Hurricane Irma Shout-Out to Florida Caucusers
Can we have a check-in as soon as we're able after the storm, so that the community knows we're OK?
I'd like to get an idea of which members here are Floridians. After the storm, as soon as people can, they can send a message and say that they're OK. That way, if somebody doesn't get in touch, the rest of us in FL can try to connect with that person and see if they need any help we can provide. But we'll need to have a pretty good idea of which of us are in Florida to make that work.
I'm willing to share my cell number with folks so y'all can text-message or call me as soon as you have phone service again. But obviously, I don't want to post it on the open internet, so message me if you want to connect in that way.
I should have done this sooner, but I've been a bit preoccupied with getting things ready here.
It goes without saying that I will have all of y'all in my thoughts until this is over. Best of luck to all of us.
Comments
Good luck to one and all
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Not in FLorida right now
but we have property and family there. Some were required to evacuate and the rest are sitting tight in central and north Florida. I am not liking the most recent more westerly track which puts nearly the entire state on the east side (stronger side) of the path.
I hope all my family will be safe. I am not very hopeful about property though.
I hope you and yours will remain safe too, CSTMS.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@gulfgal98 Thanks, guys. I guess I
Thanks, guys. I guess I left this too late, probably people are running around trying to finish preparations.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
inland
My "advice", such as it is, remains unchanged:
If you're a c99er, please commence moving upland an inland at once.
Move north and west.
When you see a sign reading DENVER CITY LIMITS ELEV. 5280 FT., you;ll be OK.
Seriously, Floridians all: do whatever it takes to keep safe. Irma and Jose are no trifles! They will kill you given the chance -- so don't give them the chance!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides Luckily, I'm in
Luckily, I'm in Gainesville. That is as inland as it gets around here, and it's only about an hour south of Jacksonville.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@thanatokephaloides please don't try to
please don't try to outguess mother nature
outguess mother nature
Anyone fleeing a hurricane is doing just that -- and on the fly, too.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides It's too late to
It's too late to flee now, unless you're fleeing to a local shelter. The absolute last thing I'd want is to be out on the road in bumper-to-bumper traffic when the storm hits.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Well, there is no "safe" place
for anyone to go now. Those of us with family and property on the western side of the state are truly screwed. More than one in four Floridians were under a mandatory evacuation order as of yesterday. Compared to most states, Florida is far more prepared to do this and yet if there are no seats on airlines or no gas left to fuel your car, you are stuck. It takes more than one tank of gas just to go from one end of Florida to the other, south to north.
Earlier this week, we returned to NC from Florida and were already seeing shortages from Harvey at gas stations in Georgia and SC. Now I woke up this morning to see my home town where I grew up, St. Pete, is in the cross hairs of a direct hit of a category 3 hurricane. The last time St. Pete was hit by a hurricane was nearly 100 years ago. I expect massive storm surge damage in St. Pete which is located on a low lying peninsula with Tampa Bay to its east and the Gulf to its west. St. Pete and its neighbor to the north Clearwater are located in Pinellas County which is the most densely populated county in Florida. Afterwards, the current track takes it directly through Tallahassee as a category one and where we currently have property. We have family in both places. Some of the St. Pete folks had already evacuated to the center of the state, but no place in Florida is safe from wind because Irma is so massive.
I am not optimistic about the out come from this storm. The amount of property damage along the west coast of Florida, particularly the Tampa Bay area is unfathomable. The destruction of infrastructure will take a long time to rebuild and meanwhile, there will be millions of people without homes or power or both.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thanks for posting this
Hoping you all stay safe and are able to check in again soon.
@CS in AZ Thanks, CS. I may post a
Thanks, CS. I may post a little tomorrow morning. Around 4 is when gusts are likely to start.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Thanks CStMS. Parents decided to stay where they are, near Jax.
Sandbagged the garage in case excessive rain causes flooding.
Dad says he'll take the odds that 85% chance of it hitting the opposite coast.
