Dennis, Floyd, Irene - Now Hurricane Ch arlie

“A little more than a month ago Dennis went past our area. It was far enough out to sea that we did not experience any problem. It was interesting, though, during the afternoon. We were right on the fringe of the cloud bands. At work each time I went outside with a customer or for some other reason it was usually sunny and overhead high in the sky could be seen bands of clouds moving fast in a counterclockwise direction. About a week later Floyd came. For the week starting on Saturday, September 11, my work schedule (bagging groceries) was for only 26 hours with Sunday, Monday and Thursday free. I began to worry as the storm moved closer. All the projections showed it moving directly toward Melbourne, and it was a huge, strong hurricane. I worry most about the tornadoes that frequently are associated with these storms. So early Monday morning I called Alamo car rental and reserved a car for a week, starting on Monday evening. (There was another hurricane moving in the same path about five days behind Floyd.) Then I went to the store to tell them that I definitely would not be at work on Tuesday and Wednesday. I told the manager that I would check on Monday morning to see if they needed any help that day. He replied that it would not be necessary, that he would schedule me immediately and suggested 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. That day turned out to be the busiest day I have ever seen in a supermarket. The store called almost everyone to work and the lines were long at each register. People were almost fighting over the shopping carts and many customers followed others leaving the store to obtain their shopping carts after they were unloaded. All the carts were in use all day and there were even lines waiting for the carts. Soon after returning home from work on Monday I checked the weather report and Floyd was still heading directly toward us. So I walked to the Alamo Office at the nearby Hilton Hotel and obtained a car. I intended to leave that evening, but I procrastinated and finally went to bed about midnight, setting the alarm for early morning. I awoke a couple of times and, finally, at 3:30 a.m., with Floyd still aiming directly at Melbourne, I decided to leave. I put my Bible in the car first and then the backpack, two small tents, four sleeping bags, some filled water bottles, a little snack food, some other food, a small camp stove and the microwave. I saved the front seat for the TV. Then I filled the rest of the car with junk. Finally, after checking the weather forecast again, I took the TV and left at 5:30 a.m. It was a good time to leave and I did not experience any traffic problems. People leaving later experienced all kinds of traffic problems. It turned out to be the largest evacuation ever in Florida; millions of people fled the East Coast from Floyd. The President had already declared Florida a disaster area as everyone was expecting the worse. A few hours later I stopped at a state park on the other side of the state. They were boarding up the windows on their buildings and preparing for the worse, so I continued on to the Florida Panhandle. At the eastern side of Apalachicola National Forest it took me a while to locate some of their campgrounds. I did not care much for them, so I headed for the town of Apalachicola. Everything was full, so I went to the west area of the forest where I located two, beautiful campgrounds. They had large, clean rest rooms with hot showers. So I located a site. Only two other couples were there, one from Oklahoma and the Host couple. My senior card entitles me to stay at these types of parks at a 50% discount, so my cost was four dollars. (Hotel and motel rooms were going for $40 to 200 per night.) After a good night’s sleep, I awoke early. I was going to stay another day, but damage reports on the radio were unavailable and I wanted to see if anything remained of my trailer. I learned that the center of Floyd would be way offshore (100 miles) from Jacksonville in a few hours, so I calculated that I could return home with no more than a few rain showers along the way on the fringe of this massive hurricane. Again, I did not encounter any traffic problems most of the way. However, at Orlando I did get delayed about 1.5 hours. My prediction was correct. All the way back the sky was completely overcast and dark to my left, while to my right there were the circling bands of clouds with broken sunshine. Just before reaching Melbourne in mid-afternoon I learned on the radio that our store and a K-Mart had reopened. Many businesses could not reopen for several days until after electrical power was restored to their areas. Finding everything in order at home, I went to the store and was able to get scheduled to work the next day, Thursday. (They had closed at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, an hour before my previous scheduled time to report that day.) So the end result was that I gained four hours work for the week, had a nice trip and drove more than 1,000 miles in less than two days with about 200 miles of it being for sightseeing. I returned the car, reducing the rental from a week to just two days.

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Right now I’m waiting for Hurricane Irene to pass. The winds are increasing, gusts are blowing, heavy rain comes and goes, and I probably won’t sleep much.

Went to bed about 2 a.m. Woke just before 6:30 a.m. Sat in the attached Florida Room watching the weather report on TV. Saw a big something go over the roofs of two trailers just north of me. It landed right in front of my trailer. It looks like a 30 feet section of wooden fencing. I’m pretty sure that it is part of a neighbor’s carport. . (It turned out to be about a 20 feet section of aluminum roofing.) Decided that it is not safe in the Florida Room and moved back in the trailer. Went back to bed.

