Is everyone in the CF clump ready for this? Me, I'm not really worried yet. I'll be worried when I see the hurricane is actually going to hit my area. Until then, I've seen too many of these things blow away and hit Texas to really be concerned yet. Though, I am helping the famdamily get everything stored away and tied down.
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
quote:Rappaport said it is not uncommon to have several storms brewing in the Atlantic region but it is unusual to have two of them threatening the same state simultaneously.
"We don't have anything in our records -- and the hurricane center was established about 50 years ago -- to suggest that we've had a similar occurrence during that period.
Good luck. Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
The other one (the one that is not headed towards Central Florida) is just a little, bitty tropical storm. Most of us are too far inland to really need to be worried about it.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I remember battening down the hatches at work the year Floyd was supposed to come through. All the computers were unplugged and put up on desks in case of flooding.
Of course, then it just headed right up the coast. We didn't even really get any rain from it.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yeah--I think that was how he intended it Lalo.
Anybody else think the title sounded vaguely...obscene?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Oh, sure, delete your post and make me look like a fool Lalo.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
?
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
I'll be at work all nighrt tomorrow night, updating storm info. Woo hoo.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
*Relieved this isn't an onanism thread*
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I've been waiting for someone to say that, sarmup!
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Does anyone else feel like the following sentence isn't complete
quote:*Relieved this isn't an onanism thread*
without "yet" tacked onto the end?
*sigh*
OK, just me, then. Thought so.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
-o-
I'm having issues with my insurance, so send me good karma. I can't afford a real hit.
Oh well, at least I get a day off out of this. Now it's off to bed so I can get up early and bring in the outdoor stuff tomorrow . . .
Zan, Storm, you guys gonna be safe? (Zan, have you moved into your new house yet? Is it a house?)
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Good luck Icarus, I hope you will all be safe and sound when it hits. They do say when, not if anymore....
Kwea
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Good luck Icarus. Let us know how it goes (that goes for the rest of the people that might be potentially impacted by this as well).
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
Oh no!!!! All you CFCers, hurricane party at my house (in Birmingham). Just evacuate! Who cares if it misses you totally. By the time you find out you wish you had, it's always far too late!
I can't believe I missed this! Saudade and Andrei, if you read this get up here right away!
Yikes, yikes, yikes! What a bad mom I am to have missed this before now! Eek!
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Um, it's now a category four and headed this way.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Good luck, you all. If there's one thing I don't miss about the low country, it's that.
BTW, any chance the Gulf Stream will steer this puppy north once it's done demolishing everything down there?
[ August 13, 2004, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I ditto the .
We are in a fairly strong home and well stocked with food and water. We cook with gas ('so you taste the meat and not the heat'), too, so at least we will have hot food.
The really bad part is that the phone lines in this area disconnect if you look at them cross-eyed, so I expect that once the storm actually hits this area, we will have no phone service, and thus no internet access, for a while.
They say it is turning eastish now. Good news for CFCers, bad news for people in the Ft. Myers/Miami area.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
PSI, the news report I just saw said that since it is now so strong, it may just cross over the state and hit the Atlantic where it will gain strength again and then head right up the the eastern seaboard.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
Okay, so long as Okeechobee is safe! That's what matters. Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
I'm almost glad to be in an apartment right now. I feel more secure with fewer windows.
Joe, our house is almost done. We should be closing in a matter of weeks. It's basically done but for some interior work. It should still be there after the weekend. If not, at least I'm not the owner yet.
Holy crap, it shows it coming right over the top of Orlando now.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Maybe my mommy should evacuate...and come to Tucson!
Then again, maybe she should STAY RIGHT THERE.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Yeah, they just had video from the top of some building and you can see the curve of the edge of the hurricane starting to glom over Orlando. You know that big ass ship in Independence Day over the city? Like that. A big, dark, evil mass.
Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
Thanks for the positive vibes, Mr. Stormy. I feel more secure now.
BTW, you've got a tornado watch, so nah nah. Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Anyone hear how long it might take to hit Savannah/South Carolina?
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Zan, I'm in pretty much the same boat as you are. We live in extreme Southern Lake County which is pretty much Orlando.
Power is going to go shortly.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
You have at least a couple days, PSI.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Oh, okay.
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
You guys are going to miss the Olympics.
*Insert Nelsonesque "Ha ha!"*
Take care guys.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Man, weather.com is swamped. There goes half of my daily entertainment.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
PSI, the projections no longer show the storm heading to Georgia, but crossing Florida from West to East.
And they also show it nailing Orlando directly.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Storm, I thought you were up near Tavares.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
That's an old map, PSI. Just in the last hour, the expected course has changed.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Got anything froma different site? This is what weather.com is giving me.
