Merritt Island here. After the ‘04 storm season I got a full set of hurricane shutters, so I’m buttoning the place up as tight as can be and bugging out for my in-laws’ north of Tampa. I’m thinking I’ll leave pretty early tomorrow morning (like 5am or so) so maybe I can get ahead of the worst of the traffic.
My next-door neighbors are staying, with some hastily erected plywood over their windows. I’m going to leave them a key to our place in case they feel the need to be behind steel.
Oh, and I feel like I owe everyone an apology. We moved from Chicago to Merritt Island in July 2004. We all know what that storm season was like.
We just closed on a new house south of Miami two weeks ago. And here comes Matthew. Small data set, I know, but I can’t help feeling a little responsible. Sorry.
My 95 yr old father and his 94 yr old (nearly Blind) wife live about 20 miles inland from Daytona. I just tried to call them and no one is home. They don’t have cell phones.
Her son lives on the Florida Panhandle, I presume that they are headed there. At least I hope so.
Just got word that public schools, the university, both tech schools, and most county offices are closing Friday. And it wouldn’t surprise me if the university decides to close tomorrow also, ahead of lane reversal on the interstate and the extra traffic on other major highways through town (US 80 and US 301.)
The Boy just dropped by to help me move the generator under shelter, and I gave him his birthday gift a little early - a battery pack for auto jump starts and mobile devices. He kinda needs to stay near campus, because he works at the only dining hall that stays open during emergencies, and his apartment is only 3-4 blocks away. But I still might call in a favor from the campus PD and finagle some unofficial taxi service for him on Friday!
Still sheltering in place here, but I did find the other two jerry cans today and filled them, too. We might not need 20 gallons ourselves - I sincerely hope not - but the neighbors might. Or my brother or niece. Or we have an extra can for each vehicle in case we have to get out of town, plus one for the generator. (If we need more than 5 gallons for the generator, I’ll siphon from the motor home.) But I sure hope that I’m wasting my energy planning for Matthew!
Man, this looks like the kind of Hurricane that always gets me worried. The big one with a large cone of uncertaintly where people are unsure as to who really needs to evacuate and so bunch of people do…which clogs up the roads and then THAT gets compounded by the late leavers who can’t get out and you end up with buttload of people stuck on the road in storm surge areas.
One day it is going to happen.
Be safe folks!
Long story short. We once had an engineer from the North East visit us. Man was she full of herself. She kept on about how us wussified southerns were overating these things. According to her noreasters were way worse. Finally a technician put her in here place…“Its once thing when you look out the window and see six feet of snow. Its another when you look out and see six foot of water”
Latest models as of 8pm Wednesday put it riding right on virtually all the FL Atlantic coast or just off of it (that link should refresh as updates come in); two of them have it doing so all the way into the Carolinas and another two have it looping the loop and doing an encore for the Northern Bahamas, Miami and the Keys :eek:
Sister works at the VA Medical Center in WPB and she and her new husband have homes in Jupiter and Miami Shores both very near the Intracoastal. They’ve been in full preparation mode cancelling everything and getting as many people who can safely be elsewhere for the next 5 days to be so, at the same time as getting their own homes in order.
I’ve been through a Cat 3 direct hit. Even in our world of quality infrastructure, it’ll make you humble. Thinking how SW Haiti and SE Cuba got this one at Cat 4…
Seems that the Lower Keys are one of the safest places in Florida right now. I will not breathe easy until it has passed our latitude. The loop is concerning too.
A bunch of the Bahamian Defense Forces boats have taken shelter in Key West as well as lots of other vessels. The piers are full.
Ivylad and Ivyboy got gas yesterday and filled up some of our gas cans. They also took cash out of the bank.
I passed three gas stations today that were out of gas. I’ll try on my way home from work (early release today) but if push comes to shove we have gas in the garage. I’m at half a tank now.
News is reporting 100 mph SUSTAINED winds down the I-4 corridor.
For those of you going to the west coast of Florida, leave now. It’s business as normal over there and in addition to the evacuees you’re going to get stuck in rush hour traffic.
We’re far enough inland that we should be okay. This looks like a monster, so stay safe and be smart.
As Ron White says, “It’s not THAT the wind is blowing, it’s WHAT the wind is blowing.”
Like I said yesterday, I’m at work 'til 1-ish today and then it’s hunkering down with Ms. Cups.
My job has a 3-story parking garage that we can park in, so I’m leaving my car here for the night and into Friday so that if something happens to one of our cars in our apartment’s parking lot, I am reasonably sure my car is quite safe in a raised, covered structure.
We have 3 portable phone chargers that will be fully charged by the time we get hit. I also ran out and bought those handheld fans with the water spritzer that you see a Disney all the time. That way, if the power goes out, we aren’t burning with no aircon and no fans.
Other than whatever-the-hell Hermine was, this is our first hurricane!
Western Broward, South Florida just checking in for the morning. I drove up to Parkland earlier to help a co-worker put his last few shutters up. He was working on it yesterday, but ended up twisting his ankle with a bad step off the ladder. It helped reinforce my happiness at having impact windows and doors.
I’ve had a few weak rain bands go through, but it’s still early. We’re expecting things to go downhill this afternoon, maybe 2pm-ish. If the track holds, my area will “only” get tropical storm or Cat 1 conditions…but that doesn’t change any of my prep.
I’ve locked down the hurricane features on the garage door, and have everything else taken care of. I don’t expect to go outside again until sometime tomorrow.
I’ll swing by later as things start to happen, assuming my electricity stays on long enough.
Live in central broward county (FT. Lauderdale). Was just outside (3:10 pm), hardly any rain so far. Winds maybe 10 mph. They do gust a little more when a rain band comes in, but not by much. And not for long. Got a feeling NOAA has cried wolf once again, at least for us. Lived down here for 50 years and should have known better. They always build this stuff up. The only time they didn’t was Wilma a decade ago. Gave us the impression that it wouldn’t be bad and it was. Unless the eye actually hits you, its usually nothing. Maybe it will get worse this evening, but the hurricane is already at the same latitude, so I really doubt it. Lots of people are saying that this is a Home Depot storm. At least people who work get a day or two off.
All battened down in Oviedo, both cars in the garage for the first time. There was massive traffic into Orlando from the east last night, apparently as shore-area residents went to take over the Orlando hotel rooms that vacationers have cancelled. My friends in West Palm are gonna get it, though.
I’m intrigued by the European model (whatever the hell that is) showing the hurricane looping around from Cape Hatteras and hitting us again.
I am JUST outside the mandatory evac area for Charleston. If I go a mile down the main road I’m not allowed back out. It’s weird, there being no traffic from the south for an entire day.
