Hurricane Irma headed this way.... - Page 14

Baz · Baz's Garage

Hey all....just got power back on and wanted to check in. Will post some thoughts later.

Thankfully. Irma wasn't near as bad as Matthew last October. My yard is practically back to normal already. Took months and months with Matthew.

Thanks Alan (Dad911) - appreciate your PM, sir!

WPOZZZ · 09-12-2017, 05:01 PM

Glad you guys are okay! My sister said her trip is still on. They leave for Orlando tomorrow.

dad911 · 09-12-2017, 05:05 PM

Glad to hear it. Hope Nota checks in soon......

Baz · Baz's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by dad911

Glad to hear it. Hope Nota checks in soon......

His power is probably still out. I never set up a wireless network and my smart phone is only set up for talk and text, so during power outages, unless I go somewhere that has an internet connection, my only connection to the world is my transistor radio.

I will probably set my laptop up for wireless (since it is portable) for future situations like this.

JeremyD · JeremyD's Garage

We just got power back today - makes you appreciate power and AC

URY914 · URY914's Garage

I'm back!

Power went out at midnight one Sunday night. We rode out the storm at home. It was pretty rough. Our house is surrounded by 50'-70' tall pine trees. We were being hit with broken branches and pine cones all day. I had an 8" diameter x 12' long branch fall and just miss the house. The storm passed and the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was weird. The winds and gusts continued.

I went into the hospital around 6:00 pm on Monday to work on the flooding. I worded for about 11 after being up all day already. I came home got 4 hours of sleep and went back and worked yesterday other 10 hours. On my feet the whole time. Too old for this.

I have pics on my phone I'll have to down load. Seem crazy that The Keys and Jacksonville were the hardest hit. Here in Jax it was the flooding.

More later.....

WPOZZZ · 09-13-2017, 03:43 AM

My mom, sister and niece leave for Orlando in 16 hours. Travel agent said MCO and the Grand Floridian were good to go.

Jims5543 · 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyD

We just got power back today - makes you appreciate power and AC

I am on the Treasure Coast, Stuart area, we did not get hit hard here at all, I think there was one gust recorded at 85 and we had sub hurricane winds for the entire storm.

Many of the feeder bands missed us and hit Melbourne and Palm Beach, we got through this one with very little bad weather.

FP&L is pathetic. They have been touting for years now that they have invested into the infrastructure to make sure they would do well in a hurricane. I think this event shows the complete and utter failure of that mission.

We are without power here still, have not seen a single power truck here. The outage is widespread here, complete subdivisions have been down since Sunday.

After the 2004 storms I invested in a 15KW entire home propane powered standby generator. Best money I have ever spent. It has been running non stop since Sunday. We started Sunday with 80% of our 250 gallons today we are a tad under 50% and have a delivery scheduled today to top it off. Then again next Wednesday.

This thing runs my AC, Main fridge, beer fridge, TV's lights pretty much the entire house.

My 2 regrets, not switching my hot water to propane and when we remodeled the kitchen chickening out and not switching my stove from elective to propane.

Both of those mistakes are being corrected this winter.

I will never live in a house in Florida again that does not have a standby generator on it. I cannot express how awesome this is.

EDIT

Here is a video showing the beating the Keys took:

masraum · 09-13-2017, 08:08 AM

I have a bunch of family in Vero Beach, and they all fared well with only a fairly short power outage of 36-60 hours. They were very fortunate. I've got friends and family over in the Tampa and Lakeland areas that also did ok. I've got some work colleagues that are headed home down to near Fort Meyers. There were some issues in FL, and the Keys took a beating, but that's kind of to be expected. It seems like FL didn't do too badly in this one all things considered.

72doug2,2S · 72doug2,2S's Garage

Bonita Springs got some bad flooding. I'm planning to head back from VA on Saturday if we have power.

72doug2,2S · 72doug2,2S's Garage

Bonita Springs pics from Naples News
I believe the Porsche and BMW 02 are OK

72doug2,2S · 72doug2,2S's Garage

That Sunoco station was just remodeled!

Baz · Baz's Garage

Here's the window units I use. First one (5K BTU) stays in year round....second one (8K BTU) stays in box unless duty calls. Yesterday duty called!