I'm always looking for hip new weather sites. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
No. I looked. The ones on the local TV channels are even older. But ON the TV the path they are showing is more easterly.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Wow, I never noticed until now that weather.com is always an hour old. How dumb!
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
We're about as battened down as we're going to get. ::crosses fingers::
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Prayers sent your way, Icarus! Hope you and Cor have plenty of board games and such to entertain the girls while the power's out.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
How are Mango and Banana holding up Ick? Are they excited or scared at this point?
Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
The Weatherbug blog has frequent, intersting updates (for all that their constant pop-ups are annoying).
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
They don't really grasp the situation. We've explained to them that a big storm is coming, and that the power may go out. They are concerned that this means they will not be able to watch TV, but since it's not raining right now, they are not too concerned.
We have TONS of board games.
And if we don't lose power, I can watch the Yankees' game (or the Marlins' game) tonight on MLB.com! Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
If a tornado comes, get in the tub! With a mattress on your head! That's my tornado-survival plan.
Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
If a tornado comes, will you have time to get a mattress through the bathroom door? Maybe you should keep one in there.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
You don't already have one there?
-o-
Actually, our one and only bathtub is on the second floor, so I don't think we'll be doing that. We have a closet on the first floor, under the stairs, that will be our preferred hideout.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
And some jugs of water under the sink.
It's no joke. I've survived a ton of tornados and hurricanes, so listen to me. Tub. Mattress. Water.
Ah, in that case, Closet. Couch cushion. Water.
[ August 13, 2004, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I was in a house as it was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. I'm not real thrilled to be going through something like this again.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Wait, so why are you still there?
We were down there for Hurricane Andrew, too. My dad was working for the Corp and he got to clean up the mess.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Why do I still live in Florida, or why have I not evacuated for this storm?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Is anybody [local] watching channel six right now? Is this the most idiotic thing you've ever seen?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Idiotic in what way Icarus?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
They have this guy down fifteen miles from the eye of the storm, standing in the midst of stinging rain and light debris, you can barely hear him over the howling wind, but by God, they are sure getting some Dramatic Footage.
He sounds scared, too.
And now they cut to a shot of a briefing by Governor Jeb!, where they had a box in the lower corner with a sign language interpreter . . . but you could not see her because her hands were obscured by the print at the bottom of the screen!
Sheesh.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Why haven't you evacuated?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Well, as of noon, the storm was predicted to miss us. If we tried to evacuate now, we'd end up weathering the storm on the road. And we're not, technically, in an evacuation zone.
(He's back on!)
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
No, I wouldn't expect you to evacuate now.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Well, everything is dead quiet here.
The eye is projected to go right over Orlando now. Sigh. Though, now that it is over land, it's anyone's guess where the frack it will end up.
Regarding stupid people, I am suprised they haven't shown any surfers out trying to get that last big wave. Normally during these things, you get some shots of those. I'd take that over what I've been seeing for Dramatic Footage which has been breathless reports of a downed tree. If they keep that up, they're going to be pretty busy in a couple hours.
"More downed trees here, Bob! Jim?"
"Yes, I have a bunch of downed trees where I'm at, too. Poor bastards. Why, mother nature? Why?! Sue."
"Thanks, Jim. We'll have more tree coverage right after this commercial break."
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
It may not seem like a big deal to you, but I expect that those downed trees are pining for the days when they stood upright.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
*stabs Noemon in the eye*
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Well, there goes the satellite. Luckily, we get some mysteriously free cable, so we can still track the storm.
Rain's picking up.
Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
The rain really slowed down here. I thought the storm was over.
Some of my coworkers are big surfers. They've told me the best waves come after the storm passes by.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
This band just passed through. It's quiet again now. We're setting the AC on full blast, so it won't get too hot too fast if we lose power.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Wow! I hope the CFC members are all safe and sound!
I learned to not fear the hurricanes there so much as the tornados they spawned. I hope you all are in a safe place.
Remember to go to an interior closet and put a mattress over you if the storm passes over your place.
Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
I went out a couple of hours ago to get some gin, because we noticed we were low. All the stores were closed by 3.
Cowards.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
We actually have a ton of alcohol!
Posted by Zan (Member # 4888) on :
I've got Jack Daniels, but that's mine. I don't know what Kristine's gonna do.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
40 miles inland and still a Cat 4.
Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
There is video of the idiot in question here, about halfway down the page:
It got much worse than this while I was watching before . . . in fact, a few minutes after this, he got hit in the head by part of a roof flying off. No serious injuries, though.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Watching all this junk nonstop as I update stories. It's a Florida tradition that some idiot news reporter must go out in the howling storm to tell people not to go out into the howling storm.
