Hurricane Irma - uh oh

Happy to report that we survived here in McAlpin, Florida. The northeast side of the eye-wall past over us just after midnight Sunday as a category 1 with sustained winds at 80 mph, gusting to 95 mph. I stayed up all night keeping a watchful eye and listening to the howling winds and even louder gusts. It was frightening. The wind got very serious about 1:00 AM and grew over the next three hours. By 6:00 AM the winds were down to about 40 mph with plenty of rain. Thankfully my home escaped with no damage, but debris from the oak and pine trees cover the ground, along with large oak limbs snapped off all over the place, several just missing some of my out buildings. I have three big oak trees uprooted and laying on the ground. My property looks like a war zone. It will take a week or more to get this mess cleaned up.

Lost utility power for 24 hours but my generator kept the lights, well pump, satellite TV, microwave oven, and the refrigerator/freezer running. The landline telephone and Internet finally came back on about two hours ago. Thanks to my cellphone service I managed to remain connected.

Pete (Vintage Pete) came up to stay with us. He was worried about storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico, so he evacuated from Largo, Florida. He left to return home yesterday morning. He was anxious about the possibility of damage. His security cameras let him keep an eye on his place from his cellphone, and fortunately he reported that his home remained safe without damage. Little did either of us realize when he called to see if we would host him for a few days that ultimately we would end up with Irma's eye-wall passing right over us. The track of Irma was quite unpredictable.

I have a lot of clean up and chainsaw work to do. Today was my second day at it, but I'm going to take it slow. I don't need to rush and give myself a heart attack. I was up on the roof this morning and pleased to discover no damage to my shingle roof. Most of all I am happy that Marlene, me, Gus the horse, and Pete remained safe. It was stressful. I am still decompressing and counting my blessings.
 
Dan - I am so glad to hear you're ok. That was so nice of you to host Pete. I'm sure he's very grateful, I know my family and I sure were for Mark (MDP) and Susan hosting myself, my wife, two kids, two cats, a dog and partridge in a pear tree! What a sh!t show to take on the road.

I was sooooo grateful for my big Ford F-150. 700 miles to a tank of gas. That came in very handy.

Mark and Susan totally spoiled us. Mark is a superb chef. I don't eat that well at a fine restaurant. The adult beverages were also flowing. They have a beautiful home in a beautiful area and are world class hosts. We were all so thankful for their hospitality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Glad to hear you all are well and just minimal damage.

jdandy said:
Happy to report that we survived here in McAlpin, Florida. The northeast side of the eye-wall past over us just after midnight Sunday as a category 1 with sustained winds at 80 mph, gusting to 95 mph. I stayed up all night keeping a watchful eye and listening to the howling winds and even louder gusts. It was frightening. The wind got very serious about 1:00 AM and grew over the next three hours. By 6:00 AM the winds were down to about 40 mph with plenty of rain. Thankfully my home escaped with no damage, but debris from the oak and pine trees cover the ground, along with large oak limbs snapped off all over the place, several just missing some of my out buildings. I have three big oak trees uprooted and laying on the ground. My property looks like a war zone. It will take a week or more to get this mess cleaned up.

Lost utility power for 24 hours but my generator kept the lights, well pump, satellite TV, microwave oven, and the refrigerator/freezer running. The landline telephone and Internet finally came back on about two hours ago. Thanks to my cellphone service I managed to remain connected.

Pete (Vintage Pete) came up to stay with us. He was worried about storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico, so he evacuated from Largo, Florida. He left to return home yesterday morning. He was anxious about the possibility of damage. His security cameras let him keep an eye on his place from his cellphone, and fortunately he reported that his home remained safe without damage. Little did either of us realize when he called to see if we would host him for a few days that ultimately we would end up with Irma's eye-wall passing right over us. The track of Irma was quite unpredictable.

I have a lot of clean up and chainsaw work to do. Today was my second day at it, but I'm going to take it slow. I don't need to rush and give myself a heart attack. I was up on the roof this morning and pleased to discover no damage to my shingle roof. Most of all I am happy that Marlene, me, Gus the horse, and Pete remained safe. It was stressful. I am still decompressing and counting my blessings.
Click to expand...
 
Mike said:
Dan - I am so glad to hear you're ok. That was so nice of you to host Pete. I'm sure he's very grateful, I know my family and I sure were for Mark (MDP) and Susan hosting myself, my wife, two kids, two cats, a dog and partridge in a pear tree! What a sh!t show to take on the road.

I was sooooo grateful for my big Ford F-150. 700 miles to a tank of gas. That came in very handy.

Mark and Susan totally spoiled us. Mark is a superb chef. I don't eat that well at a fine restaurant. The adult beverages were also flowing. They have a beautiful home in a beautiful area and are world class hosts. We were all so thankful for their hospitality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I was wondering about that. Were the gas stations out of gas along the route? or were the lineups horrendous?
 
watts said:
I was wondering about that. Were the gas stations out of gas along the route? or were the lineups horrendous?
Click to expand...

