Posted on 08/13/2004 7:24:06 AM PDT by STARWISE
False rumor. The bridges might close early Saturday morning, depending on wind strength.
Here in Arlington, some big boomers have made my lights flicker for the last hour. I have battery "parachute" on my computer, but I hate being in this metal warehouse. As soon as Fedex delivers payroll, I am outta here!!
Tampa is half way down about in the middle of the state.
The Keys are way down at the very tip of Florida. It's like an appendix off of the state, actually.
Starwise, I'm in Daytona Beach. Our house is the sixth house
from the A-1-A. The ocean is maybe 800 ft or so from my house. I'm as ready as I can possibly be for the storm, and it sounds like you have prepared also.I wish you well.
I have lived here since 1977, and rode out a few of these storms.It isn't fun if the electric goes out, so make sure you have some non-refridgerated things to eat, and if you have a battery radio,and maybe a cell phone,you would still
have access to the "outside world".We will be praying for you also.
If you still have electric, and can post on this thread with
any updates from your area, it would most certainly be welcomed by other FL freepers,( and it would let us know you are OK.)
The nasty part will arrive in Daytona Beach between 9pm Fri-8am Sat.We are expected to get the North-East part of the storm,which they claim isn't much fun. My wife has a laptop(2 batteries,and a portable power scorce) w/ a Sprint satellite PCM-CIA card that works
pretty well in a couple of power outage storm situations that I have tried it in, and was able to get on FR.
I will try to post on THIS thread when it starts to "rock-n-roll" here in Daytona, in hopes that the Freepers north of me will
get a "heads up".
Again Starwise,we will be praying for you !! You really aren't "alone".
I have a gas range and water heater. The last two hurricanes I went through I went without electricity for over a week, but still had hot showers and meals. I did stock up on my favorite white wine and Bailey's Irish Cream. If you've got to sit in the dark drinking instant cofee it makes the time pass a little more pleasantly.
It's almost like Little House on the Prairie *lol*
According to Pinellas County (St Petersburg and Clearwater), they are closing all the bridges to the barrier islands at 11AM Eastern Time.
Here's the link:
http://www.clearwater-fl.com/news/news_detail.asp?item=511
The fortunes of life so seem to favor those who are prepared, do they not.
I have a weeks rations in nonperishable foods, candles, batteries, charcoal, fully stocked firstaid kit, and ten gallons of gas set up for evey hurricane season. I am now trying to talk my wife into getting a generator. She is from Mass and has never been in a hurricane. She once at a family party talked about me going overboard on being prepared until everyone there said they did the same. I respect these storms.
I'm visiting family in Palm Harbor, about 5 miles from shore, and am very excited that Charley is going to pass overhead. I've always wanted to lean into hurricane winds like the reporters on TV. I'll be out there with weights on so I don't get too blown around. :-)
we're up high enough that we don't have to worry about the 15' storm surge, but we will have to look out for flash flooding. I don't think it will be too bad, though.
I have a cousin in Clearwater, less than a mile from the beach and she's staying. They have to wear name tags so that officials can identify them should something bad happen. Their condo is made to withstand 150mph winds, and it's been around for decades so they should be fine.
Last year I took a course to become an insurance claims adjuster. The section on claims from hurricanes was very brief--the words "Total Loss- limits of policy" were mentioned repeatedly.
Thanks for the heads up!
Remember what Bikers4Bush posted earlier, quoting Ron White. "It's not THAT the wind is blowing, it's WHAT the wind is blowing." If you get hit by a flying Volvo....
I'm watching this with much interest, as my mother and sisters live in Polk County, and that area seems to be in the projected path across the state.
Stay safe, stay prayed up.
Jim
Punta Gorda is just grey with a light breeze..... we're hunkered down and playing with the kids. We're 10-11 ft above the high water mark... let's hope they're right about the storm surge.
In Alicia we were luck (RE: My dad was a mastar carpenter and he supervised ever aspect of the construction of my families house to assure it was done just the way he wanted it.) we just lost the back half of the roof, it was tile and the slid into the pool. Only a few were broken and we had spares. My dad and two of our neighbors who also had tile roofs spent the next day fixing the three roofs. My brother and I had to dive into the pool to get the tiles out.
This is Citrus County, there are no "D" cell batteries in the county....
nothing but clouds now....
RE: post 61 bridges will NOT close
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