Hurricane Irma. Holy Crap

[Chrisj CMA]

I sure hope you south Florida boys are getting ready!  Some of you better be thinking about getting out of "Dodge"

Be safe out there  

[Thunderbolt]

Bought some extra gasoline and provisions this morning.  Figured I should get ahead of the crowds.  Too late, crowds already out.  No water on shelves even up here in North Central Fl.  Go while you can.  If it's not coming here and is to your house we have offered to some of my ham radio friends and will to our Valkyrie friends too a place to stay, maybe in the RV but it does look really serious this time.  Weather Channel just said that the Hurricane Hunters just recorded 180 mph. winds.

Looks like it is coming directly here now so our house does not look like a good place to go after all.  Everyone hunker down as they say and stay safe.

[John Schmidt]

Had a lady friend years ago(before meeting Rita) name Irma. Good name for a hurricane! 

Thirteen years ago when Charley passed over the house, we stayed home(Cat2). The next one shortly after that we headed out of town. Stayed in a hotel in Tallahassee for a couple nights, saw it was headed our way so headed north. After an hour Rita called her sister in Columbus, OH and told her to change the sheets in the guest bedroom. After it passed through the eastern half of the U.S., we headed home. Today, that's not an option 'cuz Rita can't travel so if it hits here.....it hits! Told Rita if we have as much damage this time as the last, I'm hiring a bulldozer and push the remains into the pool and sell the property. 

[flsix]

Batten down the hatches. This could be exciting. Not the kind of excitement I look forward to.

[OLDFRT]

It looks like Irma is going to rain (and blow) on our Saturday RTE.

[Farside]

    Be smart my Valkyrie Brothers and Sisters. Up here in the pan-handle we are so far pretty much in the clear looking at the predictions but know that can change in a few days. I have been thru several hurricanes w/ Ivan being the worst. Now another "I", for Irma and it could be worse than Ivan. 
  Let me say I have 4 rooms that are not being used that could accommodate 4 couples or up to 6 individuals. Just putting it out there. Also an idea, you might record on your I-phone some of your valuables and special belongings if you haven't already. Be safe, 

[_Sheffjs_]

I wonder if we could even get out? I - 75 is clogged on a good day. I am also a FEMA slave - somehow working for this city puts me in this.  Maybe my part will be handing out water.   

[The emperor has no clothes]

Had a lady friend years ago(before meeting Rita) name Irma. Good name for a hurricane! 

Thirteen years ago when Charley passed over the house, we stayed home(Cat2). The next one shortly after that we headed out of town. Stayed in a hotel in Tallahassee for a couple nights, saw it was headed our way so headed north. After an hour Rita called her sister in Columbus, OH and told her to change the sheets in the guest bedroom. After it passed through the eastern half of the U.S., we headed home. Today, that's not an option 'cuz Rita can't travel so if it hits here.....it hits! Told Rita if we have as much damage this time as the last, I'm hiring a bulldozer and push the remains into the pool and sell the property. 

John, I'm sure being a Florida resident you are hurricane aware.  Hopefully it will miss you guys. But just in case, might be worth checking out some emergency shelter options near you for you and Rita. Take care my friend. 

[Flrider]

At least one gas station was out of gas today around 6pm, I was able to go to another station and get the gas I needed.

John, I just sent you a pm

Everyone stay safe and let's not wait to last minute to get ready.

[Grumpy]

Depending on what path it takes, we may go to Greenville, SC to my wife's sisters place. Trying to get every thing tied down before it gets here.

[Pappy!]

Central Florida is in full on panic mode as well. Soccer moms are buying ten times more than they will ever need. Saw carts loaded to the gills yesterday at Publix.

[_Sheffjs_]

So far we are still on for a Friday night show  Tony Bennett I think he is 91!  I will get out late Friday night unless it gets cancelled.     

[Steel cowboy]

I have 3 generators, water, propane, 19 gallons of gasoline stored, both my car tanks filled, (new pick up has a 36 gallon tank with a 700 mile range). I am on stand by for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Last year I volunteered for Daytona and was sent there for 3 days. Before that 3 weeks in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. For me, I'm not evacuating anywhere, I can't pass up this money maker.
I do have a big generator (generac) up for sale, 22,500 watts (about 100 amps) V twin engine with 16 gallon tank. Three years old with 5 hours on it, It will run the entire house and can be converted to propane or natural gas. It is mounted on a factory cart. $2400. Cash no shipping. LOL

[John Schmidt]

I have 3 generators, water, propane, 19 gallons of gasoline stored, both my car tanks filled, (new pick up has a 36 gallon tank with a 700 mile range). I am on stand by for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Last year I volunteered for Daytona and was sent there for 3 days. Before that 3 weeks in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. For me, I'm not evacuating anywhere, I can't pass up this money maker.
I do have a big generator (generac) up for sale, 22,500 watts (about 100 amps) V twin engine with 16 gallon tank. Three years old with 5 hours on it, It will run the entire house and can be converted to propane or natural gas. It is mounted on a factory cart. $2400. Cash no shipping. LOL

Yeah but.....what will you do in an emergency.    If I had the spare $2400 that Generac would be sitting outside my back door by day's end. Good deal for someone. 

