Out of the kindness of their heart, would anyone not in the way of this thing, volunteer to give me updates every 20 minutes or so while the U.S. game is on this Saturday. This might be the last anyone ever sees of me.........but all I keep thinking about is not being able to watch the game. I'm sure power will be out....so for the most part I will be SOL. Thanks for hearing me out!
im down in florida also.. boca raton to be exact. i work at bank of america and we ran out of money today. everyone is going crazy now (long lines at gas stations; our bank was packed) It looks like i will be out of power saturday but as i type they are saying the storm is going a lil more north who knows
I'm praying wherever I go has FSW. And why the f-ing hell are you staying? Run, bitch!!!!! Besides, it's mandatory.
Explain to me how posting updates every 20 minutes is gonna help when you have no power to watch it on tv. Not trying to be dense, just asking. Btw, speaking as someone who has lived through three category 1 hurricanes--why are you not freakin' running to the hills of Kentucky, pronto? Seriously, if you're in Palm Beach, you need to get to either Pensacola or Key West asap, light a candle, say a prayer, cross your fingers and hope for the best. good luck.
Only for certain locations. I'm just a bit West of the mandatory evac. line so I'll stay put. It's just as likely to chase me up the State anyway, and it is a bit late to relocate to North Dakota! I will be pissed to miss the game though, but I hope it ends up my biggest problem!
Our thoughts and prayers are going with all you Floridians and Caribbean folks! My brother is in Ft. Lauderdale and was boarding up his house so he could bug-out. Stay safe & GET THE HECK OUT, whether you are in the evac zone or not. This sucker is as strong as, but bigger than Andrew!
There's nowhere, really to go for me. Where I live we likely won't see that bad of winds, but get a huge storm surge. I can't go inland, that's where the main part is going. Can't go south, that's where the beyotch is coming from! Obviously can't go east, so that leaves north, which wouldn't help much if this thing skirts up the coast or whatnot. If Charlie taught us anything, it's that the "experts" don't know anything, they just give their best guess. Of all of my friends at high school, I know of 2 that are evacuating, both are from the north and have never been through the threat of a direct hit yet. No matter where you go, you'll get something. But the chance of serious damage to buildings and such is in a fairly small area, and I don't think most people know how much of a hassle evacuating is. My cousin who lives in West Palm Beach area, called me today to tell us that he had been to 2 gas stations, both of which were sold out, then he waited in line for over an hour to get gas in another place. And you can't take everything, how do you decide what to take and what not to? Pets? Most hotels don't allow them, shelters sure don't. Plywood windows, take everything in from yard, trim branches away from your house. Well, if there's one positive for this, no school Friday!!!!
There is some truth in that. I remember in July 1996, a small category 1 hurricane (Bertha) was coming ashore at the same place I was vacationing. All the locals said that the hurricanes never come ashore they veer out to sea right at the last minute. The advice I got was to just go a little bit inland, wait it out, and then come back and enjoy the rest of my vacation. We were going to wait the whole thing out in the beach house we were renting, but were mandatorily evacuated by the local police. We drove inland 1 hour to New Bern, NC where Bertha decided to unleash the brunt of her fury. My mom was unpleased to turn on CNN and see: "Here we are in New Bern, one of the hardest hit areas by Bertha, where they've experienced SEVEN! tornadoes just in this area!" '96 was before the widespread use of cell phones--and because almost all power and phone lines were down--it took a LONG time to inform her that I was okay. I remember watching the boats in the marina outside of the Sheraton being tossed like rice at a wedding. I remember thinking the best surfing waves were right here at the hotel--on the Neuse River. I remember the comfortable accomodations--no power (which meant no a/c and no elevator to the 7th floor), not to mention the countless torrents of water coming through every window and the hotel's restaurant running out of food. Good times. Glad that was just a category 1 and 4 times smaller than Frances in size. Good luck.
