Hurricane Ian Heading For Florida (Sept, 2022)

[RickOShea]

[EBuff75]

A couple from our local CERT here in Michigan moved down to the Sarasota area last year after they retired.  They've gotten involved with the local CERT and I know that they've been getting ready for this storm to hit.  Even if they aren't directly affected, it's likely that the CERT will be called up to help out. They seem pretty confident, but some of that might be from never having experienced a hurricane before!

[RickOShea]

Doesn't MacWallace live in south Florida? I don't know if he's on the Atlantic side or the Gulf of Mexico side.

[flybynight]

Doesn't MacWallace live in south Florida? I don't know if he's on the Atlantic side or the Gulf of Mexico side.

Member map shows him on the Atlantic side by  Palm beach

[Raptor]

Ian would have me concerned with the cat 3 to cat 4 increase. This is likely to really wallop FL with both wind and storm surge.

Of course there is the ubiquitous photo of the empty store shelves and bottled water sold out.



A personal peeve of mine is the run on bottled water. If you buy one of these for every person in your family, you can simply fill these up with tap water and viola you have 5 days of water per person for a fraction of the cost of bottled water. They are also reusable so you have solved this issue for at least 5 years.
https://www.amazon.com/Coghlans-Collapsible-Water-Container-5-Gallon/dp/B006EHACXS/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=5+gallon+collapsible+water+jug&qid=1664312068&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjA5IiwicXNhIjoiMy41NiIsInFzcCI6IjMuMjcifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-7


God Speed Tampa/St Petersburg. We will keep you in our prayers.

[MacWa77ace]

Doesn't MacWallace live in south Florida? I don't know if he's on the Atlantic side or the Gulf of Mexico side.

Member map shows him on the Atlantic side by  Palm beach

I'm about 2 miles walk from the everglades, 12 miles from the beach. I'm not in any kind of mandatory evacuation area. Those have to do with the storm surge which happens near the coast. Plus it's really amazing how our canal system really keeps us from flooding. Sometimes water management will lower the canals in advance of a hurricane.

And my specific plan no matter the storm track is to; put up shutters if needed [before], hunker down [during], then assess and repair [after], if Power goes down for any prolonged period we may Bug Out to relatives who are in different parts of the state who do have power.

I'm not even putting up the shutters for this one.

The storm track on this will put me on the 'clean air' side of the storm but its been raining here since yesterday morning.

Wilma on the other hand was a direct hit on me when i lived in Boca Raton, the eye went right over us. That was weird. And Irma was the last one to really effect me, the power outage after the fact and FPL trying to get it back up kept brown outing and fried my refrigerator. That sucked.

Work is being effected 'cause we have a distribution center in Tampa, they will be closed tomorrow and Thursday. My location will probably not close. I work an hour south of my home in west Ft. Lauderdale.

[Raptor]

Ian is kicking the caca out of the Tampa/St Pete area as I post this. Prayers are being offered for the safety of the people in the area. This is going cause a lot of damage ($$$$$$). There is no way around this.

You cannot view this attachment.

[majorhavoc]

So my Dad, who just turned 90 and has dementia, resides at an assisted living facility in Sarasota.  He, along with the other residents, the staff and their families, are sheltering in place there.  It's supposedly built to meet certain standards required for hospitals and other critical medical facilities.  That was a major selling point when my brothers and I picked it out for him.  But I think I read somewhere that nothing is guaranteed to survive a direct hit by anything above a category 3 hurricane.  Ian's a strong cat 4 and it looks like the Port Charlette/Sarasota area are going to take a direct hit in the next few hours.  

Dad has his good days and his bad days, but when I spoke to him this morning he seemed fully engaged and oriented.  Says the staff and residents had an all facility meeting yesterday to go over emergency procedures and what to expect.  He's watching the news constantly and is most concerned about something coming through the windows.  That seems like a reasonable concern to me.  The only room in his studio apartment that doesn't have windows is his bathroom.  I suggested if things get really bad, the staff will move the residents out into the hallways to ride out the worst of the storm.  I also asked him to keep his cell phone charged and to take it with him wherever he goes.  He's particularly bad about leaving it in his apartment when he goes elsewhere in the building.  

I'm going into this assuming everything will be fine.  But I'd be lying if I said I'm not worried.

[Raptor]

But I'd be lying if I said I'm not worried.

You would not be human if you were not worried. The good news is that generally the wind in hurricanes causes structural damage; it is the storm surge that causes the real problem. Assuming the building is away from or higher than an inundation zone (which FL requires for such facilities) the building may be beaten up but the people inside are likely fine.

That said the aftermath is where the real problems occur. You may want to plan on taking him to another location for a couple of weeks until power, sanitation and comms are restored.

As for the cell phone. There is not likely to be any reliable cell phone service in his area for a few days.


BTW you can check on the power outages here:
https://account.tecoenergy.com/Outage/Outagemap
https://www.fplmaps.com/

[NapalmMan67]

I have a friend that lives in Naples that I've not heard if she evacuated safely.  I hope the lack of comms with her means she's traveling and did.

Keeping fingers crossed for everyone in the path of this monster.  I told my dad no matter what happens to his house in Tampa, I am glad he's 1200 miles North of there right now.