Which is why I love Dave Barry's novel "Tricky Business," where wave after wave of newscasters keep dying, followed by more newscasters who come to report on the last newscasters...
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I've seen newscasters out in the intensity of a hurricane before, but never while buildings were demolishing around them. I've never seen one get hit by a flying roof before.
btw, I think there would be a lot fewer people braving out the storm, throwing parties on the beach, surfing, etc., if the media did not give them so much attention.
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
Hang in there, you guys.
<--- is glad her parents moved out of Florida
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
It just passed over my parents house. Lake Wales was directly in its path. They're OK, but they did lose at least one big tree and the power.
Since we'll probably be losing power too, if anyone wants to tape Stargate and Stargate:Atlantis for me, I'll be really, really grateful.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
It seems to have gone even further east than anybody expected. It seems to be due east of us now. Hopefully that means the worst is over.
::crosses fingers::
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Scratch that. We must be right in the eye, because it just got quiet.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
On a random note:
I'm in a small argument with my mother over whether the Storm of the Century was a hurricane or not. I say not. I mean, if it was, it never got a name. Anybody got an idea? I haven't found a single reference to it being a hurricane, although one site said it was a cyclone, which I thought was a waterspout. ???
The map looks like the eye is right over Orlando...of course we already determined that weather.com stinks.
[ August 13, 2004, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
A cyclone is a hurricane. Which storm of the century? There have been several called by that name.
-o-
We went out during the eye. We have some standing water in front of the front door, but nowhere else that we can find. One of the two trees in front of our house is over. Hopefully we can simply replant it in the morning. We still have power, although frequent flickers, and we still have cable and (obviously) internet, but no satellite signal.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
A cyclone is a hurricane? And a typhoon is a hurricane in the other hemisphere?
The Storm of the Century that I'm talking about was a cyclone that came out of the gulf practically overnight in March of '93. It was worse than any hurricane I ever stayed through, although, admittedly, I left Savannah before Floyd hit.
[ August 13, 2004, 09:06 PM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
There is a seam visible in Mango's ceiling (between drywall pieces), but no sign of water or water damage, so maybe that seam was there before, and we just never noticed . . . ?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Cyclone is a generic for a tropical storm. Hurricanes and Typhoons are both cyclones, depending on which coast. At least, this is my understanding.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
[ August 13, 2004, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Ah. The nineteenth century. :-p
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
That's only the first paragraph! Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
It's moving NE at 36 mph. Ten is normal. Twenty is not unheard of. 36?!?!
(Kind of a good thing, though . . . that made it pass that much more quickly.)
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Ah. Okay. I remember that storm. That's the one I think of when people say "Storm of the Century." Except I was in South Carolina when it hit.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I was in Savannah in a trailor. I was pretty young so I didn't know that it was supposed to be a catastrophe, so I wasn't that scared. My mom sent me next-door to feed the animals during a "calm" point in the storm...I think it was 3 am. All I can remember is that the sky was red and there was constant lightning in the clouds, and tons of wind, but no rain. It was really creepy.
Two trees fell on our house the morning that storm first hit. They both landed directly above where my mother was sleeping. *shudder*
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
The storm's pretty much a dud for us. Thank God. Coverage was basically of the breathless downed tree type mentioned earlier. Lots of people lost power, but that appears to be the worst of it around Orlando.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
CFCers, please check in! Can anyone link a map to the path of the storm through Florida, so I can see who got it worst? I have yet to hear from Saudade and Andrei, though I called at 5AM yesterday morning, and again today, to check on them. Was Tallahassee in the storm path?
Also, I think Rahul's in Okeechobee and that looks way too close for comfort to Fort Meyers, where the storm went ashore. Plus it's on an enormous lake. Grrrrr, you people! Why didn't you all evacuate up to my house way ahead of time?
[ August 14, 2004, 08:42 AM: Message edited by: ak ]
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Nah, Okeechobee is relatively safe. The stormtrack center (where the wind and rain is stongest) went north-north-northeast from (the first town north-northwest of Ft.Myers) PuntaGorda on the Gulf to DaytonaBeach on the Atlantic
[ August 14, 2004, 09:58 AM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
Okay, thanks! And it looks like Tallahassee didn't get hit badly either. There was a Tropical Storm Warning for Lake Okeechobee last night for a while, though.
Wow all those beaches and lakes are so pretty when the weather's nice. The whole state is only about a foot above sealevel, though. I fully support those who want to live there, but sheesh, guys. I love house guests! Come on up for the week at the first sign of one of those things. I'm close enough for ease of access (4 hours north of Pensacola) but far enough inland to be safe from pretty much anything. Don't make me come down there and get you!
