Hurricane Irma

Watching and praying for all of y'all in the path of the storm. Be safe.

If you have the chance I'd at least lop tree branches. Last cyclone we had, a falling branch took out our power line and we were without power for 2 weeks. Also had one whole tree fall on the car. But mercifully very slowly, so no major damage.
TV showing those major traffic jams, I'm surprised people aren't running out of gas right there on the highway.

Posting at 9pm Florida time on Saturday, Irma due to hit Florida on Sunday, keep safe everyone, and let us know how you are once you're back in touch.

Originally Posted by Helenthereef

TV showing those major traffic jams, I'm surprised people aren't running out of gas right there on the highway.

Actually I've been using a couple of apps on the cell phone (GasBuddy & Waze) and it looks like a lot of gas stations along I-10 headed west have run, or are running, out of gasoline. Waze has been showing very heavy traffic with quite a few traffic jams. Also showing some cars stopped along the road, that just might be cars that ran out of gasoline after failing to find a station that had any supply.

Even if it gets to looking bad, I think the only option for us at this point is to stay put. As long as the eye goes overland and doesn't move into the Gulf, with the eye staying west of us, we will be on the weaker side of the storm.

I've got two battery powered chainsaws, one AC powered, and another gasoline powered, in case I need to be cutting trees that got pushed over. Winds should be coming out of the north, and fortunately there isn't anything real close in the way of big pine trees on that side of the house. From what we saw last year, with these big pine trees, usually just the tops of them snap off and drop down to the base of the tree anyway.

Not sure how much propane is in the tank to feed the Onan generator, but I'm guess should be enough for at least a week straight. I could stretch that out quite a bit by shutting it down to use it sparingly.

Oh yeah, the site (Intellicast) I have been using to track the storm for tracking info for some reason stopped displaying the forecast track. I click on the link and it gives me a message "There are currently no active tropical storms reported." Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY??? Talk about a "fair weather" friend....

Anyway, if power goes out here Sunday night or Monday, so does this internet access. Hmm, I guess maybe my smartphone would work, but I kind of doubt I would get THAT desperate.

Rich,Jon, and everyone else that may be in the path of the storm please be careful and keep us posted if at all possible.

I was watching some videos on YouTube about the storm, and one of that had a reply that almost had me choking myself laughing out loud.

GERENDAZEE 5 hours ago

PEOPLE WHO ARE STAYING IN FLA - ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE FAR SOUTH ARE FOOLS. TOTAL IDIOTS. THEY WILL NOT SURVIVE. IF THEY DO SURVIVE THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH A BATTERY OF REPTILES UNLIKE ANYTHING THEY HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE. GIANT BURMESE PYTHONS UP TO 15 FEET LONG , ENORMOUS MONITOR LIZARDS, GIANT MAN EATING ANACONDA SNAKES AND THESE REALLY UGLY TEGU LIZARDS RUNNING UP ALL THE TREES TO SAFETY. EVENTUALLY PEOPLE WILL BE SWIMMING / WALKING ALONG IN THE WATER WITH AN OVER ABUNDANCE OF VERY HUNGRY MAN EATING ALLIGATORS ONCE IRMA HAS PASSED . . . THE TEGU LIZARDS MAY NOT KILL YOU BUT THEY MAY TAKE A NASTY ASS BITE AND ALL THE REST OF THESE EXOTIC AND ENORMOUS REPTILES DO EAT HUMANS. JUST IMAGINE HOW MUCH WATER IS GOING TO BE PUSHED INLAND FROM THE EVERGLADES. ALL OF THE LIZARDS AND SNAKES WILL BE SWIMMING IN THE STREETS WITH ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE STANDING WATER ONCE THE STORM IS GONE. . . IMAGINE JUST HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF REPTILES WILL TAKE OVER ALL OF FLA AND POPULATE ALL STANDING WATER IN FLA AFTER IRMA IS GONE. THAT IS MORE FRIGHTENING THAN THE CAT 4 OR 5 IRMA HERSELF. TAKE A LOOK AT THE SNAKES IN FLA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_LIuzEoJ_Y SEE THE HUGE MAN EATING NILE CROCODILES TAKING OVER FLA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZvUBUwEAqE SEE THE TEGU LIZARDS FALLING FROM THE TREES IN FLA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_YoUbLwy8w SEE TERRIFYING ATTACKS ON HUMANS BY ANACONDA HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJNZWcMy7P4 NOW WHYYY THE HELL WOULD ANY RATIONAL PERSON SUBJECT THEMSELVES TO LIKELY DROWNING OR A PAINFUL AND HORRIFYING DEATH BY ONE OF THE DEADLY SNAKES OR REPTILES ON EARTH JUST WAITING FOR A HUMAN MEAL??? GET OUT OF FLA OR. . . Bon Appétit TO THE REPTILES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apQGPBN7-V4

The video itself is pretty much a bust for providing any useful information, so I wouldn't recommend wasting 18 and a half minutes of your life like I did mine.

I need to get in the car and head your way. Hell that sounds better than field herping AZ.

The wife said it's a go.LOL

Ugh. Track shifted west, Irma's predicted to go into the gulf and straight up the west coast of Florida. The east side of the storm is the worst.

SHE'S HEADING YOUR WAY RICH!

Originally Posted by bcr229

Ugh. Track shifted west, Irma's predicted to go into the gulf and straight up the west coast of Florida. The east side of the storm is the worst.

SHE'S HEADING YOUR WAY RICH!

Where are you seeing a track predicting that path? I've been watching pretty closely and haven't seen anything predicting it moving into the Gulf. Not that I could do anything about it anyway. LOTS of service stations out of gasoline from the evacuations south of us. I doubt there would be a place to stay within a day's driving distance even if we could find gasoline along the way. So whatever happens, looks like we are stuck here. If it looks REALLY bad, then the best we could do is to drive as far north as we can get on a half tank of gasoline and hope for the best.

This is the latest (as of 11:00 am today) that I am seeing.