[kab0906]

My niece is panicking and wants to board up her windows (no shutters on her house). We live in Southern Hillsborough, well inland.



I'm trying to talk her out of it.

[lluvia]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

LOL, Yeah, what always makes me laugh is that they fancy themselves "heros" ( and probably expect the

accolades extended to military personnel, ie, "thank you for your service...." )



Speaking of which, I saw a post on our local Next Door app saying Jim Cantore was spotted in Cedar Key this morning.

He likes to scout out an area to anchor down before he actually has to anchor down.

[mollybygolly]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Ya know all I have is from the diff Weather Channels -one said nothing this big to hit that area since 1950.
So, I thought it would be like Ian, big devastation. Most of you are playing it down...OK.
I will, too. I have no more concern. Wishing western FL the best.

I am directly in the cone of the hurricane. The people up here in central north Florida are VERY concerned and we are NOT playing it down.

No one in this area has forgotten Hurricane Michael and the devastation it caused.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by kab0906

My niece is panicking and wants to board up her windows (no shutters on her house). We live in Southern Hillsborough, well inland.



I'm trying to talk her out of it.

Yeah, brilliant idea.

Ian changed course overnight and the matter of those several miles or so put Ft Myers Beach in the brunt of it.

[kab0906]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Yeah, brilliant idea.

Ian changed course overnight and the matter of those several miles or so put Ft Myers Beach in the brunt of it.

Actually, the original prediction of Ian was spot on, as forecast on September 23rd, 5 days before landfall.

https://twitter.com/ECMWFbot/status/...bxbk7LKZA&s=19


Idalia is already in the gulf and well on her way to landfall, in the big bend. It's *not* coming to Tampa Bay.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by andrea3821

I live in Levy County and we have a small co-op. They almost always have help from other utilities and vice versa.

We too have well water and will be filling a tub. We lose power every time the wind blows. :/ We bought a generator last month but it was damaged during shipping and we had to send it back. Super disappointing.

That's lousy, having to send back a damaged generator. I wish you well and hope that you won't have any damages from this hurricane- and your lights will be turned back on real soon.



I'll tell you, those filled bathtubs can be lifesavers when the power is out. We've had occasion to use ours down to the last drop- after hurricane Andrew in Miami before we had to move out ( house was badly damaged), and last year after Ian.



My best to you and yours.

[marc3565]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

My heart is breaking for you all on the West Coast. Mandatory evacs already?
Wow, this could be a very bad one.
How are you doing?

Despite what some headlines might be implying, most of the Evac orders by counties so far are only for the worst flood zones due to the risk of surge causing flooding.

The vast majority of residents in these counties are not being asked to evacuate.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by lluvia

He likes to scout out an area to anchor down before he actually has to anchor down.

Yeah, but the idea that he's scouting around in your neck of the woods is, IMO, creepworthy. They said he checked in at one of the hotels here in Punta Gorda last year before Ian hit.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by kab0906

My niece is panicking and wants to board up her windows (no shutters on her house). We live in Southern Hillsborough, well inland.



I'm trying to talk her out of it.

If you can persuade her it'll be enough to get anything that might fly around in windy conditions inside out of the elements, that might burn off some of her nervous energy and do some good too.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Ya know all I have is from the diff Weather Channels -one said nothing this big to hit that area since 1950.
So, I thought it would be like Ian, big devastation. Most of you are playing it down...OK.
I will, too. I have no more concern. Wishing western FL the best.

I'm playing it down because the media & gov't overhypes these storms every year...like crying Wolf.

I've seen it repeatedly for 40+ years, since I came here for college at 17.

Then, when we did get hit for real with Ian, they had the path wrong, & some were unexpectedly hammered...like in Ft. Myers beach.

The path of this one has a much narrower range of spaghetti models, so its not taking any sharp turns towards land like Ian did.

This storm just became a hurricane this morning, & at 9 am it was only 85 mph at the eye....barely a Cat 1.

It is expected to intensify, but by then, it will have missed SW Florida entirely...where the population's at.

It will reach Cat 2, but it may not even reach Cat 3 before it hits a sparsely populated "big bend" area.

The eye is >200 miles offshore too...nowhere near land as it pases SW FLA. SW Florida is just getting the outer bands.

The worst risk is a Tornado.

I call them as I see them.