Hurricane "Ian" may be heading for us here in Florida

Rustward said:
We were vacationing on Sanibel and evacuated Tuesday afternoon. Made it out by that much. I don't think anybody expected the causeway to fail so spectacularly. We'll be back as soon as we can, but it may be a long time.
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Crap! The causeway failed?!?
 
My grandparents retired to Venice in the mid 1970s. I spent many summers there when I was growing up. It is interesting but kind of sad to see some of the footage of the aftermath and recognize places I was familiar with.
 
bmcgonig said:
Naive question: I see lots of wrecked boats in the hurricane aftermath. Some really big ones. Is there no good way to get those out of the way before a hurricane hits? I know that the navy will move ships out to sea, maybe these are too small to go that far out?
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Tough call to make. In the past 5 days the area under threat included the entire peninsula, with potential landfall ranging from Appalachicola to SW Florida.

It takes a lot of fuel to move a large boat from there to Mobile, and few of the damaged ones I’ve seen would have had the capacity to go there directly without refueling. Which then means you have to stay closer to the shore and marinas to refuel, lengthening the distance and time of the trip. So, where do you go?

Not a lot different than the stay/evacuate decision for a homeowner. The right choice is clear only in hindsight. I’ve been fortunate to have made the right call several times, but I figure some time my decision will not work out so well.

The destruction from any big storm drains the life out of me. Saddened every time I drive by the area torn up by Michael in 2018.
 
Rustward said:
We were vacationing on Sanibel and evacuated Tuesday afternoon. Made it out by that much. I don't think anybody expected the causeway to fail so spectacularly. We'll be back as soon as we can, but it may be a long time.
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So glad you made it out. I saw pictures of the collapsed causeway to Sanibel, horrifying. Is that the only way off the island? I wonder how many people are trapped there?
 
bmcgonig said:
Naive question: I see lots of wrecked boats in the hurricane aftermath. Some really big ones. Is there no good way to get those out of the way before a hurricane hits? I know that the navy will move ships out to sea, maybe these are too small to go that far out?
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Friends here had their sailboat in Fort Meyers and had plans to go down next weekend to meet a potential buyer. The buyer sent them a Pic.. boats a total lose and no insurance..
 
Best of luck to all for the days and weeks ahead and stay safe.

Have a great cleaning up few days. Our day is already planned, so much debris in the front back yard and pool. This will easily be a couple of days work at least. The HOA will do the streets etc. So not so bad.

We lost some pool screens, the pool is full of crap and everything outside is a mess, but no real substantial damage thankfully. The Biggie is no flooding. We are at 10' above sea level and the water came nowhere near us, and we live on a barrier island. Not so for Downtown St. Auggie, it was all over the news and weather channels.
 
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Thanks for the update, ShokWaveRider.

Looks like the path is shifting east, so we're holding on here in NC. I expect significant tree damage. Fortunately, the weather has been dry which will help limit it. We've learned that the soil situation before tropical storms greatly impacts the number of trees down in moderate storms. (The trees tip in moderate storms, break in severe storms.)
 
ShokWaveRider said:
Best of luck to all for the days and weeks ahead and stay safe.

Have a great cleaning up few days. Our day is already planned, so much debris in the front back yard and pool. This will easily be a couple of days work at least. The HOA will do the streets etc. So not so bad.

We lost some pool screens, the pool is full of crap and everything outside is a mess, but no real substantial damage thankfully. The Biggie is no flooding. We are at 10' above sea level and the water came nowhere near us, and we live on a barrier island. Not so for Downtown St. Auggie, it was all over the news and weather channels.
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Overall not too bad for you. Who would have thought there would be worse damage by you vs. Tampa as of 1 week ago?
 
Dtail said:
Overall not too bad for you. Who would have thought there would be worse damage by you vs. Tampa as of 1 week ago?
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This is one reason it is so difficult to prepare and why so many are reluctant to evacuate.
 
Glad you were spared for the most part @ShokWaveRider. Water damage would be terrible and you escaped that. I'll never forget walking out all of the furniture from my aunt/uncle/cousin and one of my friends down in Waveland, MS when Katrina hit.

Even to this day if you go into a structure that did not topple or get demolished you can "feel" the water. And it seems like not too many casualties overall which is great. Stuff can be replaced but people cannot. It sounds like about 21 fatalities with that number rising as more discoveries and rescue efforts take place.

The President said it will go down as one of the worst in our nation's history...which if that were true, makes me wonder if FEMA is going to start distributing FEMA trailers again like they did in Katrina.

My cousin lived in one of those trailer's for a year while his and his folks home were rebuilt, slowly but surely. Getting supplies into the hard hit area was a problem with such high demand.
 
