Irma

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by Bunnyf

Have a home on Lemon Bay in SWFL. Husband went out this morning to get supplies to sand bag our home. All sold out of sandbags everywhere near us, Home Depot, Lowes, and local hardware stores. His next stop was Publix. Already completely sold out of water.

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Sand bags from Amazon In Stock - https://www.amazon.com/Sand-Bags-Pol...+flood+control

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[robj144]

This poor island:

[BrunoBlack]

Originally Posted by robj144

This poor island:

Looks like Barbuda is a direct hit.

[Captain Jim]

We are Texas residents; Harvey went in north of our home (we were 1,000+ miles away), leaving our area unscathed. We could see that storm was going to be ugly and sit over the top of southeast Texas, drawing out the destruction.

Irma is horrifying on a whole different scale - currently winds at 185mph, gusting to 225! If it goes up the west coast of Florida, that puts most of the state on "the dirty side."

I have grave concerns as this gets closer. The only saving grace is early forecasting so people have the option of getting out of harm's way.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by Captain Jim

We are Texas residents; Harvey went in north of our home (we were 1,000+ miles away), leaving our area unscathed. We could see that storm was going to be ugly and sit over the top of southeast Texas, drawing out the destruction.

Irma is horrifying on a whole different scale - currently winds at 185mph, gusting to 225! If it goes up the west coast of Florida, that puts most of the state on "the dirty side."

I have grave concerns as this gets closer. The only saving grace is early forecasting so people have the option of getting out of harm's way.

Getting out of harm's way is getting harder and harder to do now. Flights out of all major airports here (SE Florida) are getting fully booked already. Gas stations are running out of gas everywhere. Just now, at midnight here, I went to top off (have 2/3's of a tank). There was a line about a dozen cars deep per pump at the gas station around the corner for me... and here's the kicker... they had no gas. They were waiting for the truck to come within the next hour.

So flying out is almost exhausted and you can't drive out of the state because there's no gas.

It's the craziest thing I've seen and I've been through quite a few hurricanes here.

[cotten]

I just watched a 12-hour old video from a friend in the Virgin Islands. She's there doing mission work, and didn't get the news about Irma until there was no way off the island. All flights and ferries had left, and every larger boat had taken off for calmer waters. She is as courageous a lady as I have ever met, but she's never been through any kind of hurricane, much less one that is as wide as Georgia and Alabama together, with the second fastest sustained wind speed, 185 mph, with gusts of an estimated 225, ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane. My friend was trying to be brave, but I could tell in her shaking hands, cracking voice, and teary eyes that she was very scared. Ready to meet her maker if necessary, but truly terrified. I'm praying for her, and others affected.

cotten

[1neeto]

Most of my family including my parents and sister live in Puerto Rico. They're as prepared as they can be but I'm absolutely terrified. I've been in a cat 3 hurricane and the destruction it made was something I'll always remember. We had no power for weeks and water was shut off too. I can't fathom what 180+ mph winds can do. I feel so helpless half a world away.

[AX17609]

Still not clear where Irma is going to hit. Everyone in the Miami are is being advised to evacuate, but where are 6 million people supposed to go and not risk being worse off when they get there?

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by gjd100

Do we have any AGF members residing in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Island's??

There's member Guitarplayer_PR and probably others. My family lived in Guaynabo, PR during Hugo. Not fun, and that was a Cat 3 when it hit PR, not Cat 5. Definitely thinking of all the people in the Caribbean right now!

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by cotten

I just watched a 12-hour old video from a friend in the Virgin Islands. She's there doing mission work, and didn't get the news about Irma until there was no way off the island. All flights and ferries had left, and every larger boat had taken off for calmer waters. She is as courageous a lady as I have ever met, but she's never been through any kind of hurricane, much less one that is as wide as Georgia and Alabama together, with the second fastest sustained wind speed, 185 mph, with gusts of an estimated 225, ever recorded in an Atlantic hurricane. My friend was trying to be brave, but I could tell in her shaking hands, cracking voice, and teary eyes that she was very scared. Ready to meet her maker if necessary, but truly terrified. I'm praying for her, and others affected.

cotten

Sobering. I hope there is a structure locally strong enough to shelter her. Those islands have to be a terrible place right now.

[frances50]

We should all be thankful that we have modern technology now that can detect these waves forming off the coast of Africa and track their path and speed. I can only imagine how devastating it could be in the early days when the "big blow" just came and people were powerless to prepare.

Just waiting for the noon update here in South Carolina.

[cotten]

I agree, Francis. That's pretty much what happened in 1900 to Galveston, Texas, before hurricanes were named. A Category 3 hurricane hit, almost without warning, and killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people - the deadliest natural disaster in American history. Wikipedia says that a storm surge of 15ft (4.6m) washed over the long, flat island-city which was only 8ft (2.4m) above sea level.

cotten

[Dirk Hofman]

Live updates from various media channels here:

[FLRon]

I finished putting the hurricane shutters on this afternoon. Here in the Port Charlotte area gas is all but impossible to find. Water, batteries, plywood, anything hurricane related is flying off the shelves. Based on what I saw on the news tonight,the main evac route(I-75) is at a crawl North of me.

I'm staying put,having stocked up on anything I could need. My only concern will be if I lose the roof to my home. If that happens, well I'm praying that does not happen. This is my first hurricane, so I have prepared well but understand fully that all plans go out the window in a storm like this.

There are an awful lot of older people here(Florida after all) who are extremely vulnerable. Many of them cannot even install their hurricane shutters and are asking for assistance. I really am concerned about them.

The Weather channel just said that regardless of which coast the storm hits, the entire state will deal with hurricane force winds. Also, 25% of the gas stations are out of gas now.

We shall see...

[RP]

Originally Posted by FLRon

I finished putting the hurricane shutters on this afternoon. Here in the Port Charlotte area gas is all but impossible to find. Water, batteries, plywood, anything hurricane related is flying off the shelves. Based on what I saw on the news tonight,the main evac route(I-75) is at a crawl North of me.

I'm staying put,having stocked up on anything I could need. My only concern will be if I lose the roof to my home. If that happens, well I'm praying that does not happen. This is my first hurricane, so I have prepared well but understand fully that all plans go out the window in a storm like this.

There are an awful lot of older people here(Florida after all) who are extremely vulnerable. Many of them cannot even install their hurricane shutters and are asking for assistance. I really am concerned about them.

The Weather channel just said that regardless of which coast the storm hits, the entire state will deal with hurricane force winds. Also, 25% of the gas stations are out of gas now.

We shall see...

Hope all works out ok for you....