[OLDFRT]

As far as I am concerned, Saturday RTE is out. Too much to do for Hurricane prep. BE SAFE ALL!!!!!!!!!

[WoodyFL]

Was lucky enough to grab a 6,000 watt generator this morning at Home Depot. They had a nice long line waiting for them but they must have 30-40 sitting on the floor. They had just come in so I lucked out.

Bob

[Steel cowboy]

The biggest problem with generators, is they sit for weeks, month ,years and the day you need them they won't run. I love working on small engines and all my generators have been purchased for cheap, because they were not ran at least one every month. The new gas come out of the pump clear, but in just 2 weeks it will start to turn yellow, an indication that the alcohol in the mixture is attracting water. The yellow'r the more water. With that forgotten gas in the carburator bowl, the water in the gas tank, starts growing alge (not too mention rust) it will clog the small passages causing it not to run. When you go to start it, it won't and you give up trying to get it to start. And it sit's for another year, get the scenario. Gas storing chemicals are only good for a few months before they too stop working.
Remember the statement made here more times than I can remember "My valkyrie has been sitting for a few month and now she runs rough".
Run that new generator at least once a month for a 1/2 hour and don't store fuel in the tank. Run it dry. Change the oil once a year even if it only ran for a few hours last year.
You all be safe out there.

[Squirrel]

Good morning, guys.  We've just spent the last 2 days packing up stuff from outside and putting them is our shed and garage.  This is the first time in 35 years of marriage that my wife's car has been able to be parked in the garage!  Along with 5 motorcycles and a Goldwing trike, and a punch of other stuff.  Don't asked me how we did it.  It's full!  Maybe I can mow the grass today before it rains again.  You all be safe out there.  I hope we make it through this without too much damage.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Good morning, guys.  We've just spent the last 2 days packing up stuff from outside and putting them is our shed and garage.  This is the first time in 35 years of marriage that my wife's car has been able to be parked in the garage!  Along with 5 motorcycles and a Goldwing trike, and a punch of other stuff.  Don't asked me how we did it.  It's full!  Maybe I can mow the grass today before it rains again.  You all be safe out there.  I hope we make it through this without too much damage.

Hope you make it thru unscathed.  When I was a kid a hurricane blew in the garage door, the proceeded to pick up a 5 car garage and set it back down. Then it finally picked it up about 8-10 feet in the air moved over about 12 feet and dropped on our 65 Nova Station Wagon. Flattened the car and eventually flattened the garage. My job for the next few months was removing the nails from wooden shingles.  Our family of six spent 5 hours in a tiny bathroom with the ceilings collapsing in our house.
I hope all Floridians make it unscathed, especially our members. Stay safe guys, and get out if you can. 

[OLDFRT]

With Irma deciding to visit the Suncoast, Roxie and I will be high-tailing it Northbound to McDonough, GA NLT 5:00 PM today. We have plenty of gas, and since we don't have to hurry to stay ahead of the storm, we probably will not arrive until tomorrow AM. I will post a new thread as soon as I can after arrival.

[Farside]

With Irma deciding to visit the Suncoast, Roxie and I will be high-tailing it Northbound to McDonough, GA NLT 5:00 PM today. We have plenty of gas, and since we don't have to hurry to stay ahead of the storm, we probably will not arrive until tomorrow AM. I will post a new thread as soon as I can after arrival.

  Be careful and patient on you journey. Praying for all of FL, family and friends all over the state.

[_Sheffjs_]

We bugged out to Sixlow land.  Have full tank and can hunker or move more north.

[larue]

Here in clermont we are safe, house intact, no damage at all thank goodness. We also have power. Worried about tampa and Clearwater brothers in the surrounding areas. Jeff Naples hope you're ok. Please update

[OLDFRT]

Everything heard from my Mom and our next-door neighbors indicates that we have no damage, and the last we heard from them, Power had never been lost.

[_Sheffjs_]

Cottage A O K   

[larue]

From what I heard and seen Naples got hit real bad, anyone who has Jeff Naples  flsix phone number and can get a hold of him please post his news

[_Sheffjs_]

Lucky again. Palmetto is fine!   

[Farside]

Lucky again. Palmetto is fine!   

Glad all is fine Jerry. 