[ August 14, 2004, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: ak ]
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Anne Kate, thank you for your kind offer. However, the drive to your place would take us about ten hours, with kids and dogs. And that would be without hitting traffic. The most common thing that happens to people who try to flee a storm is they end up weathering it in their cars in a traffic jam.
This far inland, we weren't really too worried about personal safety. We were more worried about the potential for damage to our property, and the likelihood that, in our case, insurance would not have covered our loss.
Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
ak, Tally was fine. We got some rain from a lingering front. Even our tropical storm was a bust.
Which is just as well. The morons up here can't drive under normal conditions. We'd lose half the city trying to get somewhere in a hurry in a real storm.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Apparently there is a fair amount of damage around here, just not to us. So all those good vibes people sent must have worked!
The only damage we have is a couple of trees (harmlessly) downed, some venting pipes slightly bent, and *gasp* our DirectTV dish is wiped out. That should cost around $100 to fix. One of my neighbors had a tree go through their house.
We live on a wooded preserve, and many of the trees behind our house have fallen, but none fell toward us.
*whew*
Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
Glad you came through ok, Icky. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
::wonders how Zan weathered the storm::
[ August 14, 2004, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: Icarus ]
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I just went out and drove around the town. Seems like half of the trees planted in the last eight years are down (including two of ours). But the houses and other buildings seem to have weathered the storm well. The main damage I see to houses is if a tree happened to fall on one, and even that is rare. Most trees seem to have fallen into the street. The tree that burst through the house of one of my neighbors is from that preserve behind me, and it's fifteen or twenty feet from my house, and maybe forty feet from theirs. The tree even used to lean slightly toward my house . . . bizarre luck that it hit them instead.
The only other damage I see around here, other than tree damage and tree-caused damage, is the occasional loose shingle or bit of flashing, and some ripped awnings. But most of the houses look perfectly intact, shingles and awnings and all.
I can see from the TV news that not all the local communities fared equally well. My community is a distant nephew of Country Walk in South Florida, which got smashed by Andrew, so I'm just glad it was built better than we suspected.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I tried to call Zan, but his house number changed when he moved, and his cell phone is busy.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Found out firsthand last night that there is nothing more useless than a webmaster in a power outage. Couldn't publsh anything more than a new front page before we lost power, so I'm back at work updating again, on three hours sleep.
On the plus side, my house, though surrounded by debris and bordered by one massive uprooted tree, is entirely unharmed. Dark, hot, and stuffy, but unharmed. Life is good.
Posted by Pixie (Member # 4043) on :
I'm glad you all managed to come through the storm okay. Poor Icarus' neighbor, though.
That and I wonder how my Aunt T and her family are doing? Every single time they go on vacation there's a hurricane. Never fails. They've been evacuated on probably 80% of their trips so it's become a bit of a family joke that we should alert the coastguard whenever T has plans to go to the beach.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Maybe she should consider a trip to the Ozarks.
I mean, if she keep s taking trips to the beach during hurricane season, her odds of having her trip ruined by a hurricane are kinda high. Posted by Pixie (Member # 4043) on :
We usually go on a trip to the beach around now, too, but... heh, the only time we ever heard anything about a hurricane was the time my Aunt went on vacation the same week. Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
If your aunt did come to the Ozarks, there'd probably be a Giant Tick Outbreak while she's here... Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
We made it through OK. We lost power almost as soon as the eye came near. I've never seen a hurricane at concentrated as this one. We were getting a lot of rain and a stiff brief until the eye was only maybe 1/2 hour away and then all heck broke lose.
I'm actually glad we were in an apartment. We were ground floor on the north side of the building. Trees were down all over the complex, but luckily very few cars were damaged. The trees seem to always have fallen just a few feet one way or the other such that they avoided cars. More cars were damaged by falling roof tiles.
Power isn't expected for several days, so we headed to south Florida to stay with the in-laws for a bit.
I'm more worried for my family in Lake Wales. They got hit pretty bad with the entire town losing power. They don't expect to have it back for 10 days. They weren't able to get a generator anywhere, but luckily, a neighbor had bought one and while they were at the store, picked up 4 or 5 extra for any friends and neighbors that needed one. Now they just have to figure out how to keep it gassed up when the nearest working gas tanks are about 20 miles away.
Thanks for the thoughts, everyone.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I have insurance!!
Real insurance!!
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Great news!
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Yay! <celebrates>
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Oh, sure, delete your post and make me look like a fool Lalo.
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