Hope you all are doing the best you can with preparations. Will look to check in tomorrow.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
@Mark from Queens Well, when I talked to
Well, when I talked to you, the news was still saying the hurricane was going to straight up the east coast of FL. That would have been bad for both your parents and my partner's daughter, but since the track has changed, they're probably as safe as I am.
Anyway, as gulfgal says, they would have had to leave quickly. This is what pisses me off about our so-called governor. I can't believe he said "Everybody in FL should be ready to evacuate." Everybody? Everybody in FL can't evacuate. There's 20 million people living here. I agree with evacuating South Florida, but even that left our highways like a parking lot and gas shortages everywhere. Part of the problem is the stupid way America handles evacuations; our government basically says "Everybody get in your cars and head north, NOW!" That works when it's a few thousand people. When it's millions, or even hundreds of thousands, it obviously doesn't work. They would have needed to order the private airlines to fly people out of there, and probably employ military aircraft as well, and they'd have to have a place or places for people to evacuate to, preferably in an orderly fashion.
In other words, there would have to be a plan.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
plan
If you please recall, I put the word "advice" in quotes, as an indication that it was a snarky piece of black humor and naught else.
It was still a better plan than what your Governor had, i.e., nothing.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides God, yes.
God, yes.
Would you like to be governor? I think you'd do a lot better!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
We keep insisting on turning fiction into truth
We are actively creating Idiocracy here.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Thanks for this
I'll let everyone know how things go with my family. Sister probably on an airplane to Denver. Brother is usually moved to a safe shelter.
The storm track is now less than 10 miles east of my sisters house. Projected wind speed of 120 miles an hour. House is only 'stuff'. It can be replaced.
I want a Pony!
@Arrow I'm concerned about
I'm concerned about people first, places second, property third.
Here's hoping both my native home and my adopted home come through this as well as possible. Like gulfgal, I was born and grew up in the St Pete area (born in Tampa, grew up on the St Pete beaches).
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hope all the Floridians
are safe and prepared. Take care.
It may track over us as a tropical depression early this week. Several inches of rain possible. The shots of the impacted islands are pretty bad. Maybe FL will fare better. I hope so.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Hunkered down in Mainland, Florida.
10 minutes from Orlando off of Interstate 4 with my roommate. We have secured the house as best as possible. Boarded up windows, lots of water, food, and booze. Even got a generator with a decent store of fuel as well. My car has the go bag and we can get out pretty quick if things get biblical. We've got a couple of friends joining us. This isn't our first rodeo.
Being in the National Guard for a while helps out a whole lot at well.
My mum's working at Florida Hospital in the city for the duration so she's safe.
I'll let you lot know what's up once things begin. Should be around for an open thread...even when the power goes out (and that's a certainty).
@cybrestrike I'm so glad you posted. I
I'm so glad you posted. I was worried about you. Boarded up with a generator and supplies is excellent--well, as excellent as it gets under these circumstances.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@cybrestrike We are not boarded up.
We are not boarded up. Most people in Gainesville aren't, though our local indie bookstore is (plate glass windows and a little business that probably would go out of business if the storm took its windows out and rained in on its books). We do have adequate supplies of water, food, cash, and fuel--reasonably adequate supplies of light. No generator--well, not one that's in a condition to use (we needed to get it serviced, and what with one thing and another, didn't get around to that this year). Everything that could fly around the yard has been put into a locked shed or the garage (the shed is on a concrete foundation, so is much sturdier than your average shed, and while I'm slightly worried its roof might come off, I'm not worried at all that it will come off its foundation.) I got an extra refill of medication. We're also on high ground, so I'm not afraid of flooding, not in my neighborhood, anyway (there are parts of Gainesville I am a bit worried about, near the creeks and such.)
My guess is we'll ride out the storm mostly in the garage that we repurposed into a kind of second living room/rec room/man cave. The windows are few and narrow, the garage door is the highest hurricane rating a garage door can be, and of course the whole thing is made of concrete. So I feel safest in here; if it had a mini-fridge and a bathroom in here, I probably wouldn't leave the entire time.
