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Hurricane Irma


lakecat

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A Neofriend of mine who's a nurse in NC was gearing up for Irma, she was travelling down to SC where she was going to be needed.

She says there's another coming right along behind, too?

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My family and I left Miami last Tuesday to avoid Irma. We're currently in Leesburg, and hoping to return on Tuesday. A friend of mine offered to check on my house when it was safe to go out.  The only good news is I'm not near water so I don't have to worry about the storm surge.

For anyone who has never heard of Leesburg, it's mid-state just after Orlando.

 

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I own a house in Florida... I'm not an American and don't qualify for a federal mortgage so don't have good insurance either (after this is over I plan to change that if I can). Obviously property is not nearly as important as human life... but I can't help be worrying about the so-called 'investment' I made. I've been in touch with my neighbour though, who is local, and he seems to be somewhat unconcerned about our particular area (outside Tampa). For now I can just trust his instincts and hope for the best, and of course, send my thoughts to the people I know there. 

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7 hours ago, WhiteWolf said:

My family and I left Miami last Tuesday to avoid Irma. We're currently in Leesburg, and hoping to return on Tuesday. A friend of mine offered to check on my house when it was safe to go out.  The only good news is I'm not near water so I don't have to worry about the storm surge.

For anyone who has never heard of Leesburg, it's mid-state just after Orlando.

 

I'm glad you got out early.  So many people figured it wasn't going to get "that" bad and decided to wait and watch long enough that they didn't have time to make any decision to leave.

7 hours ago, charelan said:

I own a house in Florida... I'm not an American and don't qualify for a federal mortgage so don't have good insurance either (after this is over I plan to change that if I can). Obviously property is not nearly as important as human life... but I can't help be worrying about the so-called 'investment' I made. I've been in touch with my neighbour though, who is local, and he seems to be somewhat unconcerned about our particular area (outside Tampa). For now I can just trust his instincts and hope for the best, and of course, send my thoughts to the people I know there. 

Amica has started insuring in Florida again (in the last year or so I think)... Or at least did before this.  I'd recommend them for insurance if you can.  I like them.  Tampa is definitely getting a lot of wind and rain, but houses are being built pretty strong these days, so as long as there's not too much nearby to be thrown through the house, it'll likely be OK.

 

Irma is down to a Cat 2 right now, though a really really large one.  So there may be more damage from the duration of wind and rain.  And the fact that there are only so many people who can help clean up and restore power and other services, so resources may be spread thin, so recovery might be slow.  Even with a lot of help coming (we've seen dozens of power trucks, some tree service trucks, and trucks that look like they are carrying supplies headed toward the storm) from 3 or more states away, there's going to be a lot to do.  With Houston area still recovering, this will make it practically the whole southeast trying to rebound.

Then, though they are forecasting that Jose will spin out in the Atlantic, they are also forecasting that there's a "wave" out near Africa still that they think may become Lee and also get up to Major Hurricane status.

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i just got home from Irma. Bunches of tree branches are every where! Luckily we still have power and internet( no cell service though). I waited out Irma in a shelter for 3 days. Wasn't too bad since my family was there. glad to have my family and some power to entertain myself.

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My mom has confirmed that we are going home tomorrow. Traffic aside, I think the worst part is going to be finding a gas station that actually has gas. Post-hurricane gas stations are never fun. There are long lines, and you're never sure if there's any left by the time it's your turn at the pump. The distance to the next such station is anybody's guess. Factor in the local turnpike or interstate, and your odds go down.

One more thing...Will we have internet when we get home? Probably not. I'll post again asap.

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Okay, I'm home. I have electricity, water, internet, but no phones. We lost a tree, and of course it's one of my favorites. Mom's house has no power and some water damage on the first floor. She's staying here for a while. Hopefully, she can go home soon.

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The thing that weirds me out the most about the damage in my neighbourhood is that I live on a cul-de-sac.  I've got one shot from the neighbour on the left's house where you can see that the long dead pine tree and the 6-ish month old magnolia across the street is still standing (and even had a flower open the night she hit!) and all but one of the yard statues are up. . . Versus the shot from the house on right where you can see that one palm (3" from another) snapped in half, one tree next to the driveway hit the ground, an oak lost its top third, the big (15-20'?) bismark palm got sheered off at the base, the little mango (7" trunk?) got uprooted/shoved over, the big mango lost 5/8 branches the size of the little mango, and the camphor lost 1/3+ of its branches, most of which were under the tree, and the rest were shoved across the back yard the entire length of the house.  Worst we got was losing a few shingles/branches, having an oak out back snap, and having two trees across from my bedroom window on the neighbour to the left's spare lot get uprooted and fall onto the trees next to them o_O  

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