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Hurricane Ian

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Historically all of the boom times here in Florida - came to an abrupt end with terrible hurricanes.. in modern times....  The baddest of them all was the "Labor Day" hurricane in 1935 that killed hundreds and hundreds in the Keys... To this day it's still the hurricane that had the lowest pressure reading on record... This is by way of saying that as bad as Ian was... it could have been a lot worse (if you can even imagine that...).  Of course we live in a well known hurricane area - but you could go years and years without a single strike - or get hit three times in one year... That brings up another small point, that hurricanes come in all sizes and situations so you can never be sure of the size of that dog coming to bite you... 

The one positive thing about them in the modern era is that at least we hear about them well in advance (mostly - but not always...) and can prepare for what can happen to you.  We do have significant numbers of folks living in sub-standard housing though around our state - it's all they can afford - and those new mobile homes look pretty nice until you see what a bad storm can do to one (and here I'm not even talking about hurricanes...).  Every time we get hit with a hurricane there's substantial sentiment to prohibit "mobile homes" down here - but economics will prevent any action... Wish it weren't so.. It's not an accident that the first place TV crews head for after a storm is the local trailer park... 

For anyone considering buying property here (or moving here) the first item I'd suggest you learn about is just how high above sea level.... that property you're considering is...  The next item would be to learn just where, locally, is the nearest public parking area where you could leave a vehicle - so that it's not flooded during the storm.  Always a few public safety outfits (police, fire, etc.) that have to learn that lesson the hard way...

Before I took up guiding (1996) I did a career in law enforcement locally and was my department's representative at all of the local (Miami) disaster preparedness seminars each year as we prepped up for what in my era we just missed - with the exception of hurricane Andrew, a very, very bad one in 1992... Just to illustrate what can happen - that storm,  a small but very strong (a full category five...) hurricane was literally aimed at my city - until an hour or two before landfall changed direction and hit 30 miles to the south of us...   In short, be safe, do your preparations, stay out of "mobile homes" and if you're in a flood zone - when they say to get out - take heed...  One other small point is that October is a very, very bad month for the great storms that come out of Africa.. hope we get missed  -one more time... 

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Hi all, I'm not ded yet.  Long and short of it is House is fine, lots of vegetative damage, the cows are grumpy, and i get to take a bath in the front pond with the resident gator who gives me the hairy eye ball when I do.  My family in town is fine.  Almost 8 hours of Hurricane force winds.  The fridge is getting smelly, the leaves outside are starting to have that fermenty earth smell, and the cat's litter box needs changing so the olfactory senses are taking a hit.  The one REALLY good thing other than everyone I have had contact with is still kicking is  that fall came early.  it's in the mid 80's and then down into the 60's at night, very unusual for this time of year. I'll take it

 

be well

 

Swamp

 

P.S.  A member sent me a message and I texted them, they know who they are.  I will get you more info as soon as I can.  I know that road and evacuation/shelter would have been away from the worst destruction.

 

P.P.S Not sure how often I will be able to get back online....

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JUst Got a text saying that Forum members Family is okay.

 

Bye for now have to conserve fuel for generator.

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Swamp Fly & Capt Bob, good to see you guys online and are both okay. Haven't heard from Mike but he told me before it hit that I may not hear from him for a week till all the power/internet gets restored. I know he's way inland in Deltona so didn't get the brunt of it but I'm sure he probably saw a lot of rain/water and some wind as well. Hope the power comes back on soon for you Swamp Fly.

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Thanks everyone.

Loss of life and property is horrible.  I was very fortunate.  Unfortunately I expect to not have power for weeks, my little slice of paradise is off the beaten path and this is one of those rare times it can be a detriment.  Still it's a first world problem so I'm trying to keep it in perspective.  There are so many out there that have lost everything.  According to the Lee County Sheriff over 1100 people have been rescued off of Sanibel and Ft Myers Beach.  There are also 35 confirmed victims of the storm (directly), that number will go up and a significant number will probably never be found.  There are also victims that have (and will) die indirectly.  One Gentleman upon returning to his property had a lethal heart attack in his front yard from the stress of seeing the damage.  Then there are the folks that fall off of ladders, are crushed, are distracted with Insurance stuff while driving etc. Those deaths will also not be attributed directly to the storm.  I won't be surprised if the death toll ends up in the triple digits.  The storm surge is being estimated at 15' in some places using physical indicators.  One of the local broadcasters news team was in downtown Ft. Myers they were covering the storm live when the storm surge inundated their studio and 80 people had to evacuate to the second floor.  They are now broadcasting from a tiny space in their transmission center (antenna).  I drive by it when I turn off the main road to get to my neighborhood.

