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Stay safe in the Caribbean, Florida, and the southeast coast -- Irma


Ormond

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Too many people haven't been able to get out -- and they were trying, not at all leaving it for the last minute.

It looks really bad for all of Florida.  Going up the center, the eastern side of Florida will get it worse, because that's the most powerful side of a hurricane.

North - Central Cuba is going to take a real beating.

 

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So my sister (and her boyfriend) successfully got up to my parents last night - made the trip from Tampa to Gainesville.  When I asked her how long that took she clearly did not wanna talk about it via text.  

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I don't have any close friends or relatives living in Florida -- but I am getting really frightened about all the idiots who are refusing to leave mandatory evacuation areas. I just saw (on either CNN or TWC) a middle aged couple interviewed in front of their West Palm Beach home. Their house is literally right on the body of water separating the Palm Beach barrier island from West Palm Beach -- the cameras clearly showed the street they live on being right along the water so the front of their house is at most 50 feet from the edge of that lagoon. And they are going to "ride out the storm" in their one story home because they have such good shutters!! Honestly, it's like they have paid absolutely no attention to the experts saying over and over again that STORM SURGE is the most deadly aspect of hurricanes. Those wonderful metal shutters are not going to protect them from drowning if the storm surge comes out of that lagoon into their house. I am so afraid that come Monday there will literally be hundreds of Floridians like these people who will be candidates for next year's so-called "Darwin Awards." I wish when these people are interviewed on the TV that the reporters would immediately say after the close of the interview "these people are irresponsible idiots and don't believe their rationalizations for staying." 

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With each shift west, better odds Irma will move over our town or very near our town.  For storm surge, my town is currently estimated to get about 10 ft, we checked and we are at 17 ft elevation, and are about 0.8 miles from the intercoastal.  Shelters not an option, as we can't meet the requirements.  Our big girl is a very big girl (a dogue), and although we do have a crate for her, it is too large to fit in our car.  So we will hopefully ride it out ok.

House is boarded and shuttered already, plenty of canned and dry food, plenty of water and ice, surge not yet worrying me, my neighbors 50 ft pines coming down on my house is worrying me.

We finished up early today, and my FIL's best friend purchased a house a few towns over, but hasn't moved down yet, so he is begging my hubby to go down and put up the shutters. My hubby is going to do so in the morning.

My three sons are leaving here and heading to NC in a couple hours.

The community is amazing - how everyone helps each other.  I've seen posts on our local facebook page, that reinforces belief in humanity.

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It's going straight up the state of Florida, which is narrow.  Irma is very wide,  This situation is like Katrina -- it's hard to evacuate because Florida is so narrow.

Nobody is safe.

The stories arriving in text and e-mail from friends and so on -- even those who have successfully evacuate already, are very scary.  Because a lot of the places they've gone to are not safe either.

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On 9/8/2017 at 10:12 AM, Dr. Pepper said:

Have you found some place?

I wasn't in an evacuation zone. Far enough from the coast I guess. So I'm still at home. We have plenty of water and food, impact windows and shutters. About as safe as we can be I think considering the circumstances. The storm continues to edge west, which is good news for us but awful for those on the west coast. I know we're still going to get hit hard no matter what and we're not taking this lightly, this storm is huge, but with any luck we might be spared the worst of it. 

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10 minutes ago, KiDisaster said:

I wasn't in an evacuation zone. Far enough from the coast I guess. So I'm still at home. We have plenty of water and food, impact windows and shutters. About as safe as we can be I think considering the circumstances. The storm continues to edge west, which is good news for us but awful for those on the west coast. I know we're still going to get hit hard no matter what and we're not taking this lightly, this storm is huge, but with any luck we might be spared the worst of it. 

Stay safe hope it isn't as bad as expected.

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20 hours ago, Ormond said:

I don't have any close friends or relatives living in Florida -- but I am getting really frightened about all the idiots who are refusing to leave mandatory evacuation areas. I just saw (on either CNN or TWC) a middle aged couple interviewed in front of their West Palm Beach home. Their house is literally right on the body of water separating the Palm Beach barrier island from West Palm Beach -- the cameras clearly showed the street they live on being right along the water so the front of their house is at most 50 feet from the edge of that lagoon. And they are going to "ride out the storm" in their one story home because they have such good shutters!! Honestly, it's like they have paid absolutely no attention to the experts saying over and over again that STORM SURGE is the most deadly aspect of hurricanes. Those wonderful metal shutters are not going to protect them from drowning if the storm surge comes out of that lagoon into their house. I am so afraid that come Monday there will literally be hundreds of Floridians like these people who will be candidates for next year's so-called "Darwin Awards." I wish when these people are interviewed on the TV that the reporters would immediately say after the close of the interview "these people are irresponsible idiots and don't believe their rationalizations for staying." 

Don't blame the residents.  Evacuation drum beating by the civil defense (remember that organization from the 50's and 60's?) should have begun days ago.  Irma is so huge and Florida is so narrow that people literally cannot get out, certainly not in the amount of time provided by the powers that organize and are responsible for such things.  It's like Katrina and New Orleans, except more people.

Nor should people on the east side of Florida feel safer -- the east side of a hurricane is the strongest with the hardest winds.