One good thing is that we got the trees trimmed right before this started, so there's not a lot of dead stuff in the trees, nor any trees that the guy said "OMG you have to get this tree out or it will fall on you."
Anyway, I hope I don't regret not boarding up my windows, but I think it will be OK. Reactions in Gainesville are ranging from my mom's neighbor who was carrying plywood up his driveway two days ago to the other neighbor who said yesterday "I haven't prepped at all! I'm not scared."
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Don't underestimate the western edge, either.
I lived in FLA 24 years. I lost a tree in my yard to Hurricane Erin.
My experience is that the western edge is where the tornadoes are, and they're pretty dangerous too.
Best wishes for everyone's safety. My thoughts are with you.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
I was in New Haven when Gloria hit
She was a "mere" Cat 1, but she filled the streets with downed trees, and I had to do without power for a week (was the last building on my street to get power back, because the lines ran in from a side street and nobody noticed they were down). No picnic.
I wouldn't even think of trying to ride out anything stronger - don't want to deal with even another Cat 1, for that matter. It's not too likely where I am now, way up beyond the Blue Ridge, but you never know....
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
I was in Queens, NY during Gloria.
Hurricane Gloria was my first major storm. We were obviously not ready, but did well nonetheless. They put all of us kids at my cousin's house. So much candy and chips, Chinese food, pizza, and board games. The eye passed over our neighborhood, which was quite the experience.
The aftermath wasn't that bad for us. There were lots of downed trees, and lots of potholes. We lost power but it was quickly back on again.
I'm signing off for the hurricane--talk to y'all tomorrow if we
still have power; otherwise, whenever we get it back!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
So how did everybody do? n/t
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
My report on family in FLorida
Although hurricane Irma came up along the west coast, there was heavy damage everywhere to the east of the eyewall, including serious storm surges in the Miami area and in Jacksonville. The strongest part of a hurricane is along the east side with the northeast quadrant inflicting the most damage from wind, storm surge and tornadoes. At one point, there were 100 tornadoes or water spouts (tornadoes over water) spotted in the Brevard County area which is on the east coast south of Daytona Beach. One tornado did touch down at Palm Bay.
Hurricane Irma made one landfall in the Keys and then a second one at Marco Island near Naples in southwest Florida. It was originally predicted to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area but it tracked inland to the east of Tampa and spared Tampa, St. Pete, and Clearwater catastrophic damage because they were on the west side of Irma.
My sister and most of her family live in St Pete or St Pete Beach. Most of them evacuated except for two nephews who were in a high rise in downtown St Pete. The rest went north to Charlotte NC. All of them are reported safe and it appears that their homes were spared major damage.
My mother lives inland in Polk County. She resides in a high rise independent living facility which has its own generators and emergency plans. The generators allow them to keep the dining room operational and the common areas lit. Polk County was on the east side of the eye and I have read that there was extensive damage there. I have not heard from my mother as she does not have a cell phone and her land line is down, but I felt that she was in a very secure location in a fortress like building, so I am not going to worry. She told me before the storm that she would call me when she is able to do so.
The rest of our family is in the Tallahassee area which ended up being on the west side of Irma, although it was originally predicted to get a direct hit. Tallahassee is a "Tree City USA" community and so with any major storm or a strong sneeze, the power goes out due to downed trees. We have talked with family and the power is out and many roads are closed due to fallen trees, but no real damage to persons or property has been reported.
Overall, my family came through Irma better than any of us could have expected. I talked with my sister today and we wondered why the Tampa Bay area seems to dodge hurricanes since the last one to hit St Pete directly was in 1921. I am not sure if it is luck or geography (perhaps something to do with the Gulf Stream?) or a combination of both.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Safe and sound here.
Just thought I'd let everyone know my partner and I are fine after spending a couple of days at the mother-in-law's house. No damage here but other folks weren't so lucky.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.