Hurricane Milton

[Yoheadden]

Evacuation levels for Sarasota County.

https://sarco.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=0219841617274028b5bf5867fcf4c57b

 

[aaronc879]

We arrived Apex at 3:30 pm today after an overnight stay in Savannah. Now we’ll watch Milton from a safe distance! Good luck, everyone!

Hopefully it stays south and east of you. I think it was showing that coastal Georgia and South Carolina could get some flooding too. Savannah might not be a great choice.

 

[MarieIG]

I've been texting my friends and relatives in Florida. (A number of relatives have primary residences in NJ and condos or houses in Florida for part-time occupation.) DS is on the east coast and they have their supplies and there generator ready. It appears that with the exception of one of the snowbirds cousins, they are not in evacuation zones, and the cousin with a condo in Sarasota is thankfully in Jersey. I am wishing / hoping that everyone takes all possible precautions and stays safe.

 

[neihn]

Live about 4 miles from Zone E evacuation. Only A and B are being evacuated. No rivers near me.

Stay safe.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Not necessarily.

We did a last minute evacuation from Irma and hit no traffic at all until we were in South Carolina. By then, most evacuees had already left.

And we do have a hotel reservation, made a few days ago.

During our Irma evacuation, as we were driving north on I-95 we saw hundreds of power company trucks from far away states and even Canada driving south into FL, into harms way, to be ready for the recovery. Still brings a lump to my throat when I think about it.

We bought snacks and gave them to the linemen we saw as we drove home.

Left home about 2:50 am this morning. Arrived in Columbus, GA about 9:40 am. Took the Suncoast Parkway (SR 589) north to the end, then jogged west to US 19 which we took into GA. Traffic was light in a few areas but mostly non-existant until the last hour or two in GA. And it was light local traffic, not evacuees. Speed limit ride, or faster, all the way.

Saw no open gas stations with gas until Chiefland. In and north of Chiefland there were lots of gas stations open that had gas. Most were crowded.

 

[Montecfo]

Left home about 2:50 am this morning. Arrived in Columbus, GA about 9:40 am. Took the Suncoast Parkway (SR 589) north to the end, then jogged west to US 19 which we took into GA. Traffic was light in a few areas but mostly non-existant until the last hour or two in GA. And it was light local traffic, not evacuees. Speed limit ride, or faster, all the way.

Saw no open gas stations with gas until Chiefland. In and north of Chiefland there were lots of gas stations open that had gas. Most were crowded.

That's a pretty good ride. Well done.

 

[latexman]

Hopefully it stays south and east of you. I think it was showing that coastal Georgia and South Carolina could get some flooding too. Savannah might not be a great choice.

We normally break up the ~ 10 hour drive from Bradenton, FL to Apex, NC by stopping in Savannah or Jacksonville. We were 2-3 days ahead of Milton, so we stopped as normal. If the timing was critical, we’d have driven straight through.

 

[rembrandt]

1,000 Florida gas stations have run out of fuel. Hurricane Milton could cause even more trouble.​

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tried to tamp down panic buying and drivers topping off tanks, which can make shortages worse. DeSantis in a press conference Tuesday morning assured residents that the state is working to bring emergency supplies of gasoline to stations that have run out of gas.

 

[Midpack]

1,000 Florida gas stations have run out of fuel. Hurricane Milton could cause even more trouble.​

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tried to tamp down panic buying and drivers topping off tanks, which can make shortages worse. DeSantis in a press conference Tuesday morning assured residents that the state is working to bring emergency supplies of gasoline to stations that have run out of gas.

I'm sure grocers are out of water, milk, bread, toilet paper, batteries, non-perishable foods and the like as well. Probably no generators at home stores either. Happens every time, not just FL.

I just hope somehow Milton is not as bad as it sounds.

 

[Car-Guy]

1,000 Florida gas stations have run out of fuel. Hurricane Milton could cause even more trouble.​

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tried to tamp down panic buying and drivers topping off tanks, which can make shortages worse. DeSantis in a press conference Tuesday morning assured residents that the state is working to bring emergency supplies of gasoline to stations that have run out of gas.

The one time I "tried" to evacuate before a storm, I filled up before I left and had ten more gallons of gas in the the bed of my truck "just in case". As it turned out, the traffic was so bad I couldn't get out of town, so after ~6 hours or so, I turned around and went home. After the storm passed, I couldn't get gas for a few days (IIRC) since the stations didn't have power to pump gas and/or were sold out. Same with grocery stores, no power. I've been though enough of these to know, that you pretty much need to take care of "number one" just before and for days after these storms. Stock up on gas, food and water and don't depend on anyone (except maybe family or close friends) for help. Sorry, but that's the way it is!

 

[aja8888]

The one time I "tried" to evacuate before a storm, I filled up before I left and had ten more gallons in the the bed of my truck just in case. As it turned out, the traffic was so bad I couldn't get out of town, so I turned around and went home. After the storm passed, I couldn't get gas for a few days (IIRC) since the stations didn't have power to pump gas and/or were sold out. Same with grocery stores, no power. I've been though enough of these to know, that you pretty much need to take care of "number one" just before and for days after these storms. Stock up on gas, food and water and don't depend on anyone (except maybe family or close friends) for help. Sorry, but that's the way it is!

