Best of luck to you guys in FL. I think I would have bugged out but that's easy to say when you don't live there.

Thanks. I'm in Naples which is the X ring of Irma's bulls eye . Shudders are up and preps are in place. Just don't want any storm surge .
I did get a laugh though . A neighbor 3 houses down put plywood on his windows held on with duct tape .

I don't think that I would be laughing when the plywood comes off and blows through my yard at high velocity.......

Waaay ahead of you . We pulled it down yesterday . All but one of the sheets had already fallen off from the heat on the tape .

How are you holding up?  pics?

Local emergency management just said the eye will pass right over us at around 4:30 pm. today . Storm surge tonight .Some places 10ft.
All preps in place . Just hoping the roof stays on . Winds at 70mph and rapidly building like a mofo . Really loud .
Just glad I spent big bucks 5 years ago for roll down shutters and hurricane windows .

I hope you all come threw ok.

For us in the plains.... how long is the hurricane overhead? Is it consistently bad the whole time or is there a definitive "this is the worst part" period?

Going on 12 hours from basic storm weather...to extreme the last 7.
Ain't it ain't over yet..storms still pushing through ..
I don't expect "" calm"""  till 8-10am..

You guys still have "service?"  I imagine the power is out...  Looks to be for most of FL.

AT and T is out for me.
I'm on a mobile hot spot thing my brother loaned me. It's version.
I can pist,surf,etc but no call8ng..till I config my phone to Wi-Fi call.

I"m running on the alternator genset... we had about 90mph straight line and higher gusts, but no damage to the old frame house..the eye wall had broken up pretty much by the time it got here (about 35miles north of St Pete 3 miles or so from the Gulf). lots of limbs down, and had to help cut up a tree in the road...I transferred a couple of frozen gallons of water to a 5 day cooler for a few perishable cold cuts... the refrigerator freezer held much better than expected, and will run the genset for about an hour more... placed an older Honda 3500w generator on the utility trailer and with a hitch ball on the mower, can shuttle it between neighbors with freezers...I'm getting too old for this stuff

We got hit hard last night.  Worst winds came around 2am.  I stayed up through the night because gust were hitting throughout the night, into the morning.

I took care of everything outside in the days leading up to the event.  Plants, lights, misc. yard crap, all came inside.  I have a 400lb gazebo that I reluctantly took down, but I'm so glad I did.  It would have become about a dozen missiles last night.

Power flickered a few times, but we never lost it completely, which is crazy because everyone I know is without power right now.  Guess I just got lucky.

The good:
-no damage to the house, fence or cars parked outside
-plenty of food, fuel, and water to last

The bad:
-lost a tree out front.  Juvenile palm, no biggie
-Minor garage flooding.  Water came up through the cracks.  I'm guessing my vapor barrier is compromised under the slab

Being prepared came through for us this time.  The local community went bat shit crazy when it was headed this way.  Gas, food staples, water ran out quick.  I had everything ready before the storm was even named.  Things are still shut down, although a few shops opened up later tonight.

All in all it wasn't too bad here in Oviedo.  Gonna reassess my preps from lessons learned.  Mostly how and where I stage everything.  I had everything we needed, but I couldn't find a lot.  Gonna fix that.

New Port Richey, about 35m north of St Pete, 3 miles inland 34ft elevation.... some restaurants open, and a sit down meal tonight .... lines at gas stations, till they run out, but gas is available if you look around... double line through McDonalds takeout only...power to newer sections of town with underground utilities already on, mine out indefinitely...it was cool to sleep last night, tonight is going to be a bitch...

Les

Is there an AAR thread?  I will have one at some point.

Lots of lessons learned.  Good and bad.

Start one