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

[harley]

The beautiful town of Matlacha.

 

[harley]

There won't be any fresh Gulf shrimp from the Fort Myers shrimping fleet for a while.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Checking in. I am not caught up (on the thread but finally put the app on my phone to check in now) and won’t until my internet is restored. Hope that my RE FL family are all safe with minimal damage. No consequences for me other than 26hrs without power and still no internet other than my phone. Relatives in Ft Myers mostly did ok but one cousin’s house flooded along with vehicles. I have supplies in my car and planned to drive down to help today but 75 is closed and even some of the alternatives look bad. From what I have seen rivers may be above flood stage for 5 days. I’m waiting to talk to them again as I’m not sure the value I’ll add will be worth the risk traveling at this time. Sucks to not be able to help.

 

[Dtail]

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 love the water, but the threat of hurricanes sent us more inland.

 

[Badger]

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.

If you were to live anywhere in south or central Florida good luck getting out unless you leave a few days early. There are only 2 main roads out and they will be parking lots. Nothing quite like riding out a hurricane in your car. Even in north Florida it can be difficult. I-95 and I-10 will still be crowded from those in the south heading north. I recall my parents getting stuck on I-10 for many hours and just made it out of the area.
The initial flooding is only the beginning and living inland does not insure safety. Lack of power, water, food, medical help, sanitation, etc. I have lived in Florida for the past 60 years but would never live anywhere that wasn't in north Florida for a little better access to evacuate. I can always visit anywhere south.

Cheers!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

If you were to live anywhere in south or central Florida good luck getting out unless you leave a few days early. There are only 2 main roads out and they will be parking lots. Nothing quite like riding out a hurricane in your car. Even in north Florida it can be difficult. I-95 and I-10 will still be crowded from those in the south heading north. I recall my parents getting stuck on I-10 for many hours and just made it out of the area.
The initial flooding is only the beginning and living inland does not insure safety. Lack of power, water, food, medical help, sanitation, etc. I have lived in Florida for the past 60 years but would never live anywhere that wasn't in north Florida for a little better access to evacuate. I can always visit anywhere south.

Cheers!

Probably why NE Florida is becoming so popular. We have a lot of transplants from SW and SE Florida (as well as from up North) in St. Johns. It will soon become too crowded for us. Not sure what Ian will do for NE FLA home prices, could be bad, could be good.

 

[f35phixer]

The beautiful town of Matlacha.

OMG, we visited there last year.

We have a snowbird place right on beach in Manasota Keys. Last year we stated in DSIL Holiday Estates in Englewood. Lovely community, had a blast. Well they took it pretty hard, lots of devastation, friends houses just blown up.....

Manasota key didn't get any surge! So I think my place survived, we are ten feet from beach. But i feel a bit conflicted about going down there. No Port Charlotte visits, Naples etc etc. The Holiday Estates Friday happy Hours will not be the same.

Anyone other snowbirds having the same feelings?

 

[aaronc879]

If you were to live anywhere in south or central Florida good luck getting out unless you leave a few days early. There are only 2 main roads out and they will be parking lots. Nothing quite like riding out a hurricane in your car. Even in north Florida it can be difficult. I-95 and I-10 will still be crowded from those in the south heading north. I recall my parents getting stuck on I-10 for many hours and just made it out of the area.
The initial flooding is only the beginning and living inland does not insure safety. Lack of power, water, food, medical help, sanitation, etc. I have lived in Florida for the past 60 years but would never live anywhere that wasn't in north Florida for a little better access to evacuate. I can always visit anywhere south.

Cheers!

If I were physically and financially able I would leave several days before the storm arrives. This storm on Saturday was expected to be a 4 landing in Tampa on Wednesday night and it was a very large storm. I would have left no later than Monday morning, probably Sunday morning, which is probably before most left so I would have been fine. I would expect everyone on here who is retired and well off financially to evacuate many days ahead of time. The few hundred in extra hotels costs is well worth it.

 

[JoeWras]

Lots of power outages in the Carolinas. Scattered all over. We managed to avoid it this time.