BJ's out of water today except Smart water which isn't too smart to buy.
 
Some family got their power back in Bradenton, FL after 36 hours without. Not too bad considering the situation.
 
Lewis Clark said:
Some family got their power back in Bradenton, FL after 36 hours without. Not too bad considering the situation.
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I would say 36 hours is a miracle considering the damage. Former MIL went nearly a month without power after a pretty significant ice storm in Arkansas. We went about 10 days a couple years ago...another nasty ice storm.
 
The problem where I live is that there are a lot of large trees and the neighborhoods are old with overhead power lines. Wind and rain (like today) and down comes the trees and power lines.
 
I’m sorry to see all the devastation in FL. I love Sanibel, Naples, Fort Myers, all the places along the coast. But seeing the damage caused by this storm has convinced me that FL is not the place for me to retire. I’d always be worrying about when the next big storm was going to hit, and I don’t think I have the stomach (or the necessary experience) for evacuating, or staying put, or wondering whether my residence would be intact after the storm. I think I will just remain a visitor. Although unfortunately I think it will be a while before that area is ready for visitors again :(
 
Regrets, then relief

We sold our winter home on Sanibel in 2018. During the last couple of years, prices have nearly doubled on the island, and I've been kicking myself for selling. This week, I'm grateful. All of my Sanibel friends evacuated, but they'll have years rebuilding. I don't have those years to spare.
 
Poopycat said:
I’m sorry to see all the devastation in FL. I love Sanibel, Naples, Fort Myers, all the places along the coast. But seeing the damage caused by this storm has convinced me that FL is not the place for me to retire. I’d always be worrying about when the next big storm was going to hit, and I don’t think I have the stomach (or the necessary experience) for evacuating, or staying put, or wondering whether my residence would be intact after the storm. I think I will just remain a visitor. Although unfortunately I think it will be a while before that area is ready for visitors again :(
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Certainly makes me not want a private house on the water but I would still like to have a condo or even an apartment near the water(not 1st floor) when I retire. I would still evacuate any time I am physically able to.
 
We were so lucky (Again) to avoid any serious damage being so close to the beach. Power went out Thursday at 5:30am and came back on 24 hours later. Windows were boarded up so it was dark inside with only 4 candles. Some minor roof leaks. We kept the refrigerator closed so there was only a few things that needed to be tossed. Kind of quiet sitting in the dark although there was a window in the back of the house not covered so we could monitor the storm. My biggest concern was the safety of the feral cat I have been feeding for a few years. However, he did show up this morning ready for something to eat after being hunkered down somewhere for the past 24 hrs. All of us here spared again.

Cheers!
 
Badger said:
We were so lucky (Again) to avoid any serious damage being so close to the beach. Power went out Thursday at 5:30am and came back on 24 hours later. Windows were boarded up so it was dark inside with only 4 candles. Some minor roof leaks. We kept the refrigerator closed so there was only a few things that needed to be tossed. Kind of quiet sitting in the dark although there was a window in the back of the house not covered so we could monitor the storm. My biggest concern was the safety of the feral cat I have been feeding for a few years. However, he did show up this morning ready for something to eat after being hunkered down somewhere for the past 24 hrs. All of us here spared again.

Cheers!
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Great to hear! :dance:
 
Almost 3 inches of rain in central NC. Windy but nothing catastrophic.

DW and I had our honeymoon on Sanibel in 1990. Sad to see the current situation.

So much of FL is exposed and vulnerable. Florida has historically been raked by hurricanes. Post WWII was an anomaly. The 1920s and 3Os were brutal and learning about history was a big reason I moved away.

Still, I have a soft heart for Florida and wish my friends there all the best.
 
Hello, everyone. I haven't been around for awhile, but thought I would check in and see how some of my SWFL friends made out.

I'm not down there, but I've gotten phone calls and pictures from friends. Sounds like Bonita Springs, Naples, and Fort Myers are pretty much gone, at least the parts anywhere near the water. Matlacha and Pine Island (where Khan used to live) are as destroyed as a nuclear weapon would have done. Devastating.

My house in Bonita Springs seems to have survived again. It's a bunker. We're a mile from the Gulf and about a quarter mile from the Imperial River. Water came up into the front yard, but not quite to the door. My friends a few blocks away right on the Imperial had 4' of water in their house. You can't even get to Fort Myers Beach from Bonita anymore. They closed the bridge due to structural damage. Plus all the boats and trees in the road from the surge.

We just got electricity and internet back about an hour ago. That's amazing work by FPL. I expected at least a week. Tomorrow I'll be able to access my cameras and see at least how the yards look.

Hopefully everyone from the board that lives down there is ok. This was a monster.
 
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