Hurricane Irma

[audreyh1]

Siblings are still without power in GA. Trees down. By some miracle my Dad's assisted living place did not lose power and the only casualty was the flagpole.

 

[Breedlove]

Kind of a heads up , news is changing quickly . Yesterday Marco Rubio suggested everyone totally evacuate the Keys . Last night the Mayor of KW said " we are not going anywhere "

Our hotel oceans Edge Resort is closed today but scheduled to open tomorrow . I don't know why but ...............

Both airports in KW are open but not for commercial flights . They hope to have commercial flights soon .

25% of the homes destroyed remember what Louie C. said these were mostly people who lived in travel trailers and motorhomes . This is their home .

Wait till the facts come out by this weekend .

 

[MichaelB]

25% of the homes destroyed remember what Louie C. said these were mostly people who lived in travel trailers and motorhomes . This is their home .

And now they are homeless. My heart goes out to them.

 

[audreyh1]

I've seen plenty of pictures seriously damaged homes on the Keys that were not mobile homes nor travel trailers.

 

[Another Reader]

I think the 25 percent is an overall figure for the keys. Key West likely suffered the least damage, as the eye crossed over Cudjoe key to the east. Most of the damage is in the middle and upper keys, which were on the "dirty" side of the storm. They got the worst of the winds and the storm surge. The pictures from those areas are evidence of the severe damage there. The road to the lower keys is not open yet, so there are not as many news cameras there. The reports from the locals are of much less severe damage. Utilities are not functional yet, but I'll bet the bars in Key West reopen soon...

 

[pb4uski]

Good news on our winter condo in Sarasota. In our condo complex some trees down and lots of branches no structural damage to buildings or infrastrucutre. Our power was out for ~48 hours but is now back on. A neighbor checked our place and all is well.

I had put a baggie of ice cubes in the freezer when we left in April and the neighbor said that it was a solid block of ice... so sometime between April and now the freezer was out long enough for the ice cubes to melt and then refreeze so we'll pitch a lot of the stuff in the freezer when we get back but IIRC we didn't have much in there so it is not a big loss.

 

[Samething]

Got power restored this morning. Grateful the storm shifted a bit east before making its way past us. My house came out fine lots of debris to pick up in the yard but no damage. Had to help my sister make temporary repairs to the roof of her mobile home yesterday. All in all we were very lucky.

 

[LRDave]

The family beach house on Saint Simons Island GA apparently got just a little bit of storm surge water inside the house - well less than an inch, but still enough to dampen the whole first floor. I say "apparently", because we are relying on the report of a first responder neighbor. There is no power and homeowners are still not allowed back yet.


While we've dodged a bullet, we are concerned that this relatively small impact will worsen, as surge water just sits inside for perhaps days. The refrigerator/freezer is getting grosser by the minute. We also don't know if the compressor (still on the ground) was ruined or how much it was submerged (if any). There was only carpet in one room on the first floor, but I just don't know if this small amount of surge water got behind baseboards and soaked into sheetrock.


Any experience out there with slight flooding and mold? (My biggest fear...)

 

[Amethyst]

Glad to see many of the lovely palm trees survived.

Our power is back on our First Coast Barrier Island today. Jax Beach was flooded though 50 miles North of us. We faired fine all in all. Lots of clean up today, no significant home damage, but things could have been VERY different if this had hit my roof (See Pic). Another 5' would have been an insurance claim.

 

[neihn]

I just talked to my neighbor, there is no damage to my home in North Port FL. There were few falling trees in the neighborhood and the power was out for few hours that night.

We were aways the last 3.5 months (spending time in Portland OR), heading back to Florida tomorrow.

 

[harley]

Our palm trees are leaning at 45 degrees or so. I'll have to find out whether they can be pulled back up or if we should take them down and re-plant. I'm surprised there's a palm tree left in FL considering how small their root systems are.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Just talked to Louie C Rocks a DJ who rode the storm out in KW and who is there right now.
Key West was not destroyed ( KW is in OK )
The 25% people who lost home is correct , these are mostly people who live in travel trailers and motor homes.
!

They have trailer parks in Key West? I thought the keys was all big bucks?

 

[harley]

They have trailer parks in Key West? I thought the keys was all big bucks?

I think you are assuming cheap equates to low cost. The trailer may be inexpensive, but the land you put it on isn't.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I think you are assuming cheap equates to low cost. The trailer may be inexpensive, but the land you put it on isn't.