I wonder how all the EV owners are dealing with their plan to evacuate? No mention of charging on the road (availability of chargers) by the folks on The Weather Channel, only mentions about having gas cans for extra fuel.

 

[Car-Guy]

I wonder how all the EV owners are dealing with their plan to evacuate? No mention of charging on the road (availability of chargers) by the folks on The Weather Channel, only mentions about having gas cans for extra fuel.

I'm not sure how they deal with it. Even if you could get to a working charging station, the lines and wait times must be really bad. Probably most folks with both EV's and gas power vehicles "opt" to drive their gas powered cars (and maybe tow) their EV's?

 

[aja8888]

I'm not sure how they deal with it. Even if you could get to a working charging station the lines and wait times must be really bad.

Well, since only about 10% of the cars on the road are EV's, maybe it's not an issue!

 

[joesxm3]

I read on X that the Tesla superchargers are running fine with about a 5 minute wait time.

 

[groesbeck]

The predicted track didn't even wiggle in the Tuesday 2PM update. Headed right over my house still. Factory where I work in Orlando is closed Wednesday and Thursday which is great for me. I'm still tieing everything down and been at it for hours.

 

[Midpack]

I wonder how all the EV owners are dealing with their plan to evacuate? No mention of charging on the road (availability of chargers) by the folks on The Weather Channel, only mentions about having gas cans for extra fuel.

If you're evacuating with an EV, you probably need to plan ahead a little more than someone with an ICE vehicle, and evacuate to a location where power failures are far less likely - e.g. further from the strike zone. Even more so if you don't have access to Tesla superchargers. But then evacuating sooner rather than later is clearly a good idea anyway no matter who you are or what you drive for lots of other reasons. As mentioned above, gas will become an issue if you don't get well clear of the strike zone anyway.

 

[GrayHare]

I just hope somehow Milton is not as bad as it sounds.

The wind speed will likely drop way down by landfall, so I doubt any official land station will reach 80 mph sustained. Storm surge is probably the greater threat.

 

[audreyh1]

I did see reports of extra “emergency” charging available in FL. Regardless I’d be out of there several days in advance.

Fuel stations don’t work when power is down.

 

[aja8888]

I did see reports of extra “emergency” charging available in FL. Regardless I’d be out of there several days in advance.

Fuel stationsSome fule don’t work when power is down.

Nothing works when power is down, even Tesla charging locations.

 

[Samething]

I just booked myself a little vacation in Miami Beach. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it but at least I now have the option. The plan is I'll leave at 5 am Wednesday and take SR-70 over to the east coast. This avoids any problems on I-75 and gets me away from the west coast quickly. Mapquest says 4 hours to Miami Beach using this route (3:15 if using I-75).

I decided that health is all that matters, and just don't know if I'll be able to survive Milton uninjured if I hunker down in my house. My previous hurricane experiences (Irma & Ian) have been low CAT 1 and they have been plenty intense. A CAT 3 direct strike on Sarasota is more than I want to deal with.

Yesterday (Monday) I drove from St. Lucie county to St Petersburg to evacuate my sister. We left her house @ 2pm and drove south to SR-70 then across the state to I-95. Most are traveling north and we thought we were going to have an easy drive until we got to Arcadia. Took us 1 1/2 hours to get through the city. A lot of construction and miles of 2 lane road through the city. Miserable. Once outside of the city it opened up a bit but it was still slow going until 95 (south) Best of luck.

 

[Midpack]

Nothing works when power is down, even Tesla charging locations.

Again, EV charging will work fine at your evacuation destination if you evacuate soon enough and far enough. Some here have gone to central or eastern NC for example. I think audrey1 was talking about extra capacity before the storm to accommodate last minute EV owners, and she mentioned being out of there...

 

[Midpack]

The wind speed will likely drop way down by landfall, so I doubt any official land station will reach 80 mph sustained. Storm surge is probably the greater threat.

Yesterday morning they were projecting building to Cat 4 when it hits, then Cat 5 later in the day, now they're projecting Cat 3. Guess I should wait and see...

 

[audreyh1]

Nothing works when power is down, even Tesla charging locations.

Of course.

 

[GrayHare]

Yesterday morning they were projecting building to Cat 4 when it hits, then Cat 5 later in the day, now they're projecting Cat 3. Guess I should wait and see...

Yes, the official projections have been dropping. My guess is cat 2 at landfall. Before the wind speed decreases, however, the storm will be pushing lots of water ahead of it, so the surge and flooding will be the main story I suspect.

 

[YakGrl]

I did see reports of extra “emergency” charging available in FL. Regardless I’d be out of there several days in advance.

Fuel stations don’t work when power is down.

Most gas stations and grocery stores in Florida have generator backups.