In case of problems with communications: well before my power went out, I lost my phone signal (cell) at my house. My guess is the nearest relay tower took some damage. This can often explain when you can’t reach someone, phone lines or cell towers down, or even mobile phone battery ran down and nowhere to recharge.
milroyj, will you pleeeease let us know when you get ahold of your parents? In the meantime, I’m sure many dopers are sending good thoughts your way.
In my area of Tampa, we lost power from 1am to about 8pm Monday; not so bad, considering. Just a lot of downed branches, and a few trees. In fact, I’m about to go clean up the front yard in a few minutes!
To all you Panhandle dopers: STAY SAFE!
All you Floridopers, I am thinking of you…my mom, who lives in middle Georgia, had a huge oak tree blown down last night. I am not complaining and neither is she…it just really hits home what you guys must be going through with this kind of force a whole state away! I am glad you have this link to each other.
Speaking of Georgia, I see Florida tags all over when I go out. FYI, it is supposedly (sorry I don’t have a cite) a declared disaster situation here in Georgia also specifically to make price-gouging over hotels, etc, illegal. If you hear about that happening to anyone, tell them to report it.
Good luck! We are hoping for the best for you guys here!
Checking in, folks. Kitties fine, house fine. Fence blown all to hell, but “frankensteined” back together. Power came back on Monday morning around 0900.
Surveying the damage at my condo complex in Altamonte Springs (outside Orlando), I have to wonder at the wisdom of some folks parking directly under oak and pine trees that were already half-fallen over from Charley. :dubious: Needless to say, there are a few flattened cars (and SUVs) here.
Worst ain’t over for some folks, though - flooding will continue throughout the week as everything drains into the rivers and lakes.
Yeah. Unfortunately, some people think it’s smart to park their vehicle under a tree, hoping it’ll get flattened, then file an insurance claim to get a new car. (Those are the people that really piss me off.)
I had to evacuate Friday ( Ormond By The Sea) but my Brother decided to stay home at the last minute. Thank goodness, because he saved my house from flooding! It wasnt actual flood water- the rain was pelting the back door so hard that water was coming in all around the door frame! That door faces the beach and is normally protected by a fence, but the fence that was left after Charley is gone now as well…
Anyways- finally was able to get back home yesterday after they opened the bridges to the beachside. Doesn’t look too bad over here- I was at a friend’s in DeLand and it’s WAY worse over there. Of course , I have no power again. Lost it for 4 days after Charley and now FPL is saying they won’t even have ESTIMATES of when it will be back on until Thursday. This is miserable and expensive and I will slit my wrists if Ivan heads this way…
I finally made it back to Palm Beach County this afternoon. I didn’t have any damage to my apartment, but I’m so glad I wasn’t here for the storm. Two huge trees in my parking lot are uprooted. One of them, about four or five feet in diameter, ripped up the cement curb, too. There are trees down everywhere, and pieces of the roof are scattered all over the ground. It would’ve scared the hell out of me if I’d been here!
milroyj, I hope you get word from your parents soon. I’m sure they’re fine. I tried calling my mom this afternoon and I couldn’t get through to either her home number or her cell phone, even though they were both working. A few hours later I got through without a problem. It’s possible you haven’t heard from your parents because of problems with the power/phone lines.
Wow, did that suck. I had to sleep in my safe room, the bathroom. For the first time in my life, I was passed on on the bathroom floor, and there was no alcohol involved…
I was lucky, it just ripped the shit out of the screen of my patio, and knocked down some fence. The association will fix the fence, but I’ll have to pay for the screen repair. Not a big deal.
If I have time, I’ll try to pick up a disposable camera and take some picks of the neighborhood and post 'em. If uprooted trees are your thing, you’ll love it.
Driving blows, most of the lights are down and the simple concept of “treat the intersections like a 4-way stop” are beyond most people’s comprehension. Fucking idiots.
Everything’s up, even my cable modem internet service, except my phone!
Update: I got an email from my aunt in Ft Myers, my parents arrived safely, and no damage to their house, just some trees down on the golf course, as if that matters :rolleyes: Thanks, guys, for the support, it means a lot.
Since this thread was topped I will mention that I just got back today after being offline for about a week. I lost power for 36 hours on Sunday at 11am and finally got it back on Monday night at about 10:30 pm. At least my refrigerator got a much needed cleaning. No other damage, lots of neighbors with broken trees and branches but my trees only dropped a few small branches. Apparently camphor trees are quite wind resistant.
I was offline longer than necessary because when I got my power back I discovered that I had been infected with a trojan/worm/spyware prior to losing power and it took me several days to get the computer usable again.
I hope you didn’t worry too much about me, it’s hard to tell because someone seems to have deleted all the “Where’s Tiramisu?” posts. 