Floridians....roll call. Are you OK?

[quarryshark]

lets hear from you.

 

[reefrunner69]

We were very fortunate, the storm turned inland much sooner than expected and we were taken out of it's path, we got plenty of ran and a few gusts, but nothing compared to what it could have been.

 

[TankGirl]

This reminds me so much of when I was in S. FL when Andrew rolled through - hope some more folks check in soon.

 

[reefrunner69]

FWIW, the people who were and are in real danger, probably have no power to answer this call. Hopefully they will have pwer restored by the morning.

 

[quarryshark]

Good to hear Reefrunner.
I was in Homestead 1 month post Andrew. The destruction was incredible. It was weird, Miami was fine and so were the Keys, but Homestead was basically destroyed.
We have good friend in Ft Meyers, are waiting for their call.
Lets hear from some more folks as they are able.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Glad your ok reefrunner.

 

[Gunnie]

Yep. Family and I are in one piece. Mom who lives in Tampa/St. Pete are has also checked in and is doing fine. No damage at either house

 

[oscarbreeder]

Glad your ok Gunnie.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Has anyone heard from William?
Hope he is doing ok.

 

[revhtree]

According to what they expected, and what a Cat 4 could do, I would say that God answered our prayers! Thanks God! We had prayer at our church for all you Floridians and more. Glad your ok!

 

[reefrunner69]

The biggest issue with this storm was it moved so fast and then was unpredictable as well. At 12:00pm, the town next to us was being evacuated, charley's eye was expected to pass directly over it, we were told our power would be cut at 2:00pm and that we would experience the hurricane as a cat 3 and would almost be as bad as the neighboring town. Very shortly before 2:00 Charley turned inland and we were out of danger, had he waited 15 minutes, our power would have been cut, and that was when we were leaving. I wanted to wait for the power to go off so I could set the tank up, I have to pull the U tube and fill the tank all the way, I have corals growing out of the water, when it's running, they are high and dry when it's not, and set up the battery operated air pumps for circulation, then hit the road. We were going to evacuate to my inlaws, and we would have been put right in the path of the storm. I wonder how many people evacuated to a place more dangerous than staying home??

 

[revhtree]

Wow!! It sure came close to you Kevin. Such a blessing for you and your family, that it missed you. Glad you are ok and your tank full of buddies did not suffer either.

 

[reefrunner69]

Actually, it didn't even get close to us, we got some heavy rain and some wind, maybe 20-30mph gusts, but nothing major, but it was supposed to, and then changed direction. Believe me, I am very thankful, and sorry that my good luck had to turn into someone elses bad luck.

 

[revhtree]

I am very thankful, and sorry that my good luck had to turn into someone elses bad luck.

Very True.

 

[reefrunner69]

Well, we just spoke to my sister-in-law, and the eye passed directly over them as a cat 3, she said the devastation is really something. The last big storm to do any real damage to central FL was David, a long long time ago, these people are not and were not prepared for this. I imagine Orlando is the same. Sis-in-inlaw says they will be without power for a minimum of 10 days and they have no running water, they were able to purchase a generator this AM, but I'm sure those are gone. Her home was left unscathed, however, houses right next door had roofs caved in, trees were ripped out of the ground all around them. Not snapped, uprooted from the earth.

What really sucks is Danielle and Earnesto are out waiting in the wings building strength.

 

[quarryshark]

That sucks, glad they are OK though.
Ya watch those 2 in the Atlantic. Hopefully lightning will not stike twice in the same place so to speak.

 

[deli_conker]

My girlfriend used to live/work at a resort on Captiva Island. We saw pics of it yesterday. It's actually 2 islands now, separated by 400 yards of water. One hundred sixty condos wiped out. She was in tears but glad she didn't live there anymore...

Hope to hear from more soon...

 

[cginflorida]

Hi everybody, thanks for all your prayers.

Well, we survived, and I pray that we never have to go through anything like that again. The eye came directly over us and it was a Category 2 when it passed. We're so thankful it was moving as fast as it was, any slower would have done significantly more damage. As it was, our neighborhood lost tons of trees and there was some structural damage but overall not too bad. Lots of shingles gone, some windows blew out, and our neighbors had car damage from a tree falling on it, but it's driveable. As for us, one of our maple trees in front of the house was totally uprooted and landed in the street. A sweet gum tree in back lost a bunch of big branches which landed on our roof and screen enclosure of our patio. It bent the screen enclosure but didn't destroy it, and we think the roof is okay, we haven't found any damage. We didn't even lose shingles. We have a beautiful live oak tree in the back yard which is now tilting toward our neighbor's yard, so that'll have to come down. There's a bright side to everything, though. We've been thinking about putting in a pool but didn't want to cut down our beautiful trees. Well, they're coming down now anyway, so I think our decision's been made for us. LOL

Our street was blocked in both directions by fallen trees, so we couldn't get out right away. But we have such great neighbors, everyone banded together and got chain saws out and we all helped each other get cleaned up. The street was passable within a few hours on Saturday morning.

We lost power about 9pm Friday, and it came back on again yesterday about 2:30pm, thanks to a crew from Southeastern Electric in Mississippi who came down here. Less than 48 hours without power, so we're blessed. There are many others still without, though, and it's going to take some time. As bad as it looks in our neighborhood, there are other parts of Orlando that are far worse, and to the southwest of us, and of course, the poor people where it made landfall who had deaths and total destruction are really the ones that need prayers.

Our house has storm shutters, and they paid for themselves many times over in those few hours. If we hadn't had them, I would have been 10 times more terrified than I was. But I just can't get over my great neighbors, the way we all banded together. Things like this really bring out the best in people. After the storm passed Friday night, everybody came out with flashlights and we were all walking around and we just couldn't believe all the damage. But it was like a party atmosphere because nobody got hurt. Saturday and yesterday we all worked together at clean up, and when the power kicked on we were dancing in the streets.

My fish seem to be okay, too. I had battery powered air stones going in the tanks. The water in my QT tank got smelling bad, so I opened the hoods and did a 30% water change yesterday. Then the power came on and I put a fresh carbon filter in it. The water looks a lot better today. And my other 10 gal looks good, too. The 75 is empty, the cycle had pretty much finished, but I'm not sure what shape that one's in. I'll do water tests on all of them today.

I took lots of pics, so when I get some time I'll post them.

Thanks again, everybody, for your concern. I hope everyone else will check in and that they're okay.

It's a beautiful sunny day here today. We're counting our blessings.

8)

 

[revhtree]

Great News Carol!! Glad to hear that all is well with you and your family. (fish too)

There were alot of blessings to be counted from what I hear, and yours is another story of a great blessing from God. We most def need to keep praying for others who need it. Glad your good!

 

[cginflorida]

Thanks, David. God has most definitely blessed us, not just through this storm, but every day.