I live out of town and off the main road a number of miles, my neighbors are mostly generational residents of SW Florida (AKA Florida Crackers).  All of them that I talked to openly admitted they were scared to death and never want to do that again.  Some of them are old enough to remember hurricane Donna.

This storm will change SW Florida and how things are done until greed and ego make people forget then we will be doomed to repeat this ugliness again.

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At it's worst.  The water never got into the house.

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The street in front and beside the yard ...

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The workshop's driveway ...

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no mowing for a week or two.

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Power and internet are back.  Life is normal for us.  We got lucky.

 

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That's a good thing Mike!  How deep was?  Answer: Deep enough.

Still no power but I didn't expect it.  There are 20-30(maybe more) power poles down along SR31 There were about 12+ utility trucks working on them earlier in several locations at the same time.  What I could tell they were getin' after it. Didn't see the normal group of workers waiting for the collared shirt guys, each one  pointing in a different direction, to figure it out.  These guys were on a mission.  My electric goes through there so maybe it won't be weeks.  Hats off to the crews working on this mess everyone of the hundreds that I have personally seen had their game face on and were working hard.  I'm very glad that fall showed its face early this year, not just for the people trying to put their lives back together but for all of the crews from out of state (30 states!!!).  Mid to upper 80's is so much better than mid to upper 90's.

Swamp

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For folks with building skills Florida will be heaven these next two or three years… Unfortunately we’ll also draw more than our share of scam artists and other scoundrels  hoping for chances to rip off anyone from a retiree to the government itself…. and make a quick buck.

Emergency workers and utility workers will be on all the overtime they can stand - while every last resident in our state can expect their homeowner’s insurance to jump again (as if it weren’t high enough…).  Just the price we pay for living here .

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I always wanted to live on an island...

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Daytona Beach area. Lost power Thursday morning and was unable to get the generator running due to standing water all around the house until Friday evening when the water receded enough to find a dry spot. Had about an inch of water in my office/den and 4 in the garage. Power came back on late Sunday. Lost some fence panels and a good amount of tree damage.

I flew damage assessments on Saturday for the seawalls and was amazed by the damage. Over a dozen condo's completely lost their pool decks/pools to the erosion. This is the 5th major storm I have flown for and have never seen damage like this. Several of the buildings may be condemned due to undermining too close to the foundations.

I have seen more damage in our area from storms that crossed the state from the gulf (Charlie '04) than any that have made extremely close approaches as major hurricanes on the Atlantic side (Frances, Jean, Matthew, Dorian).

Yesterday was the start of cleanup day and the majority of yards are cleaned up, debris is at the curb, and things are drying out. Now that we are stabilized it is time to help the others in harder hit areas.

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 The flooding and debris are going to be difficult to deal with for some of you but your all still in one piece which is the important thing.

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Yes Sir! Couldn't agree more. While inconvenient I keep saying I have nothing but 1st world problems as far as this is concerned.  A little sweat and time all will be well.

Some of the stories of survival (and not surviving) are horrible.  Sheltering in closets with kids and the water rushing in so hard that the pressure wouldn't let them out again.  A young couple swimming through building pieces and power lines while seeing their neighbors who didn't make it.  How do you process that?

Yeah, I think I'm good...

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Power came back on today.  I'm not sure what I am looking forward to more, a hot shower, AC for next week when the temperature and humidity go up, or being able to do laundry.  Unfortunately lots of folks still withoutpower and worse lots of folks without a house which to have power turned back on.

Time to run the generator dry and change the oil so it starts and runs next time.

Swamp

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