Ya had to ruin my exodus to the Keys

 

[Moemg]

Our palm trees are leaning at 45 degrees or so. I'll have to find out whether they can be pulled back up or if we should take them down and re-plant. I'm surprised there's a palm tree left in FL considering how small their root systems are.

I have not seen any palm trees down just oak trees.

 

[Moemg]

They have trailer parks in Key West? I thought the keys was all big bucks?

They have trailer parks in all the expensive areas of Florida . They came first . Those trailers even the shitty ones sell for well over $350,000.

 

[socca]

I'm surprised there's a palm tree left in FL considering how small their root systems are.

My royal palm lost half its fronds but stayed upright, which is its survival strategy for tropical storms/hurricanes. There are other palm species which aren't able to shed their fronds and thus are more likely to topple over in a storm.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

They have trailer parks in all the expensive areas of Florida . They came first . Those trailers even the shitty ones sell for well over $350,000.

Wow, I was thinking trailer park 25K. Never knew they go that high. I personally never saw one in person as they are outlawed here. (OK there is one In Staten Island near Jersey, but never saw it, knew anyone that lived there)

 

[simple girl]

I just heard from a neighbor that with the exception of a few screens from a neighbors pool cage sitting on my roof and some significant tree damage, my house looks fine in Fort Myers.

I had braced myself for much worse, given that I didn't put up the storm shutters before leaving last Tuesday.

Waiting to hear when power is restored and flights resume, so I can get down there and see for myself.

Such a relief!

 

[simple girl]

We arrived home at noon today and power was on . I am so happy .Our one fence seems to be leaning a little but that is it.

Great to hear. We arrived home around 4:30 p.m. yesterday after a long 9 hour drive. We took back roads instead of 75, which was a parking lot. No gas anywhere. Traffic lights out many places and many trees down. Thankfully we were able to fill up in Georgia beforehand and made it without any issues.

We were extremely relieved to confirm no damage to our townhouse, not even to our screened in lanai. There was a large tree down out back which took out part of the development's fence, as well as a smaller tree. Very thankful the palm tree in front of our property did not crash into our place!

The power was on when we arrived - so very, very thankful for that! It had been out about 12 hours according to my neighbors.

My college will not re-open for classes until next Monday.

Sleeping in my own bed last night was heaven!

 

[simple girl]

Reports from folks at my condo complex in Estero indicate no damage to buildings. The giant Cheekee hut in the pool area survived, too. Lots of downed trees and branches on nearby roads.

Someone sent me a text stating that a large palm tree had fallen alongside my condo. It should be cleared away before I arrive in ~6 weeks.

Coconut Point Mall has had its power restored this morning. The Publix and Target stores there are open for business.

omni

So glad to hear this omni!

 

[simple girl]

Good news on our winter condo in Sarasota. In our condo complex some trees down and lots of branches no structural damage to buildings or infrastrucutre. Our power was out for ~48 hours but is now back on. A neighbor checked our place and all is well.

I had put a baggie of ice cubes in the freezer when we left in April and the neighbor said that it was a solid block of ice... so sometime between April and now the freezer was out long enough for the ice cubes to melt and then refreeze so we'll pitch a lot of the stuff in the freezer when we get back but IIRC we didn't have much in there so it is not a big loss.

Glad to hear all is well with your condo!

We had put a toothpick on top of a frozen block of ice inside a plastic tub. When we came home, the toothpick had not sunk down into the ice at all - so our freezer held up well. Neighbors say the power was off about 12 hrs.

I pitched the creamer, etc. from the fridge but thankfully had taken most of the items that were perishable in a cooler with us when we evacuated.

 

[48Fire]

Just got back to power at our place near Clearwater Beach. No damage, everything up and running. So grateful that it was not worse. A LOT of cleanup though in our area and across the state that we witnessed during our return from evacuation to Disney.

On I-4 we witnessed convoys of teams of Ohio Edison and North Carolina. Plus, other convoys of tree removal and various other help on the way. THANK YOU EVERYONE. I get the feeling my wife will be handing out $20 bills for a while.

And BTW, Disney was absolutely incredible!! If you ever consider evacuating, this is a great place. They did everything they could to entertain, feed, and keep us safe. We were so lucky to get a room at the day before Irma hit.

 

[48Fire]

Oh and at Disney, the power never even flickered. I think they have their own system.

 

[simple girl]

Sarasota County Gov just sent an alert saying if you don't have power to limit use of water and putting things down drains - ie. minimize flushing toilets, etc. In the areas without power, apparently sewer stations are not functioning. Could result in sewer backup issues!

I know a friend's neighbor is already having issues with this.