Ahh, ssskuggiii, I didn’t know you were there. Where are ya? I’m from Plantation, and my folks are still there.
1 AM last night, I go to bed. It’s been rainy on and off, no real winds, I’m not worried. I set the alarm for 10:45. 8:30ish, I wake up, all hell’s broken loose outside. Wind’s gusting to 40 mph, rain is falling in sheets. We have no power, it’s been out since 4 AM and we didn’t get it back until 4 PM. We’ve gotten about 7-10 inches of rain here, my estimate - the pool was about 2 inches from overflowing last night and it was already overflowing this morning. Dad and I walked down to the beach about 11, just as a squall line was moving ashore - 40-50 mph wind, tide lapping at our feet (we were as far up on the beach as we could be without being in the vegetation), and rain needles hitting us in the cheeks. The end of the street is mostly underwater, and we saw (didn’t approach) about 3 floating fire ant colonies… scary shit. Grandpa came by about 1 and we drove down the 1/2 mile to the lighthouse… the parking lots were all flooded under about 1/2 foot of water, and in places the water was lapping right up to the edge of the road. There’s no damage, other than a whole whole lot of leaves and branches littering roads and such, and of course having the power lines down. And you know what really, really sucks, even more than having the ice cream melt and not being able to go online? Having school tomorrow. That’s what sucks.
Deerfield Beach.
I’m in coral springs.
Well, it looks like we’ll have to have a SoFlaDopefest sometime when I’m down visiting my folks, eh?
Stay dry.
Best wishes to all you hardy Floridians!
I just got back from a blissful, sun-drenched vacation at Vero Beach. We watched Gordon with a wary eye, and now I’m worried for all the great folks and beautiful places we left behind. (Though all those wretched no-see-ums getting drowned might not be a bad idea; itch, itch, itch.)
Stay safe and stay in touch, okay, folks? Anybody heard from BluePony? Between the cop-beating thing in Miami and a storm blowing in, he’s probably just swamped, but I’m a bit worried about him.
Not on the same level, but I’m also worried about the great little marina restaurant we adopted in Sebastian. Looks like nothing much, but the nicest folks and oak-grilled fresh seafood to die for. Since it was populated by tough, easy locals, it’ll probably be fine…but I came to care about the place and people.
Sorry, blathering again…
Veb
So, Gordon has been downgraded, and it’s still very calm in the Jax area. The rain hasn’t let up, but the winds have held off. We’re supposed to get the worst of it in the wee hours of the morning. Guess I should set a battery alarm clock just in case.
So far there’s not too much going in on Gainesville. We’ve probably had a couple of inches of rain today and it’s about 20 degrees cooler than usual, but otherwise it doesn’t seem like anything to worry about, especially since Gordon’s been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Posted by Golf Widow:
Same here, and unless it’s been extended again we should be safe for now. According to the Weather Channel the high winds should hit us between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. – and the flood watch has just been lifted.
Not in Cedar Key, but my parents are over in Inverness. I’m hoping that they’re far enough inland to avoid any floods. (Is everything OK in Cedar Key? The weather map is showing the storm right around that area.)
Overall I’m not too worried. I’ve got my candles and my bottled water if I need them, but I doubt that I will.
Thanks for checking in on us. Stay safe, everyone! 
Yup, just checked outside and it continues to rain in Jacksonville. The Jags won. My whatemacallem potted trees haven’t fallen over; but that’s not a good indicator because these two trees are like a pair of drunken sailors in that they keel over at the slightest passing breeze… The kids just announced what used to be called “hopeful-wishing-thinking-that-tomorrow-will-be-a-snow-day” because ‘they’ won’t want us hurt by the tornados would they? Ah, the optimism of youth…
Yep, here in the heart of our fine state, the worst we got was a LOT of rain. Which is a good thing. But it still sucks to have to go through the whole hurricane-preparedness drill here at work. Last night was hellish because of that and a disaster-filled project scheduled at the same time. Thank God that’s over. We definitely need a Florida dopefest, BTW.
How about after hurricane season: we can do a great big canned food potluck dinner. I can contribute canned tuna, canned vegetables, and ravioli, among others. And several gallons of water. Set up a few pieces of plywood on sawhorses - instant tables. Emergency candles in the candelabra.
…Or we could go out to eat.
Tally in Tallahassee checking in.
Well, Gordon came and went without much fanfare. Only thing of interest this far in-land was the rush on bottled water at the grocery stores. Didn’t even manage a day off of work for this storm.
Fellow Floridian Dopers, is it just me or has this been the mildest hurricane season for us yet? Up here we didn’t even get a thunderstorm from Gordon, just drizzle.
Tally
URGENT BREAKING NEWS OF A COMPLETE NON-EVENT
Ugh. Jacksonville got a worse storm last Wednesday. Our crack (addicted) news team was live this morning, looking at the flooding that didn’t happen. It’s not quite as bad as last year when we where all evacuated for the light showers of Floyd.
It looks like the storm dissipated. Thankfully.
My pastor is suggesting that all those fires in the northwest are God’s judgment!
Look at all these FL Dopers and the biggest get together we could manage was THREE people?
Hey, hopefully I’ll be heading down there this winter!
What area, vanilla?
When was this? Before my time? Heck, I’d be there! {If I’m not already committed to a senseless act of volunteerism.}
And yes, Tally-Ho, this season has been unusually mild…so far.
Just saying “hi” to the other Tally doper… Hi!
As for the thread, that was the best non-hurricane I’ve been through – lots of much needed rain, but we didn’t lose power! Whoo-hoo!
I find even fellow Floridians are extremely biased toward South Floridians. . . I’m not participating in anything held in South Florida. I lived there for four years and would rather chew my own foot off than go back, even to visit. I call it “Rude Planet.” SoFL is also overpriced and the traffic sucks. Hold a gathering anywhere else in FL… I’ll consider it.