Arose again about 7:30 a.m. Saw a lot more, mostly smaller but some large pieces of debris flying past on both sides of the trailer. Put on my clothes and waterproof boots and started a pot of coffee. Heard some close banging. Part of the side rail of the roof extension of the Florida Room, which is over a small storage area behind the place, has come apart. Any stronger wind looks like it will start to peal the aluminum roof away. The TV report says that the center of Irene is just offshore of Vero Beach, about 40 miles south of here. If it continues out to sea, this could be about the worst of it, although it may last a while. If it stays near shore, it will get worse here.

7:55 a.m.: The side rail of the roofing back there is gone and the rail in the rear is part off, squeaking and banging. But for now the back roof sheet looks like it will hold. Position updates of the hurricane are only given about every three hours, so the next update will not be until about 10 or 11 a.m. My work schedule for today has me starting at 1 p.m. and I doubt that they have opened yet this morning. (But they did open on time at 7 a.m.)

8:40 a.m.: My place is still holding together. There is a large piece of debris rocking on the roof of the trailer to the NW of me. I’m sure that there is damage to their roof, as the piece in my front yard had struck their roof. (It was part of their roof.) The place is empty and for sale. The wind seems to be a little less, but there are still strong gusts. The rain has almost quit, too. Most of the rain of this storm has been to the east of its’ center, which is now out to sea. Going to put on another pot of coffee. The pot is a small one, making a maximum of 20 ounces of coffee at one time. A vehicle with a loud speaker just went past advising residents to stay inside, not to be outside wandering around.

9:05 a.m.: Wind gusts are still real strong. One report on TV estimates the storm’s center about 75 miles ESE of Melbourne. I watch the TV storm reports from just inside the doorway of the trailer, where I am protected in case any debris should hit the Florida Room. A few cars have passed, foolish people wanting to see some of the damage and tempting fate to make them part of it.

9:30 a.m.: Still some very strong, wind gusts shaking things. There are two sheets of aluminum roofing about 2.5 x 10 feet each over my storage area. The outer one is detached about one foot at the outside corner and being banged upward repeatedly by the loose, end railing. It still could fly off. I can see it from a bedroom window.

9:35 a.m.: Power went out for a minute. After diminishing a little, the wind gusts are getting stronger. There are cables over the trailer and the Florida Room, which are attached to ground anchors. So the basic dwelling should withstand much stronger winds. Otherwise, I would not be here. The place held together during a stronger storm in 1997, while I was in the mountains and before I bought it.

10:20 a.m.: Still strong wind gusts. A fire truck just went past, slowly.
…

11:50 a.m.: Just returned home after playing a few games of pool. There is a lot of damage in the park. Mostly damaged are carports, roofs build over trailers, fencing around the bottoms of trailers, other attachments, trees, plants, etc. However, I saw several structures with major damage. I had a big cluster of flowers behind the trailer, but the wind stripped most to just the basic stems. The wind is still strong. It is now from the north, instead of the east, which indicates that Irene is now east of us way out to sea. The TV reports that at 11 a.m. the storm center was 40 miles ESE of Cape Canaveral with the coastal area still receiving gusts of 80 mph at 12 noon. Well, it is time to get ready for work.

10:50 p.m.: From around 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. the rain had almost stopped, but strong wind gusts continued. I worked from 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. The sun came out briefly around 12:45 p.m., but that was its’ only appearance of the day. It started to rain again before I reached the store and the strong gusts and rain continued all day. The rain almost quit again about the time that I started home. The wind was strong and had swung around to blowing from the west. This meant that we were now in the southern part of the hurricane. The gusts were up to about 45mph.

12:00 midnight: The gusts are now farther apart and weaker. Irene is about finished with our area. In the county about 70,000 are without power, some flooding exists and there is a lot of wind damage. It makes great opportunities for roofers and other repairmen. Even at the store all the ice had been sold. People without electric power need ice to deep their food cool.


3:20 p.m. Sunday: It has been a beautiful day, although the wind has been strong from the west around 20 mph. Irene is now off Georgia, but it is drawing air from a long distance. (I am home for an hour lunch break.) At least 90 of the 840 trailer homes in this park received some damage. One was crushed slowly by a tree in its’ middle. After first falling on the trailed, it continued crushing the trailer about one inch per hour. Most of the other damage was to car ports and to roofs that people have added over their trailer homes, or to border fencing around the structures’ bases or to other add-ons.