Soren Lorenson · 09-13-2017, 01:43 PM

Bonita is a mess. Naples is pretty messed up, power lines down, no gas, stop lights out, trees down everywhere. But, thankfully, there is really pretty minor damage to the homes and buildings. I lost a few roof tiles and screens on my pool cage. That's it. Powers even back today!

About to do an emergency surgery, and it's pretty old school - no computers, all hand written notes.

If they don't get the gas stations back up soon it's going to be a real problem soon though. Especially if people who evacuated start coming back.

Jims5543 · 09-13-2017, 07:31 PM

FP&L should be ashamed of themselves.

Instead of concentrating on ground zero they have to service practically the entire state, much of which did not see hurricane force sustained winds. Pathetic.

Still no power 100+ miles from the center of the storm here.

Truly piss poor service from a company that has been boasting how much it invested in its infrastructure.

Generator 250 gallon propane tank at 40% as of 7 PM. Propane company flaked out of me and did not deliver. I am good for 3 days before panic sets in. They have promised to be here tomorrow or Friday.

4 days of no power so far, probably going 5-6 days, all for a tropical storm in this area.

Time to explore solar and wind turbine with a battery grid and get offline.

I hope all you that took a direct hit are OK, having been through 3 eye walls now, I know how bad that can be.

If you get desperate for gas, call VP Racing Fuels and have 55 gallons delivered, while expensive, it is worth not standing in line all day.

JeremyD · JeremyD's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by motion

That must have been highly stressful for your family, wow.

It was - She spent 3 days on the island afterwards - evacuated on a c-131 sitting on the floor with her backpack - arrived in Puerto Rico with her laptop and a change of clothes. Was in Chicago Sunday and Monday - flew back into Florida yesterday - and finally made her way to us today.

The eye went directly over their island - she said the pressure dropped so much that it made their ears pop. She said that when the eye went over - it went from like the roar of a jet engine to completely silent - totally bizarre

pwd72s · 09-14-2017, 11:15 AM

Heard from my Summerland Key friend. He's in the Jacksonville VA parking lot, living out of his motorhome. Can't return yet. Nothing there. Report from a neighbor says his house looks okay except for having had 5' of water in it. Pretty sure his Mercedes AMG sedan is toast.

So, making lemonade, he'll be visiting Jacksonville car dealers to look at potential replacements. Something to do other than wait it out in a motorhome.

Jims5543 · 09-14-2017, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyD

It was - She spent 3 days on the island afterwards - evacuated on a c-131 sitting on the floor with her backpack - arrived in Puerto Rico with her laptop and a change of clothes. Was in Chicago Sunday and Monday - flew back into Florida yesterday - and finally made her way to us today.

The eye went directly over their island - she said the pressure dropped so much that it made their ears pop. She said that when the eye went over - it went from like the roar of a jet engine to completely silent - totally bizarre

Glad she is ok and now armed with am amazing story of riding out a Cat 5 (or was it a 4 then?) storm.

Yes when the Eyewall crosses over, it is a really weird experience, it is like a switch shut off, then you remember that switch is about to turn on again.

We went outside in the road in front of our House for the eye of Wilma in 2005, we went into the eye dealing with a Cat 2, when the other side hit, it was a Cat 3 and a wild ride. I cannot imagine being on a small island with a Cat 4 or 5 roaring over me.

A friend of mine was fishing while the storm was hitting here on the East coast of Florida, he was under a bridge and pulling in nice big Snook one after the other.

Happy to hear she is OK.

URY914 · URY914's Garage

This branch feel about 50' out of one of our pine trees. It's about 10' and 7" in diameter. It missed the house by inches. If it had hit the roof going straight down it would have ended up landing on a sofa.

Jims5543 · 09-14-2017, 06:14 PM

On Tuesday I went back to work, since I am a land surveyor, I survey houses for closings. I wondered if this closing was going to be canceled since the front door blew off the house.

I was delaying the drafting expecting the job to be canceled, then the title company asked what the status was. I drew it up and sent it over with a picture of the front of the house and a note explaining I was pretty sure the sale would be cancelled.