[_Sheffjs_]

From what I heard and seen Naples got hit real bad, anyone who has Jeff Naples  flsix phone number and can get a hold of him please post his news

And the cottage is open if needed Jeff. 

[Flrider]

From what I heard and seen Naples got hit real bad, anyone who has Jeff Naples  flsix phone number and can get a hold of him please post his news

I was able to get in contact with him on Saturday and he said that he was in a shelter and his wife was in Lakeland. I offered him a place to stay since I have an extra room but he wanted to stay close to home.

I tried contacting him today but no answer 
I really hope he is doing ok.

[Grumpy]

Just made it in, 600 miles of 20 mph stop and go on the interstate, 17 hrs Greenville SC to home.
Place survived without and damage. Lots of brush and small limbs, I got lucky.  1/2 mile north of me, Williams rd is shut down, 1/4 miles of big oak trees in the road. and no power any where north of me.
We only had power drop outs for a couple min each time, my alarm system logs them and the longest was 5 min.  In Greenville, saw a couple big trees go down right across the street from where we were staying, hard to believe how far north that sucker caused damage.

[hubcapsc]

In Greenville, saw a couple big trees go down right across the street from where we were staying, hard to believe how far north that sucker caused damage.

We're 40 miles from Greenville. It raged here Monday evening until
early Tuesday morning, no power. Our house is unscathed, but we have down
trees all over. Several too big and close to the house and buildings
for me to deal with...



I'll never be a shade tree mechanic again  ...





Parts of Rock Hill SC and Charlotte NC got wiped out almost as bad as
Charleston during Hugo... Hurricanes are weird...

-Mike

[_Sheffjs_]

From what I heard and seen Naples got hit real bad, anyone who has Jeff Naples  flsix phone number and can get a hold of him please post his news

I was able to get in contact with him on Saturday and he said that he was in a shelter and his wife was in Lakeland. I offered him a place to stay since I have an extra room but he wanted to stay close to home.

I tried contacting him today but no answer  
I really hope he is doing ok.

Jeff is fine and his house is fine, still no power.

[John Schmidt]

No major damage, roof appears to be leaking a bit around the chimney, had some rivulets running down the brick inside the house. Also some black discoloration on the ceiling around the front of the chimney. Quite a bit of screen is damaged around the pool and a huge amount of debris from trees and palms. Our pile out front would almost fill a box truck, lost some large limbs on our oak in the front yard. Out of power from 9:30 Sunday night to midafternoon today. Had two small generators on loan but nothing big enough to fire up the a/c, just fans, some light, small appliances. This afternoon we were starting to get some stuff together to grab a newly vacant room at a nearby hotel, I was on the phone about it and suddenly the lamp lit up on Rita's bedside stand. Rita let out a sigh of relief and said "praise the Lord and pass the grits." Girl is more southern than I figured.    She went in and laid down for a couple hours and I headed for my big chair to take a badly needed nap in cool comfort....all while letting the TV watch me.

[ridingron]

....all while letting the TV watch me.   

I like that!

I live in south Orlando/north Kiss. and of power came on late Tuesday, It went out about midnight as the storm was passing through. I lost 8 panels of privacy fence and have a lot of tree debris. Nothing big though. I had a generator to run the frige lights and fans.

[_Sheffjs_]

Quite the experience for sure.  Need to type the lessons learned and note the things done right.  If there is another one forecasted to be as powerful and they first did, we will bug out again.  We left after the masses did. Sarasota (not Palmetto) to St Augustine in 3.0 hours and upon exit off I - 95 we immediately gassed up, thanks to the wifely and her gas buddy app.     Then going home we again beat the masses.   we do have damage at the Van Wezel - it is what it is.

[larue]

Glad to hear Jeff is fine, and to hear john finally got a/c back And can take naps in his big chair 

[John Schmidt]

Glad to hear Jeff is fine, and to hear john finally got a/c back And can take naps in his big chair 

Very important for us old farts.    My daughters tell me I'm going to be buried with it, I tell them at that point I could care less. 

[Grumpy]

I dont know how we lucked out, according to the alarm log, only lost power for a few min several times while we were in Greenville SC.  My neighbor and I are the only ones with power, rest of the street is dead and several streets around us are out also.

[OLDFRT]

It seems that most of us fared well. Roxie and I bugged out on Saturday afternoon, after taking our enclosed trailer and the Harley, and Honda Spirit to my Buddy's in Sumterville. He has a Florida style horse barn that is pretty well windproof. They had one tree down and lots of limbs, but no damage. We were lucky there also. Small limbs and no trees, no building damage at all. Traffic going North to McDonough, GA was minimal (we stayed away from I-75) as well as returning. (no I-75) We arrived home about 3:15 Wednesday afternoon. and should have our clean-up done before noon today. I hope that the luck mentioned above extends to those that we have not heard from yet.