These catastrophes will continue on a regular if not frequent basis.  We must constantly agitate for the funding of high speed rail lines all through the US so real evacuation can take place instead of what our policy really is -- a darwinian survival of the fittest, i.e. those with the resources to pack up and leave way ahead of time.

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Don't have links right now but I'm sure y'all have heard that Alex Jones and Limbaugh have been drumming up conspiracy theories about this hurricane.  Apparently the government has the ability to stop the storms, but won't because it helps the economy when people go stock up on items.  Never mind the billions that will need to be spent for clean up efforts.  And also the storm is fake news by the liberal media and isn't real but Limbaugh evacuated anyway, for reasons.  

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6 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

Don't have links right now but I'm sure y'all have heard that Alex Jones and Limbaugh have been drumming up conspiracy theories about this hurricane.  Apparently the government has the ability to stop the storms, but won't because it helps the economy when people go stock up on items.  Never mind the billions that will need to be spent for clean up efforts.  And also the storm is fake news by the liberal media and isn't real but Limbaugh evacuated anyway, for reasons.  

Rush's brand of bullshit is so toxic, even he can't buy into it. I love how when the shit hits the fan these ideolouges are fully incapable of walking the walk. Like Joel Osteen in Houston. How can you possibly claim to be a man of God and not open your church to victims of a fucking disaster? A church that you built on the wallets of the very people you are refusing sanctuary to? That guy should be tarred and feathered and run out of town.

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4 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Rush's brand of bullshit is so toxic, even he can't buy into it. I love how when the shit hits the fan these ideolouges are fully incapable of walking the walk. Like Joel Osteen in Houston. How can you possibly claim to be a man of God and not open your church to victims of a fucking disaster? A church that you built on the wallets of the very people you are refusing sanctuary to? That guy should be tarred and feathered and run out of town.

The worst part of Osteen was that he lied about the church being flooded.  It wasn't.  I think there might be valid reasons not to open the doors as a shelter.  If it's flooded in areas nearby, or if the city wants it as a back-up, or something.  They probably could have opened their doors for people to come before the storm hit, but I don't know all the details.  It's the fact that he lied about something that could so clearly be proven wrong.  And then continued to lie.  

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12 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

The worst part of Osteen was that he lied about the church being flooded.  It wasn't.  I think there might be valid reasons not to open the doors as a shelter.  If it's flooded in areas nearby, or if the city wants it as a back-up, or something.  They probably could have opened their doors for people to come before the storm hit, but I don't know all the details.  It's the fact that he lied about something that could so clearly be proven wrong.  And then continued to lie.  

Yeah, I can't say I'm clear on all the details, but at least make the fucking offer, right? 

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Joel-Osteen-Responds-to-Criticism-of-Churchs-Harvey-Response-442230313.html

 

/Oh, no one asked you to help? This is a Christian organization? Ask and ye shall receive, I guess.

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I'm north of Tampa Bay and about 20 miles inland from the Gulf.  Hubby and I are about as prepared as we can be.  This area hasn't been directly hit by a hurricane in like forever, so a lot of people here aren't accustomed to this.  I went through Andrew in Miami, 2 weeks without power, family members left with 4 walls and a foundation where their home was.  I remember the eyewall sounding like a train running outside the door.  I feel so much for the islands and south Florida.  :crying:  It's a very rough ride.  I feel fairly fortunate by comparison even though we may get hit with "only" a category 2 or 3.  

I'm just gonna take one moment to bitch because I've seen a lot of older retirees just leave the neighborhood, but they leave all their patio furniture and lawn decorations out.  FFS that's a missile that will go through someone's window. :angry2:   

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Eye is currently passing over the keys. If everything goes as predicted (and I know, hurricanes do what the fuck they want and the predictions are far from fool proof) my area is only expected to get tropical storm or cat 1 winds. Keeping my fingers crossed, but we've got another 24 hours or so until this thing is past us and anything could happen in that time. We're staying cautious. I've been hearing about people taking their shutters down and going outside around here...idiots :(

Still have power here, it went out for a few minutes around 4 or 5 AM when the heavy rain started. Rain is sporadic but powerful, wind isn't too bad so far but it'll intensify through the morning and into tonight. 

Anyone else in Florida, I hope you made it somewhere safe :grouphug: 

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I just keep hanging online, trying to follow the news of the storm's progress.  I am so frightened for friends and elderly relatives of friends in Tampa -- maybe somewhat less so in Miami -- but storm surge will happen and that's threatening too.

A friend's home is on the key that took the direct hit in the Keys.

Even parts of Havana flooded badly, which doesn't usually happen beyond el Malecon, because it's on the north side of Cuba -- which is why there are no significant towns and cities on Cuba's south coast, because that's where the hurricanes hit.  Usually.  Still, our friends in Havana and Matanzas are safe -- Eastern Cuba, maybe not so much.  We haven't heard from there.  Central Cuba got clobbered.

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Georgia has declared a state of emergencies.  All schools and government offices are closed Monday and Tuesday.  It seems like a bit of overkill in some places where it's predicted to only have a few inches of rain and some isolated strong winds.  A couple weeks ago we had similar weather here, actually probably worse, and the kids still had to go to school.  

Although I'm mostly grumbling because I've spent the weekend entertaining kids and school gives me a break.

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