11 p.m. Sunday: Returned home from work after 8 p.m. Irene is now history for Florida as the winds have subsided.”

“I remember Floyd, what a debacle that was. Most of the county didn't have to evacuate, just those of us directly along the coast. Guess what? All these nimrods decided they'd bail too, which meant a 13.5 HOUR trip to Tallahassee and my Aunt's home there. I had all kinds of things to say about that experience, most of which wouldn't survive Matt's censors.

Irene, Irene...I think that was the storm passing by when HPM and I went to test our raingear at the beach. I can't remember that one too well. Plenty of good parking spots available near the beach at that time, though.”

“Floyd was especially damaging up in the Northeast with all the rain it dumped up here -- the storm pretty much stalled out over New Jersey and interior New York.

Blowdowns and other assorted damaged from that storm can still be seen in the Adirondacks and Catskills today -- almost 5 years later...”

“NC never did recover a couple of litle towns that flooded. Tarboro had many many residents sell out to the govt flood program and move out for good - almost made it a ghost town.”

“It'll all flood all over again now on Monday if those two storms converge on Wilmington, as is predicted. Unless they run out of rain before then.”

“Sounds like the people who took the buyout were the smart ones.”

“yikes”

“Heh, and the Delaware Valley is right in the trajectory. Hold on tight, boys and girls -- it's going to be a wild ride...”

“Charlies coming here. I hope it fizzles to a drizzle.
Florida braces for 1-2 punch

"County emergency management Director Bob Lay said the outlook as of Wednesday evening suggested winds at nearly 50 mph, with the possibility of tornadoes and up to 6 inches of rain in some locations." They were wrong about Irene!

"The last big scare in Brevard was in 1999 -- the autumn of Floyd, Dennis and Irene -- ..."

" ... was surprised by the lashing Irene gave Brevard ... "

"'People living in mobile homes should be especially attuned to where this storm is going to go,' forecaster Decker said." --- Yep, I am paying attention.”

“I lived in Raleigh, NC when Floyd made a direct hit. The destruction was amazing. The ground was already saturated, so lots of trees came down. Cleanup took months and some people were without power for over a week.”

“Oh, Fudge!


http://www.weather.com/maps/news/atlstorm3/projectedpath_large.html”

“I remember Floyd well. In fact the Adirondacks are still recovering form the damage left by that storm. Hundreds to thousands of acres of trees were blown down. Avalanche pass was filled in about 30+' when the side of Mount Colden gave way. There are still countless acres that are impassible due to the extent of blow downs.”

“I took the day off since I needed to cut my grass and now here I sit!!! It is so dark and stormin' up a storm here! Damn!”

“oh yea, treebait. looks to be a lovely weekend huh?

We started getting heavy rain right before lunch, but it's cleared again now. Heavy clouds building to the southwest though.”

“As of now, my old work is simulcasting their live air over the internet. Link is on the front page:

www.wtsp.com

Interesting to watch, even if you don't have connections to the area.”

“It's clouding up over Melbourne, but no rain yet. The fun should start tomorrow afternoon.

Latest - tomorrow is looking better. Charlies' projection track keeps moving slowly westward. The center is now projected near the coastline west of Orlando and to the west of Jacksonville. Looking at that Melbourne should only have some gusty winds and minor showers.

treebait - As of now the center is no longer headed directly into your back yard. Let's hope it continues to drift westward, unless you want your trees trimmed.”

“Stay safe folks.

Here's a great page of weather related links.”

“MARTIN-ST. LUCIE- 239 PM EDT THU AUG 12 2004
... STRONG STORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS UP TO 45 TO 50 MPH OVER MARTIN COUNTY... ST. LUCIE COUNTY...

AT 235 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED STRONG STORMS MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH TOWARD MARTIN COUNTY. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN... FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS TO 45 MPH. ADDITIONAL SCATTERED STORMS ACROSS MARTIN AND SAINT LUCIE COUNTY WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

A STORM OVER PORT SAINT LUCIE RECENTLY PRODUCED A SHORT LIVED TORANADO WITH DAMAGE TO A TREE AROUND 225 PM.

A TORNADO WATCH CONTINUES FOR SAINT LUCIE COUNTY WHERE THE THREAT FOR STORMS TO PRODUCE A BRIEF TORNADO WILL CONTINUE.

IF THE STORM STRENGTHENS FURTHER... A WARNING WILL BE ISSUED.

...


ummmm, thats me, in fact there was a warning issued with a tornado sighted less than 3 miles from my office!

yikes”

“18 counties are under watches warnings or advisories.