There was one station we found with gas (using Gas Buddy app) to Georgia. There were none on the way back. Hundreds of cars ran out of gas on the side of the road. NOTHING was open. No gas. No food.

If you pulled into a Government Rest Stop, it was pitch black except for the lights from the military vehicles.

It was like some sort of scene from a movie.

dac1d7b2e0d3e47cf34f1ea4f31c295d.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
jdandy said:
Happy to report that we survived here in McAlpin, Florida. The northeast side of the eye-wall past over us just after midnight Sunday as a category 1 with sustained winds at 80 mph, gusting to 95 mph ...
Click to expand...

Dan,

I did my engineering at UF and I remember the area. I had no idea that Irma came that much inland!!
Glad to know that you are safe and there was no damage to the house.
 
Mike said:
There was one station we found with gas (using Gas Buddy app) to Georgia. There were none on the way back. Hundreds of cars ran out of gas on the side of the road. NOTHING was open. No gas. No food.

If you pulled into a Government Rest Stop, it was pitch black except for the lights from the military vehicles.

It was like some sort of scene from a movie.
Click to expand...


Mike that is surreal .... we are only beginning to get a feel for the situation with pictures like this.
 
We are hearing from multiple friends in Naples that the situation there is horrific. There is no gas and there is rampant theft and looting. People are pulling guns and getting into fights in long lines at the gas stations that are open. The heat is unbearable and the lack of power is becoming life threatening for people with medical needs that require oxygen and other equipment.
There is no reason why the military cannot be used to at least protect peoples property and provide help to those that need it the most. My friend works for the CCSO and so far no help has been provided by the national guard. Send some damn army members in for a week to restore order until the fuel and power is restored. The resources are available, but nothing is being done.
It is hard enough to deal with damaged property and the other hardships related to the brutal aftermath of a major hurricane, but no one should be subject to the wrath of thugs.
 
Mike said:
Dan - I am so glad to hear you're ok. That was so nice of you to host Pete. I'm sure he's very grateful, I know my family and I sure were for Mark (MDP) and Susan hosting myself, my wife, two kids, two cats, a dog and partridge in a pear tree! What a sh!t show to take on the road.

I was sooooo grateful for my big Ford F-150. 700 miles to a tank of gas. That came in very handy.

Mark and Susan totally spoiled us. Mark is a superb chef. I don't eat that well at a fine restaurant. The adult beverages were also flowing. They have a beautiful home in a beautiful area and are world class hosts. We were all so thankful for their hospitality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Mike I think I am going to buy an F-150
We are also considering the purchase of a 2nd home to always have a safe haven in times like this. This situation really makes you look at life differently.
 
Audio 1 said:
We are hearing from multiple friends in Naples that the situation there is horrific. There is no gas and there is rampant theft and looting. People are pulling guns and getting into fights in long lines at the gas stations that are open. The heat is unbearable and the lack of power is becoming life threatening for people with medical needs that require oxygen and other equipment.
There is no reason why the military cannot be used to at least protect peoples property and provide help to those that need it the most. My friend works for the CCSO and so far no help has been provided by the national guard. Send some damn army members in for a week to restore order until the fuel and power is restored. The resources are available, but nothing is being done.
It is hard enough to deal with damaged property and the other hardships related to the brutal aftermath of a major hurricane, but no one should be subject to the wrath of thugs.
Click to expand...

That is terrible but I did see some pictures that the army has been deployed in other parts of Florida. I hope that Naples gets help soon.
 
Mike said:
There was one station we found with gas (using Gas Buddy app) to Georgia. There were none on the way back. Hundreds of cars ran out of gas on the side of the road. NOTHING was open. No gas. No food.

If you pulled into a Government Rest Stop, it was pitch black except for the lights from the military vehicles.

It was like some sort of scene from a movie.

dac1d7b2e0d3e47cf34f1ea4f31c295d.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It took my sister and her husband 23 1/2 hour to drive back to Cape Coral from Nashville. They did not use the Interstate on their return and although it was slow they were able to get some gas.
 
Audio 1 said:
We are hearing from multiple friends in Naples that the situation there is horrific. There is no gas and there is rampant theft and looting. People are pulling guns and getting into fights in long lines at the gas stations that are open. The heat is unbearable and the lack of power is becoming life threatening for people with medical needs that require oxygen and other equipment.
There is no reason why the military cannot be used to at least protect peoples property and provide help to those that need it the most. My friend works for the CCSO and so far no help has been provided by the national guard. Send some damn army members in for a week to restore order until the fuel and power is restored. The resources are available, but nothing is being done.
It is hard enough to deal with damaged property and the other hardships related to the brutal aftermath of a major hurricane, but no one should be subject to the wrath of thugs.
Click to expand...

I don't want to get political here but I am thinking someone else would have been a little more responsive...
 
Amazing that the eye of the hurricane went over our house and our screen enclosure and screen are unharmed. When we did the pool project earier in the year we used the only company in the area that pours concrete in the vertical aluminum columns and only uses the strongest screen material.
Looks like the decision paid off as most other pool enclosures in the neighborhood did not fare as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top