.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I have a friend that lives in Naples that I've not heard if she evacuated safely.  I hope the lack of comms with her means she's traveling and did.

Keeping fingers crossed for everyone in the path of this monster.  I told my dad no matter what happens to his house in Tampa, I am glad he's 1200 miles North of there right now.

.

I've always said houses and material possessions can be replaced in due time, human lives can't.

Here's hoping your friend is safe, NapalmMan67.

Here's hoping everyone else in the path of this storm is safe as well.

[flybynight]

Doesn't MacWallace live in south Florida? I don't know if he's on the Atlantic side or the Gulf of Mexico side.

Member map shows him on the Atlantic side by  Palm beach

I'm about 2 miles walk from the everglades, 12 miles from the beach. I'm not in any kind of mandatory evacuation area. Those have to do with the storm surge which happens near the coast. Plus it's really amazing how our canal system really keeps us from flooding. Sometimes water management will lower the canals in advance of a hurricane.

And my specific plan no matter the storm track is to; put up shutters if needed [before], hunker down [during], then assess and repair [after], if Power goes down for any prolonged period we may Bug Out to relatives who are in different parts of the state who do have power.

I'm not even putting up the shutters for this one.

The storm track on this will put me on the 'clean air' side of the storm but its been raining here since yesterday morning.

Wilma on the other hand was a direct hit on me when i lived in Boca Raton, the eye went right over us. That was weird. And Irma was the last one to really effect me, the power outage after the fact and FPL trying to get it back up kept brown outing and fried my refrigerator. That sucked.

Work is being effected 'cause we have a distribution center in Tampa, they will be closed tomorrow and Thursday. My location will probably not close. I work an hour south of my home in west Ft. Lauderdale.

Give us a check in when you can

[MacWa77ace]

Really a non event other than windy and rainy in my AO. Didn't even lose power. Although there were a couple of tornadoes that touched down about 10 miles south. And another hit north perry executive airport and flipped a few planes around. That's in south Broward County.

Last night there were a bunch of emergency alerts on the tv regarding tornado warnings. Palm Beach County is pretty much clear at this time, tornado watches lifted.

It really depends on how close you are to the eye wall on weather you get hurricane or tropical force winds. And the tornadoes spawn from the feeder bands. And those can be really far out from the eye.

[majorhavoc]

Update on my Dad. They're running on back up power but everyone at his ALF is safe and sound. The residents rode out the worst of it in the central lounge of the building, singing songs and playing games.

Got all this by calling the front desk - a land-line.  As others here predicted, cellular service is completely down through out Sarasota and I  imagine much of the south Gulf coast.

Huge relief for me, but best wishes for everyone in the extended UFOZS community with connections to Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and wherever this destructive storm goes next.

[Raptor]

Update on my Dad. They're running on back up power but everyone at his ALF is safe and sound. The residents rode out the worst of it in the central lounge of the building, singing songs and playing games.

Got all this by calling the front desk - a land-line.  As others here predicted, cellular service is completely down through out Sarasota and I  imagine much of the south Gulf coast.

Huge relief for me, but best wishes for everyone in the extended UFOZS community with connections to Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and wherever this destructive storm goes next.

That is good news! 
I was also worried when I read your initial post. Cell service is always down and what service is available is always prioritized to the 1st responders via telephone # priority. 

Land lines are funny though everything goes through VOIP now and the days of having a POTS phone that rings and is usable during a power outage are long gone at least in my AO. I am glad that you were able to get through.

FL (unlike NOLA) has their act together so I suspect that your dad's home has priority service for comms and such. 


Edited to add:
As a child I remember hurricane aftermaths where we were without power for days but we could still phone friends on the telephone since it had its own power supply. I also remember a light bulb fixture that my brother (who is an engineer) put together using power from the telephone line.

[MacWa77ace]

Apparently there is a bridge that was destroyed/dmgd going to Sanibel Island. Cutting it off completely from the mainland. Rumors of deaths at this point on the island also. Now this is a mandatory evac location and I can't see anyone not getting out/off that Island knowing the history of the area.

Years ago there was a hurricane that hit the exact same path and it cut Captiva Island in two. Captiva is next to Sanibel. It gouged out a waterway so to speak. IRRC that was Charley.

I haven't been over there since before Charley, but I have a work contact on Marco Island that will have the scoop. 

100's of thousands without Power right now in affected areas.
9/29/22 13:30

https://poweroutage.us/area/state/florida

[EBuff75]

The damage to the Sanibel Causeway looks like it's a lot worse than was originally reported.  It appears that anyone needing to go to / from the island for the foreseeable future will have to use either a boat or helicopter.  This news report has some pretty good footage of the damage.  That's going to take a lot of time and a lot of $$$ to fix.

[NapalmMan67]

No word from my friend yet.

Dad's house came through fairly unscathed, just some minor flooding in the neighborhood and power out.  Hoping the people who made the offer on it don't back out now!

.

[EBuff75]

Dad's house came through fairly unscathed, just some minor flooding in the neighborhood and power out.  Hoping the people who made the offer on it don't back out now!

That ought to be a selling point for the house!

[flybynight]

I found this today. It's pretty awful to see


https://youtu.be/bMQ-nTTv4ik