My county has:
Inland tropical storm wind watch
Flood watch
Tornado watch

I'll just hang on. I may have to go to work tonight though!”

“About the same forecast here Tango. The schools here, St Lucie County already called an early out day tomorrow. County next door has already bailed on the whole day. Ours reserved the right to change their mind and call it off alltogether.”

“At the moment things look good for Melbourne. Hoping to see some shooting stars tonight. Bur I wonder how much rain is falling in treebait's area.”

“The local astronmy club already cancelled their outing tomorrow night to view the metors.

:(”

“All the gov't offices are closed in Orange and Osceola Counties. Schools are also closed. It finally stopped raining here. (Orlando)”

“It actually cleared off this evening around 5 or so, till sundown. It was Ugly (capital U) this afternoon from lunch till about 4 though.”

“Paul, we got just a very light drizzle of rain, lots of thunder, no close lightning, three tornadoes in other parts of the county, and one of the most BEAUTIFUL sunsets I've seen in a long time!


Tomorrow is looking like it will majorly suck.

My neighbor across the street wants to throw a hurricane party. Both times she saw me drink she said I relaxed a lot, so she says it's for my own good, lol! Maybe she's right. I've been some kinda uptight lately.”

“lol, i wanna go to a hurricane party before i move out of this state!”

“"I've been some kinda uptight lately." treebait

It's been noticeable. So yes, PARTY!

Good luck with Charlie.”

“Good luck to all of FLA!!!”

“When I heard about the tracking of the storm tonight, I wondered how all you in FL were doing. Best.

Mark”

“Now they swung the projected track back east again. Looks like Jacksonville is right on center. The edges of the cone of possible travel is close to Melbourne. So we just look for some wind and rain and hope for nothing else.

Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) Forecast ”

“The winds woke me up. It may be a long day, if the outer bands are starting this early. 5 AM EST”

“"Twas the best of days; twas the worst of days."

Wind gusts and rain woke me at 4:20 AM. It subsided, but more is coming. It will be a rough day. Oh boy!”

“Good morning, tango. Enjoy your day.”

“The eye won't get to Tampa till 8 PM. You're right a rough day it will be.”

“I don't think there will be too much enjoyment. But thanks. Good luck to us all.”

“will be thinking of all of you during this storm!!!!hugs.....”

“Thanks. What are you doing up so early girl??”

“Sounds like it's gonna be a #&%!$. Y'all should have an interesting next 24 hours. I'd say a few drinks are in order.”

“Good luck all you Florida folks. Stay safe!”

“school board changed their mind overnight, looks like the kids are out today after all. Its a FL Snow Day!”

“Here comes Charlie. It started raining early this morning here in Naples maybe around 2 am and still is. The hard stuff is just about here. Holding on.”

“Stay safe, all of you Floridians. This storm is nothing to underestimate.”

“Thinkin' of y'all today. Keep us posted, if you feel like it, and if your power stays on...”

“School's still in session here. By the time my in-laws (both teachers) and HPM get out of work, it's going to be rough getting home. They close all the bridges when the winds get to 45 mph. HPM's gonna have a tricky time getting back. He has to cross two major bridges to get home. One of them is notorious for it's high winds, across a wide spot on the St. Johns river. No fun there.
It's been spitting rain here, and the winds are starting to pick up a little. Wally World was an interesting experience this morning, too. I picked up more cat food and such, and opted for a 6 gallon H2O container. I figure I'll also use it for car camping, canoeing et al.
You know it's funny, but my E-prep kit is my car camping kit. Guess it's time to go camping huh?”

“makes sense treebait.”

“Treebait, it's calm here now, not a leaf is moving! But we have a Tornado watch until 5 PM.

Supposedly there is a preseason football game in Tampa tonight with the Bengals @ 8 PM that hasn't been canceled! Charlie is supposed to be going through there about that time!?”

“Ah, for some reason I thought you alreadt had wind. Guess I should read a little more closely.

WTF?! NFL hasn't cancelled? Sheesh!

News here is saying Charley will come through here between 2am and 6 am. There's lots of variation in times, I've noticed. I hate the local stations here. THey get you all keyed up about worse case scenarios, show all the damage from a mild tornado here yesterday, and then say "Now, don't panic!" Sheesh! Well, I'd like to say something other than "sheesh" but the censors would take it out. I also have an audience here.”

“I did have heavy wind this morning but it's calm now. But it looks like a feeder band will be coming through any minute.

Yes, I agree with you about the local coverage.”

“calm as can be here too. Feels "heavy" outside though, baro pressure dropping maybe?”