Crews are working really hard to get things back up and running.

No major flooding. We got 3.5" of rain which was actually very beneficial as it has been dry since mid July.

 

[misanman]

Hurricanes and solar panels

This is a question of lower priority given the overall destruction and potential loss of life, but I've been wondering how solar power installations made out in the path of the hurricane? I assume there would be a good many installed in Florida given the persistent sunshine but were they able to survive the storm?

 

[folivier]

Solar panels may have survived but most systems are not capable of providing power when the electrical grid is down.

 

[Car-Guy]

Solar panels may have survived but most systems are not capable of providing power when the electrical grid is down.

I didn't know that? I would have thought (silly me) that they could still provide some power (maybe not enough for your total needs.) I guess I need to read up on how these things really work.

 

[Ian S]

I didn't know that? I would have thought (silly me) that they could still provide some power (maybe not enough for your total needs.) I guess I need to read up on how these things really work.

Solar panels could certainly provide power but most systems are grid tied and designed so that when the grid goes down, they are shut off. Otherwise, workers trying to get the grid back up and running could be in danger of electrocution. There are ways to design and build a solar system such that the workers are protected and the panels can still provide some power to the homeowner. In the past, Florida has not been the most home solar friendly as the utilities usually oppose solar unless they own it and benefit from it directly. That may have changed.

 

[Car-Guy]

Solar panels could certainly provide power but most systems are grid tied and designed so that when the grid goes down, they are shut off. Otherwise, workers trying to get the grid back up and running could be in danger of electrocution. There are ways to design and build a solar system such that the workers are protected and the panels can still provide some power to the homeowner. In the past, Florida has not been the most home solar friendly as the utilities usually oppose solar unless they own it and benefit from it directly. That may have changed.

I had thought (wrong I guess) that the basic designs were that such systems would isolate themselves from the grid when commercial power was lost. Similar to how I "think" local generators "should" be designed with a automatic/manual transfer switch.

 

[Badger]

Probably why NE Florida is becoming so popular. We have a lot of transplants from SW and SE Florida (as well as from up North) in St. Johns. It will soon become too crowded for us. Not sure what Ian will do for NE FLA home prices, could be bad, could be good.

The prices are already way beyond anything I would have imagined years ago. If I had to buy today I couldn't afford my old, modest, painted concrete block house. The annual taxes alone would go up 7-8X

If I were physically and financially able I would leave several days before the storm arrives. This storm on Saturday was expected to be a 4 landing in Tampa on Wednesday night and it was a very large storm. I would have left no later than Monday morning, probably Sunday morning, which is probably before most left so I would have been fine. I would expect everyone on here who is retired and well off financially to evacuate many days ahead of time. The few hundred in extra hotels costs is well worth it.

That would be a wise decision. Unfortunately, too many people don't seem to understand that hurricanes are not just a simple rain storm.

Cheers!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I am concerned what it is going to do for Homeowners insurance. If folks are like my neighbor who claims everything no matter how small. They should skyrocket, even though we have never made a claim.

 

[aaronc879]

Solar panels may have survived but most systems are not capable of providing power when the electrical grid is down.

I'm no expert but wouldn't they need to be hooked up to charge a bunch of batteries in order for it to do any good in this situation. That is what people do who live off-grid. A normal residential set up would be tied to the electrical grid and useless in this situation AFAIK.

 

[aja8888]

I had thought (wrong I guess) that the basic designs were that such systems would isolate themselves from the grid when commercial power was lost. Similar to how I "think" local generators "should" be designed with a automatic/manual transfer switch.

NW-Bound's solar system is independent of the grid from what I recall.

 

[Ian S]

I had thought (wrong I guess) that the basic designs were that the such systems would isolate themselves from the grid when commercial power was lost. Similar to how I "think" local generators "should" be designed with a automatic/manual transfer switch.

It can of course be done - and is to some extent - but utilities almost invariably don't like homeowners having solar so they put impediments in the way. Certainly any transfer switch would have to be automatic. Maybe someone with more current knowledge of the systems with battery backup can comment on this but my understanding is that those do tend to have the ability to continue to provide power to the homeowner when the grid is down.

