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Florida Gov. Declares State Of Emergency Over Hurricane Irma (Up: clean-up begins)

Pineapple

Member
I'm in Orlando and I'm honestly not sure what to expect. We'll be on the eastern side of the storm, which isn't good, but I don't know if it's going to be close enough to result in widespread power outages here.
 

Smidget

Member
Seminole county resident here!

Agree with almost certain power loss. Hopefully the cleanup wont be too bad. HOWEVER, we need to stay vigilant as any small shifts can change conditions immediately. Everyone should be alert until this thing is gone.

Ever since Duke's acquisition I've lost all faith in the power grid.

I'm just making sure I've got all my batteries charged up first.

I was in East Seminole County with Charlie. That was miserable with power outages, hopefully they're shorter this time around...

Got the storm shutters up and got in all of the could-be projectiles. Got lots of water, food, and batteries. Now just wait and hope it's not as bad as it can be.
 
Ever since Duke's acquisition I've lost all faith in the power grid.

I'm just making sure I've got all my batteries charged up first.

Are they that bad? Before moving here we dealt with FPL and they got real good at taking care of things quickly ( specially after Andrew).

Got my generator and gas ready to go for the long haul but hopeful it wont be a mess.
 
I was in East Seminole County with Charlie. That was miserable with power outages, hopefully they're shorter this time around...

Got the storm shutters up and got in all of the could-be projectiles. Got lots of water, food, and batteries. Now just wait and hope it's not as bad as it can be.

Yeah I was near where Im at now with Charlie. We had no power for over a week. Humidity is a bitch
 

jorgejjvr

Member
Got in touch with my family in Cuba, they were hit dead on and are all fine, not much damages.

Yeah, putting shutters up and riding it out was the right idea.

We'll be fine.
 

Kusagari

Member
Drove around my area of Broward. Jack shit was open besides a few gas stations letting you come in if you needed to buy beer or cigarettes.

But of course the local call center had a hundred+ cars there.
 

Berordn

Member
Are they that bad? Before moving here we dealt with FPL and they got real good at taking care of things quickly ( specially after Andrew).

Got my generator and gas ready to go for the long haul but hopeful it wont be a mess.

Ever since they took over I've noticed a lot more random surges, even in clear weather.

Admittedly anecdotal, maybe the neighborhood just needs maintenance, but it's gotten progressively worse since their name showed up on the bills.
 
Got in touch with my family in Cuba, they were hit dead on and are all fine, not much damages.

Yeah, putting shutters up and riding it out was the right idea.

We'll be fine.

Please remember Cuba got grazed by the weakest portion of the storm while it was in the middle of an ERC sending it down to a weak CAT 3. They literally experienced the weakest Irma has been in 7 days so it is not the best metric currently, especially with the Florida straits to likely intensify it back up to strong CAT 4 or CAT 5. Latest GFS run basically predicted that with a 50 mb drop in 24 hours.
 

F34R

Member
My mom is in Port Charlotte. She was going with the east side landfall, and decided to "battle it out like we did for Charley". smh
 

Wag

Member
Now my elderly parents in Delray Beach are like:

"See I told you not to get so worried."

Lol, it's going to be impossible to get them out next time.
 

III-V

Member
People in low lying areas in FL gulf coast prepare for the absolutely unimaginable with 10-15 foot storm surge in some regions spreading miles inland.
 
So will the path be 100% concrete in 12 hours? Or do we have to wait longer than that...

There is no such thing as 100% concrete until it's happening, but yeah more confidence should be there. The next couple hours seem to be crucial depending on when a northern turn happens.
 
In Tampa, Bae and I decided to bounce to my folks's home. We're only in Flood zone D, but they're not in one at all. Plus their house is relatively new, built to all the modern codes, whereas we live in an Apt built in the 80s. Stay safe out there GAF.
 

Makki

Member
If this thing stays weak from the interaction with Cuba, having panicked over Matthew and Irma for no reason now, most of Florida wont evacuate next time a serious one hits and then the life toll will be serious.
 