Believe me, I know the hassle of evacuating (with Isabel last year)--and this is going to be worse than Isabel. St. Augustine to Biloxi, Mississippi is a mere 8 hours. No school on Friday and it's Labor Day weekend--time to get an early start on a nice mini-vacation. That way you'll be well rested for the clean-up that awaits you.
Well, our first option on Marco Island is a no-go, for some reason. There's no power at the condo or something. There are ZERO hotels around, everything and I mean, EVERYTHING is booked out west. I hate to say it, but it looks like I'm riding it out.
Update from the wishy-washiest house in Sofla. We've now got a hotel in West Boca. But, we might not even use it. These people are nuts.
I was eventually going to give out the mobile number after hopefully finding someone who would agree to do it. I said I needed results every 20 minutes or so.......but I didn't say how? Not to be a pain, but I might also bother for some DC United scores later in the day?
I'm actually one block in the Evacuation Zone....my luck.......but I feel like the old man at the end of Caddyshack who plays in the lightning and yes, I do remember how that scene ends!
My parents are staying in their house in Port St. Lucie -- they can't take their dog into the shelter, and places to board pets have been booked up for weeks. They're in their 80s. I've been scouting information in the net for them. People are urged not to evac en masse. That would only create congestion, and those who need to get out will be stuck. Also, hundreds of thousands would be on the roads when the storm drives through the state. The damn thing is just hovering the Bahamas deciding where to go next; it's eirie, and depends on steering winds in the upper atmosphere and the strength of a high pressure ridge here in the NE. Last info I got was that the projected landfall had dropped south from Vero Beach to Ft. Pierce. But that could change; it's still about 24 hours away. I wanted to fly down Wed. night and drive them in their car to my brother in Birmingham, but my mother figured they'd never get through traffic to the airport (Palm Beach) even if I could get a flight. Instead of heading to the west coast, authorities have recommended 10 to 20 mile trips inland to motels and shelters. West coast accomodations are loaded with Charly survivors and recovery workers. Community shelters might be best, but, again, they don't allow pets. My folks plan to ride it out in the bathtub and cover themselves -- and the dog -- with a matress! No windows in the bathroom. They just want to survive; the house is fully insured, as is their car. I feel completely helpless as this unfolds. Good luck to all in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas -- where ever this monster goes.
This is not all hurricane related, we had a month tax free for gas. Since we pay the highest gas taxes in Fl. in PB county, it was about a 8 cents/gal savings. Appearently, everyone and their brother filled up the 31st,the last day of the sale.Therefore, we were understocked even without the storm prep!!
My Mom also plans to be in her bathroom.I checked her today,and she is better prepared than me and her house is probably safer.Old folks are tough and I'm sure they will be ok.BTW,last I heard was Melbourne again.We might as well face it,the "experts" have no real clue.
You can't even leave if you wanted to. Traffic is so ridiculously backed up. I was going to drive to my parents' house in Birmingham, AL, but the interstate is so backed up, you're probably putting yourself in greater harm by being in your car. They said, it took people about 6 hours to go less than 100 miles today. Yikes. My wife's a journalist too, so they won't let them go. Hopefully my cellphone will still work if we lose power or phone and I can get updates from my brother. I didn't lose power through Charley (only one of about 17 people in Orlando that didn't lose power I think) so hopefully we won't lose it this go around either.
Stay away from trailer parks! They attract tornadoes and high winds of all sorts! BTW: Don't cel phones usually end up going down with the relay stations during a bad hurricane and only sat phones are of use?
It turns out my folks were told to evacuate, so they will go to a shelter in Port St. Lucie; their dog has to stay home. She's a small dog, and is used to hiding in the bathroom during thunder storms, so they plan to keep her there with food, water, her familiar blanket, and a matress for protection. They have to report to the shelter by noon today, 09/03. The hurricane is supposed to hit land early Saturday; I hope they can get the dog out, alive, by Sunday, but if the storm keeps its slow pace, heavy rains will continue for several days, and delay returns to property -- or what's left of it. When nature sucks, its an absolute vacuum.