Monday, September 11, 2017

Hurricane IRMA left her Imprint


Auburndale, FL Hi 81  Lo 78

This is our take on the hurricane IRMA. The biggest hurricane that's hit the USA, bigger then the well known Katrina.  The storm came in from Africa and because the water is so warm it grew to a Cat 5 hitting Marco Island at Cat 4 on Sept 10. It was a fast moving storm so didn't leave a lot of water.  Here's the posts I made on Facebook during the storm. The hardest decision was to stay with the mobile home or leave. We've learned over the years that the media makes a storm a lot bigger and worse then it really is so we stayed. The picture above is Florida under the hurricane. Below is two different views from the ISS (International Space Station).  (Click to enlarge).



September 7, 2017
The storm is east, we're going to get wind and rain but nothing bad. We are packed and ready to head out if the storm takes a westerly turn. Our home took a couple other Cat 1 hurricanes and we're not expecting more then tropical winds. We still have open minds, but so far we'll stay. There's several people in the park staying we're not alone.

September  9, 2017  12:51pm
UPDATE: We're securing the house the best we can. We went to the shelter to check it out which is  4 miles from us. They can take 160 people and there's 30 as of 12:30. We really don't want to go before the storm gets here and spend 2 nights. We're waiting on the report of eye going more to the West. We notice a big difference in the climate. There's a muggy feeling besides the normal feeling of just humidity. There's NO birds at all on the lake and canal. It feels different, we've never felt before. Houses around have boards on the windows. Some of the people in the park have changed their minds and going to relatives. We can go either way, just like the path of IRMA. I'll keep you posted. Polk County, Auburndale is location to follow on wind maps.

September 10, 2017  
 Sunday Update: It's 9am and we have a light rain and very little wind. It looks like the eye of Irma is staying to the west. We're staying in place. For those in the park and have left we'll keep you informed till we have no cell service. We can charge our phones in the car. We're not suppose to have the eye of the storm till 12 tonight, but I'll use fb as a diary of what happens. We'll stay safe.

Update Sunday 2:00pm. Still everything is fine. Gusts are a little stronger but nothing to shout about, birds are flying around, rain bands are sideways but very light rain. We can barely see it raining. We can't hear it on the roof like normal. Two tornadoes past earlier, didn't drop. Still have electric. The worst will be thru the night. I'll keep updating every few hours.

Update Sunday, 5:00pm. Winds are picking up with the bands coming over. The palm tree is bending more, but we still have power. I'm hoping it doesn't go out till the pizza is done. I'll keep posting. We have the generator ready to go when we need it. I'll keep posting as long as I can. We can charge the phone in the car. Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. We're still pretty calm about the whole thing.



Update Sunday 8.00pm We are getting big bands of rain. Wind has picked up. Power is going off and on so that's about to go out. I'll post again if I can later when the main storm goes past us and if I'm awake. We're fine.
We decided it was time to put on helmets. The walls were creaking a bit and the wind was trying to come in the bedroom windows, including a little rain. We thought the helmets would help if the roof came down. 
Update Sunday, 10:45pm. Flickering power. The wind is getting more powerful. It's noisy and the walls creak, but we're still ok. We were in the eye of Fran in 1996 at night. I still don't get to see what's going on with Irma with the eye going over again at night. I'll report again thru the night, but thinking of going to bed, maybe in the bathtub. rofl

September 11, 2017
UPDATE MONDAY  12.45 am we just had the eye go over us. We made it! The winds howled and the place creaked, but no damage that we know of right now. We still have 6 hrs to go. No real feeling of danger. We still have electricity. It's been flickering but not totally out. We'll give a report later, we're going to bed. Thanks for prayers and texts. It means a lot to us. God is good.

UPDATE MONDAY 8.00AM. I just woke up!. I put in earplugs to get some sleep. We drove around the park and saw LOTS of damage in the park.  It's mostly cosmetic only a couple have more then just shingles off the roofs. I took pictures of a few homes that are damaged, some wanted a picture of their home so it's included.   I have an album setup click here. 

We had texts and calls through the whole storm. Thank you to everyone for being there. It really helped the nerves. These storms are so unpredictable. It was good to know what was going on, but would like to have the whole experience during the day.  The one thing we learned. The front part of the storm was all driving rain. Noisy and couldn't see anything but rain sheets going in front of the light pole. The eye was loud and everything was creaking. There was a lot of metal sounds and explosions of some sort somwhere. Our community electric is underground, so we don't have transformers. When the eye passed it was really loud and no rain. It came from a different direction so things started flying and carports were coming apart. The lake had very high waves that went into the houses across the lake from us. We didn't have any high water at all. Today the winds are still 30mph gusts sustained at 21mph. IRMA is on the way to Georgia. 

It's amazing how one week of planning for a hurricane does to your mind. You think totally different in buying food what to pack how long to plan without electricity. I go to the refrigerator and try to use anything that will go bad in three days. You're train of thought is always looking ahead on what will be ok for the next three weeks. 

NOAA has taken pictures of the area effected by IRMA. Scroll in to see details.

https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/Irma/index.html#

It's Florida, there's going to be hurricanes. We'll figure out what to do next time. 

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