Ponn

Banned
People said the same thing after Matthew but still listened to this.

You can't wait for the final assessment if you have 5 million people to evacuate though.

The storm completely dissipated or something? Did I miss some kind of miraculous change to the fact a gigantic storm with 130 mph winds is dragging a huge storm surge into highly populated low elevation coastal areas?

So what are you suggesting? That the government and the media ignore it until two days before, in case mass hysteria happens? Meteorologists are very clear when they say that things can change over time. They say it over and over again. This is a very unrealistic opinion.

Jesus the hyperbole, I'm just as stressed as you all but yes there is a better way to handle this then telling everyone to leave a week out. There is a median there that avoids people from evacuating to a part of Florida that is now in direct line of the hurricane, that causes clogged highways and no gas for those that absolutely should be evacuating but can't now. It's the responsibility of the media and our officials to deliver reasoned and calm plans to ensure right decisions are made. Knowing how hurricane models work yelling "catastrophe everyone evacuate Florida now!" a week out was not the best approach in my opinion, no.

You should start in waves, like our hurricane watch and warning system was designed around. The Keys being the first to told to get out of dodge then so on. On Tuesday our local weather guy in JAX was saying people here should evacuate or consider getting to shelters early. He used the word catastrophe 8 times in 2 minutes. I'm just saying there has to be a better way to go about this than that.
 

Blader

Member
My grandparents (93 and 88) live in Safety Harbor, just a little outside of Tampa. Sounds like they're just staying put, and wouldn't really be able to move themselves even if they wanted to, but goddamn they're like right in the path of it now.
 
Jesus the hyperbole, I'm just as stressed as you all but yes there is a better way to handle this then telling everyone to leave a week out. There is a median there that avoids people from evacuating to a part of Florida that is now in direct line of the hurricane, that causes clogged highways and no gas for those that absolutely should be evacuating but can't now. It's the responsibility of the media and our officials to deliver reasoned and calm plans to ensure right decisions are made. Knowing how hurricane models work yelling "catastrophe everyone evacuate Florida now!" a week out was not the best approach in my opinion, no.

You should start in waves, like our hurricane watch and warning system was designed around. The Keys being the first to told to get out of dodge then so on. On Tuesday our local weather guy in JAX was saying people here should evacuate or consider getting to shelters early. He used the word catastrophe 8 times in 2 minutes. I'm just saying there has to be a better way to go about this than that.
Did evacuation orders tell people to go west? I don't think so. The entire peninsiula has been in the path and the west coast was and is just as vulnerable as the east. The thinking was to go north, not west.

And looking at Storm 2k, it seems people are seeing the beginnings of a northern turn a bit sooner than expected, which brings the storm more to the east...

With a population that size, the options are either evac as soon as possible or stay in place. You can't just wait a day or two before hand to send out an evac order because you'll just put hundreds of thousands on the street as the storm approaches. You'll also even further stress supplies because they won't have as much time to replenish - things like gas and water, etc.
 
South Florida gaf looking ok for us, obviously flood concerns for those on the coast stay safe. Don't get dumb and we should all be ok.

Tampa and west Florida gaf, please stay safe!
 

ionitron

Member
But Hollywood will be ok, if this new prediction is right?

Friends folks are staying behind, they live in a garage...

I'm right around there. I think it's looking okay for us if the west projections continue, but can't be certain of course. Of course it also depends on which part exactly they're in.
 

Ponn

Banned
Did evacuation orders tell people to go west? I don't think so. The entire peninsiula has been in the path and the west coast was and is just as vulnerable as the east. The thinking was to go north, not west.

And looking at Storm 2k, it seems people are seeing the beginnings of a northern turn a bit sooner than expected, which brings the storm more to the east...

With a population that size, the options are either evac as soon as possible or stay in place. You can't just wait a day or two before hand to send out an evac order because you'll just put hundreds of thousands on the street as the storm approaches. You'll also even further stress supplies because they won't have as much time to replenish - things like gas and water, etc.

