Haven't heard any updates from Gary or Khamanna on their situation in Houston. Hopefully neither suffered too much damages from Harvey.

Now we have cat 5 hurricane Irma. With people having just weeks ago witnessed Harvey's devastation, people here in Florida are in panic mode seems like. Anyone else but me Dena and Bert in Florida?

I was thinking about you when I heard Florida was going to be hit. Hope you're OK.

Oh wow, it's a lot of you in Florida. Hopefully Irma loses stregth and dies down while in the waters.

We're okay, our walls are damaged and the house doesn't look good but it still looks better than many others. Our neighbors next door are in such bad shape - it's amazing that the houses are in several feet away and suffered differently. But still nothing that can't be fixed. The neighborhood is still flooded but the water keeps receding. In a day or two the house may appear accesible by a car, but lets see.

Really keeping it all crossed so that Irma doesn't reach you.

The people and their reactions are so great - my daughter and I were having lunch at some cafe in New York and I accidentally told we were from Houston, so the restaurant didn't charge us for the lunch. Both my daughter and I were deeply affected. They said it's their way to spread love. And I have pictures of toys clothes and food donations - my husband was shocked at the response to Harvey.

First days after evacuation were busy, the hotels were crowded, so he stayed at a church, he saw a lot of giving in those couple of days. Amazing and heartwarming.

Quoted from DustinBowcot I was thinking about you when I heard Florida was going to be hit. Hope you're OK.

Thanks!  :)

Quoted from khamanna Oh wow, it's a lot of you in Florida. Hopefully Irma loses stregth and dies down while in the waters. We're okay, our walls are damaged and the house doesn't look good but it still looks better than many others. Our neighbors next door are in such bad shape - it's amazing that the houses are in several feet away and suffered differently. But still nothing that can't be fixed. The neighborhood is still flooded but the water keeps receding. In a day or two the house may appear accesible by a car, but lets see. Really keeping it all crossed so that Irma doesn't reach you. The people and their reactions are so great - my daughter and I were having lunch at some cafe in New York and I accidentally told we were from Houston, so the restaurant didn't charge us for the lunch. Both my daughter and I were deeply affected. They said it's their way to spread love. And I have pictures of toys clothes and food donations - my husband was shocked at the response to Harvey. First days after evacuation were busy, the hotels were crowded, so he stayed at a church, he saw a lot of giving in those couple of days. Amazing and heartwarming.

The help from strangers in Texas has been amazing. I think I read somewhere that Sandra Bullock donated 1M too. That's awesome!

As far as my family goes, we're in North Central Florida. Not by the coast. Our biggest issue will be wind, I thin. We're called Tree City USA, so yeah, we have a LOT of trees. They will most definitely fall down with those predicted wind speeds. Another issue is flooding. Not from the ocean, but rain. This year started out as the driest start of any year since the 1800 or something like that. When the rains finally came, we got a whole year's worth in just June and July. Record for those months. 42"+. And then August is naturally one of the wettest months of the year, so we are already soaked. The ground is saturated. Flooding is a real threat even though we're not on the coast.

Dena is in Jax and it looks like Irma might be heading her way. Bert's also on the coast, but on the west side.

This is BIG!   :'(

Thoughts with everyone.

We are riding it out here. Have wine. Rum. A little water. The roads are crazy packed ... rather weather the storm in the house than on the highway. :)

We have water, beer and food. I ate some of it today though...   :B

Quoted from Grandma Bear We have water, beer and food.

Same.  But replace beer with bourbon.  A kindred spirit with my gals Pia and Dena, for sure.  It's the Florida way.

Haven't had time to be very active lately -- have written nothing for fun in quite a while -- but still watch the boards.  Hope that changes before too long.

Storm-wise, we're toughing it out down here, perhaps it will make for an interesting story.  We'll see.

Lovely weather today, tho.

Pia, Dena and Bert --
Thinking of you guys over this coming weekend.  You'll have a whole different set of problems than we had -- here in Houston it was mainly a rain event.  You guys will have more of the wind effect, no power, etc.  I wish you all safety and a quick resolution to this thing and that it doesn't linger like Harvey did.

I fared okay. Some water in a sunken living room, but that's nothing compared to my neighbors a block over, who were completely underwater and lost everything. The worst is that we can't really get anywhere because major arteries through the city are still underwater.  But I was very fortunate and can't complain at all. Hopefully you all will be able to say the same thing.  

Gary

It's approaching, hope you guys will be generous with postings.

Gary, my husband had a titanus shot (or something). They found a lot of things in the water.

It's downgraded to cat 3, I've read. 100-120 mph winds are bad but not the worst. I think you made the right decision to tough it out. I can't imagine the cost of loss to property and travel -- it will likely wipe some people out.

I hope things go easy for you all.

Just watched the 5pm update. Yes, it is currently a cat 3, but it's moving very slow and is now going to travel over very warm waters before it hits Florida. It will most likely be a cat 4 by the time it hits us. I worry about Bert as it looks like he's going to take an almost direct hit. I hope you decided to evacuate, Bert. Will be thinking about you. Be safe.

Hope things are going well.

Hope you all stay safe. Best wishes, people.

A lot of people that I went to school with have moved to Florida.
Thinking of everyone and hoping all are safe.
And please, everyone bring your animals inside. Too many tied to trees or outside in kennels.

Quoted from CindyLKeller And please, everyone bring your animals inside. Too many tied to trees or outside in kennels.

I didn't think about animals. What about farm animals? You can't bring them inside.

No, but they can let them roam. That way they may have a chance.

We had two trees down and a lot of debris. 12" of rain and extreme winds, but we're fine. A lot less damage than was expected.

As far as animals go, we used to have horses, this is horse and cattle country here, we usually just leave them out in the pastures. Some people bring their horses inside, but very few barns are built to hurricane codes, so there's always debate of which is safer. Personally, I always wondered how the squirrels cope. Do they just ride it out at the top of the trees? That would be a wild ride!

Dena is safe too. Not sure about Bert.

Glad to hear you're safe and didn't lose much. Hopefully Bert checks in soon with similar news.

Quoted from Grandma Bear We had two trees down and a lot of debris. 12" of rain and extreme winds, but we're fine. A lot less damage than was expected. As far as animals go, we used to have horses, this is horse and cattle country here, we usually just leave them out in the pastures. Some people bring their horses inside, but very few barns are built to hurricane codes, so there's always debate of which is safer. Personally, I always wondered how the squirrels cope. Do they just ride it out at the top of the trees? That would be a wild ride! Dena is safe too. Not sure about Bert.

Great to hear.

Glad to hear you weren't hit too hard - looks like a real mess out there.  Hoping everyone else is okay too.

We good.  Need to conserve phone tho with no power.  No damage we cannot handle.  Best thing is a random Port-a-Potty in the middle of our street.  There is no construction nearby and we are all like WTF?

Might as well use it... save it going to waste!

Quoted Text Might as well use it... save it going to waste!

More like saving it for your waste to go, amirite?  :P

GLad everyone is safe. Made me sick watching what you guys were going through after what happened in Houston.