if any, was done.

SW Florida escaped a major disaster in most areas.

Prayers that Irma peters out as she heads north.

Rhonda, good to here from you. Get some sleep if you can

We're home and have very little damage! Two screens in the lanai will need replaced and a gutter section on the carport needs braced back up. And electric is back on. We were very lucky. Most neighbors had similar damage. I had to go around to several snowbirds homes this morning to take pics of the damage. The community just on the other side of our clubhouse had lots of damage...flooding, roofs and carports ripped off.

Came though OK miner damage. Some how I never lost power. The same can't be said about most people around me. Have no phone service. Some fence down , light turned sideways. Miner water intrusion from wind blown rain though roof vent. Wishing everyone well.

I am glad to hear good news! the most important thing is that our lives and our loved ones are still intact, everything else can be replaced.

Where I live, major damage on the trail at the back of my house, a lot of old trees snapped. In my yard I got a good trimming of maybe 75% of the plants, it is going to be a lot of work for the next days.

We lost power and got it back last night, so happy to have electricity again and be thankful about these times that we can have warnings and prepare for anything.

Silvia

Over on the Treasure Coast we made out okay. We were going to evacuate north (would have meant bringing both cars, dog & cat & litter box), but when we saw the track heading west we decided to stay put. I cut back all my plants in the wildflower garden and brought in my potted herbs and tomato plants. We got the plywood up and had a generator which got fired up to keep the overhead fans and the two fridges full of food running. We are surrounded by swales which did their job, and the oak tree out front which the landlord would not pay to have trimmed shed almost all its dead wood without hurting anyone!

I say, let that be the end of hurricane season.

Here in Hernando, Citrus county we have no damage and power came back on this afternoon (Tuesday). The immediate area looks pretty good also.

We came out ok, landscapes a mess & no power. FPL is working in the neighborhood so shouldn't be too long before the lights are back on. Could have been much worse.

Craig

So now I have had time to check everything and fix some stuff. I'm mowing the lawn since it got to talk to work on somethings. Fixed most of the fence but a gate that had a post snap. Got to get a new 4by 4. Most of my banana trees fell. But otherwise other fruit trees OK. Slight lean to peach tree and a mulberry is missing all its leaves. After grass is mowed I will start putting things back out.

I have friends that live in cintanelle area mini farms is it ok out that way they headed back today

It's citrus county not far from crystal river

Checking back in. Got back from georgia yesterday morn at 5:45am after a long half day and night on the road with my cats. Have no power but i am in a walmart using wifi. Slept at my sister's house last night across town, she has power, no internet, and but no damage. My house has minimal damage and lots of yard cleanup. We dodged a huge bullet it could have been so worse.

up in georgia we did not escape irma, it barreled thru and knocked down limbs and electricity. My bro's, where i was staying is on a well so no electricity means no water, no flushing and they had no secondary lighting...no candles or oil lamps or even battery lanterns. Luckily i brought a couple of mine figuring i would need them to deal with the cats that had to stay out in the truck. Bro had a good sized limb fall on his brand new out building. His brand new building needs roof repair already.

Hope the power will come back on soon.

From Miami, No damage, power out for only 2 days. Cable TV and internet the same. A lot of people here still have no power. Gas is scarce. Could have been a lot worse. FP&L needs to put power lines underground.

My bro retired from fpl. He says underground powerline aren't doable in most of florida due to the salinity of the soil. I asked him the same thing after hurricane charley.

I don't buy that for a split second. You don't put bare wires underground.

For a number of years FPL did use a direct burial wire for the 220 volt residential market. Now it has to be installed in conduit.

I did ok for the most part. Lost a lot of bananas, but they will come back. A lot of palms and smaller bushes knocked over. Took forever to stake them up, and some of them aren't in great shape.

Irmagedden is gone, my curbside vegetation is gone, so I'm just nursing sore muscles from moving plans and cleaning up. I brought all the plants from the screened patio inside.