That's why I said it should be handled in waves, not the whole state at once. And part of the problem was there was no clear messaging on where people should evacuate to. They just kept showing tracks that ended up changing leaving people to their own devices, which isn't always for the best.
 
If this thing stays weak from the interaction with Cuba, having panicked over Matthew and Irma for no reason now, most of Florida wont evacuate next time a serious one hits and then the life toll will be serious.

Basically what happened with Harvey. People high fiving after day 1 and talking about going driving to bars and friends houses to watch the Mayweather fight. Then things got real overnight.
 

KHarvey16

Member
Jesus the hyperbole, I'm just as stressed as you all but yes there is a better way to handle this then telling everyone to leave a week out. There is a median there that avoids people from evacuating to a part of Florida that is now in direct line of the hurricane, that causes clogged highways and no gas for those that absolutely should be evacuating but can't now. It's the responsibility of the media and our officials to deliver reasoned and calm plans to ensure right decisions are made. Knowing how hurricane models work yelling "catastrophe everyone evacuate Florida now!" a week out was not the best approach in my opinion, no.

You should start in waves, like our hurricane watch and warning system was designed around. The Keys being the first to told to get out of dodge then so on. On Tuesday our local weather guy in JAX was saying people here should evacuate or consider getting to shelters early. He used the word catastrophe 8 times in 2 minutes. I'm just saying there has to be a better way to go about this than that.

It'll be great when this plan leads to thousands of motorists trapped in the midst of a hurricane they were told a day before was headed for them.
 

chekhonte

Member
My mom finally made it out of Florida and is into Georgia this morning and on her way to Nashville. My brother, my wife and I had to conspire to put enough pressure on her to get out of Sarasota and stay with her sister.

It seems like with the time she's making, she'll be out of harms way well before the hurricane puts her in any danger.

I'm very grateful.
 
That's why I said it should be handled in waves, not the whole state at once. And part of the problem was there was no clear messaging on where people should evacuate to. They just kept showing tracks that ended up changing leaving people to their own devices, which isn't always for the best.

But it was handled in waves? The most vulnerable were ordered to get out first. Just so happens that there are a crapton of people living in evac or flooding zones in FL. Because that's kind of the nature of FL.

Ultimately you can't prevent others from wanting to get out too and panicking.
 
Lol my Dad just said he thinks there is a conspiracy. There's never going to be a situation where he has to evacuate, but at least he's always the type to prepare. The panic posting got to me, so I stayed with him and brought my valuables. But next time I certainly won't make the same mistake of listening to others and from now I'll understand predications are only best for measurements of the storm's speed and pressure.
 

Lkr

Member
YO,

Call your Co worker right now and tell him to tell his parents that they will DIE. Literally 95% calling it... they will die.

Why are they fucking around?

you don't think they know that? some people just don't care, this shit happens every year
 

III-V

Member
Windows are boarded up in our Tampa home. GF wants to leave, but I have no idea where we should head other than north...

Might be too late to leave.

Yep.
Call around to see if there are any available shelters.

NOT too late. Even tomorrow morning at 8 am it will be fine to get into your car and leave. Please read the maps and look for yourself.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at1+shtml/095407.shtml?mltoa34#contents
 

Ponn

Banned
But it was handled in waves? The most vulnerable were ordered to get out first. Just so happens that there are a crapton of people living in evac or flooding zones in FL. Because that's kind of the nature of FL.

Ultimately you can't prevent others from wanting to get out too and panicking.

It wasn't though, I just told you our local news was telling people to evacuate on Tuesday, in JAX. Again, I'm talking about the messaging.
 

KHarvey16

Member
It wasn't though, I just told you our local news was telling people to evacuate on Tuesday, in JAX. Again, I'm talking about the messaging.

If they said "no one evacuate unless we tell you to" and then they told the city of Jacksonville they had to go today, what do you imagine would happen?
 
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