 

[simple girl]

Hi all,

I can't recall if I have checked in or not, so, checking in from Sarasota! Sorry if this is a repeat post.

We made it through in our friend's house with shutters. Felt pretty safe when it actually came through, but not when it looked like it was going to come right at us as a near CAT5 (my understanding is the winds were 155 mph, 2 mph shy of a CAT5).

Ian was forecasted to increase to a 4 in the gulf and then decrease to a 3 and landfall Tampa. Then, I think on Tuesday? (my days are all confused after all of this), when it was getting close, it failed to downgrade to a 3 as was forecasted.

So, it was going to hit Tampa as a 4. Then, it started moving south and was heading straight for Sarasota.

And then, he went south to Port Charlotte. Feeling so much for our neighbors to the south of us. So much devastation.

No major damage for our property. Still no power and no estimate on when it will be back. Tons of trees down and power lines down by the road leading to our house. We'll see. Had to clean out my fridge/freezer and there is a boil-water advisory for us. (We have tons of backup water.)

Our friends who live close actually have power, so, thankfully, we are showering and sleeping there, and doing some cooking, too. Night 4 of imposing on them, hope our power comes back soon.

I definitely feel like we dodged a bullet.

 

[MichaelB]

Hi all,

I can't recall if I have checked in or not, so, checking in from Sarasota! Sorry if this is a repeat post.

We made it through in our friend's house with shutters. Felt pretty safe when it actually came through, but not when it looked like it was going to come right at us as a near CAT5 (my understanding is the winds were 155 mph, 2 mph shy of a CAT5).

Ian was forecasted to increase to a 4 in the gulf and then decrease to a 3 and landfall Tampa. Then, I think on Tuesday? (my days are all confused after all of this), when it was getting close, it failed to downgrade to a 3 as was forecasted.

So, it was going to hit Tampa as a 4. Then, it started moving south and was heading straight for Sarasota.

And then, he went south to Port Charlotte. Feeling so much for our neighbors to the south of us. So much devastation.

No major damage for our property. Still no power and no estimate on when it will be back. Tons of trees down and power lines down by the road leading to our house. We'll see. Had to clean out my fridge/freezer and there is a boil-water advisory for us. (We have tons of backup water.)

Our friends who live close actually have power, so, thankfully, we are showering and sleeping there, and doing some cooking, too. Night 4 of imposing on them, hope our power comes back soon.

I definitely feel like we dodged a bullet.

Glad to hear you’re safe and sound

 

[Alan]

Great to hear from you SG.

 

[Car-Guy]

We made it through in our friend's house with shutters.

I definitely feel like we dodged a bullet.

Glad to hear you’re safe and sound

+1

 

[JP.mpls]

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.

Glad to hear your place survived Harley. I thought you might have gotten flooded by the surge wave. The Fish House restaurant right near you was wiped out.
JP

 

[ERD50]

I had thought (wrong I guess) that the basic designs were that such systems would isolate themselves from the grid when commercial power was lost. Similar to how I "think" local generators "should" be designed with a automatic/manual transfer switch.

Yes, they can isolate themselves from the grid with an automatic transfer switch, that's not a tough problem (just a bit of extra hardware).

The real problem of running solar w/o a grid connection is that you need a battery bank to provide a steady source for your home. You can't have the voltage fluctuating all over whenever a cloud or plane goes over, or when a heavy load kicks on/off. In addition, you need a more complex inverter system to handle the power flowing all these different ways (grid>home; solar>grid; solar>battery; battery>home; maybe battery>grid).

Even if you don't want/need days of storage with the battery, and cut your draw way down overnight, it still has to be big enough to smooth the load to your daytime demand. And by the time you've done all that, you probably do want days of storage, in case that outage comes along with a few cloudy days. You'd be kicking yourself for 'cheaping out' on that part of it.

That's why most people just skip the extra expense and go grid-tie.

-ERD50