Wow, that's a bucket list place for me. Look at those poor Hobie Waves! That's a lot of damage (boats, buildings, docks, etc.); hopefully, everyone is safe there.

Mike

More bad news. Hurricane Jose (Cat 4) will hit the British and US Virgin Islands AGAIN in the morning. Double Whammy! Very Sad after viewing several hundred pictures of the existing damage.

Still heavy thoughts yet to come regarding Irma's impact to Florida, Georgia, Alabama, the panhandle and the east coast.

I just got this email from Voyage Charters who are located in West End Soper's Hole,Tortola, BVI. Provided for those who are interested. . .

Quote

"It is 48 hours since Hurricane Irma impacted the British Virgin Islands and, as further information comes out, it is clear no part of the territory has been spared from the devastation. Both the Premier and Governor of the territory released statements confirming a State of Emergency is in effect and relief efforts will be co-ordinated under that basis.

http://www.bviddm.com/message-from-...th-obe-following-hurricane-irmas-impact/

Direct communication with the islands is very limited and, at this time, our US reservations office has not been able to establish a line of communication to VOYAGE charters BVI personnel but we are receiving some updates via a shared sat phone . We do know the base managers and families are accounted for and someone also reported seeing other base staff safe and well.

From what appears to be reliable source, an on the ground report from the vicinity of the VOYAGE charters BVI base in Sopers Hole, describes extensive structural damage to docks, buildings and vessels including the ship yard where some of the VOYAGE fleet were stored. Although it will be many days before detailed damage assessments can be made we can only assume that tourist travel and conduct of business by VOYAGE charters BVI, will not be possible for the commencement of the season in October.

For guests with departures in October, the cancelation clause of their charter contracts will apply. A decision on following months will be made over the next few days as information becomes available from the managers of VOYAGE charters BVI David Beavis, from the US reservations office, will travel down to Tortola as soon as services and conditions allow, in an effort to assist colleagues and obtain accurate information for our charter clients.

At this time, we have faith that the British Virgin Islands, it's tourist industry and VOYAGE charters BVI will be restored. We hope any of our clients affected by cancelation will consider rescheduling to a later date which will allow VOYAGE charters BVI to look to the future.

We have received many offers from our clients and friends who are ready and willing to travel to the islands to provide physical support. Whilst we are sure this help will be needed at sometime, travel and communication services are too limited at this time. In the interim please consider making a donation to the BVI relief efforts through one of the reputable aid organizations such as the British Red Cross."

Wow, there's a reporter in Key West (10:20 PM on Saturday). How is he going to get out?

The west coast is hosed. Tampa will get nailed too. Even parts of Pinellas Park are going to see storm surge. Hang in there guys, Davis Island YC, Clearwater, too many connections here to mention them all.

And Jose right behind this? Wow...

Mike

Sometimes mist rain and damp isn't the worst thing ever - come home
Seriously, Stay safe Tim.

How'd everyone make out, or do you even know yet?

Foxnews.com has a pic they say is Gilbert's in Key Largo, looks swamped but hard to say if there's actually damage other than flooding.

Mike

I saw quite a bit of footage in Islamorada, specifically, Whale Harbor. They were inundated with quite a bit of ocean water across the entire roadway from surge but the buildings are still standing.

https://youtu.be/ESYhxL3fvjk

They're estimating 25% of homes were destroyed, 60% have significant damage, and nearly 100% have some damage. That's just the Keys. Everyone seems to agree that it could have been even worse. Wow.

Mike

Due mostly to the great creator, and partly due to strong building code enforcement.... it appears the eye passed over our town with little major damage to buildings.

It's a landscaper's paradise though. Can't imagine more than a handfull of trees that aren't damaged or toppled.

Power just came back to our section (I'm near a hospital, so probably on a priority grid). It may be weeks before the outlying areas (the "estates" on 2.5 and 5 acre lots) get power. I think Port Royal where the blue blazer crew live has their own secret power station... built underground/underwater...

Two gas stations just opened up with power. Waits are over an hour. I suspect they'll be out of gas shortly. The Tesla stations are screwed for now.

Amazingly, the boat was parked across the street from the airport (where wind gusts to 145 mph were measured) and suffered no damage that I can see. Didn't even move the trailer. The wind must have been from just the right direction to be blocked by adjacent storage buildings. Can't get in the yard yet (no power to gate), but kid ran in there and snapped photos.

There was a kayak on a trailer (couldn't have weighed more than 100 lbs) that didn't get moved, either.... talk about dodging the bullet!

Despite how lucky we were, I'm still happy I evacuated across the state. Only had 80 mph winds there... But I had to be close enough to make it back on one tank of gas... There were no gas stations open south of Orlando until today.

Not sure how Sebring fared as they probably got whacked with the toughest part of the storm winds. My folks had a tree branch poke through their bedroom wall on the second floor, but nothing major.

The utility company kept the water flowing (even when power was out) which was key, but the sewer system was out of power and started bubbling up from the manholes. Kids were playing in the water on the street.. Can anyone say "cholera"? Did they NOT notice it smelled like Burbon St. in New Orleans after Mardi-Gras?

Lots of cars on the side of the road out of gas. Even more huddled in little spots where the internet is working.

If the power/fuel situation continued for a few more days, I suspect the orderly recovery would be much less civil.

Thanks for all the prayers and positive energy! Hope all points north fared as well as we did....

Jay

I was on vacation and never returned.
no boards on my windows/doors

Thank goodness i have great friends who came by and took the tramp off my 6.0, moved my 5.5 hulls (that are barley strapped to a trailer) away from my house and removed the pop up temp garage (tent) that covers my 6.0

Dunedin was spared
no loss of life
pretty minimal damage to buildings

most damage i have seen was due to trees falling


as far as i know my damage to the exterior was 1 section of fence fell (that was already shot)
as long as i didn't get water inside ... sounds like i was totally spared

I return tomorrow to check for water, mildew, and any structural changes that may have happened

Glad you guys fared well. The media definitely over-hypes things. Not that there wasn't a lot of damage, or that there weren't tragic things that happened, but thankfully FL mostly got spared from what could have been much, much worse.

Even FEMA's estimates about the damage in the Keys (which I quoted above) was being strongly disputed by local officials. I guess time will tell the full extent of the damage down there.

The Virgin Islands and surrounding areas look completely wiped out. The military did get in there pretty quickly, so hopefully things will be on the rebound soon.

Stay safe, guys.

Mike

Thanks Mike


Was insane to be out of state, listening to the non local media reporting fake hype.

One person was in clearwater stating: All of Clwtr is evacuated, all will be underwater" - wrong on both counts
Or reporting from in front of a mangled alum car port saying how terrible the destruction was to the area (not that there wasn't minor damage to structures and cars but come on...

on the flip side:
This was probably the best rating the news ever had - i am sure they are looking forward to the next hurricane, or ways to produce them for ratings....

There was a reporter in Jax, knee deep in water in a parking garage under a hotel, talking about how awful it was. Then, he walked out of there, up the ramp and had the camera looking around at the area. Turned out, he found the lowest spot around.

We had a flooded area from rain in RI a few years ago. Took out a good portion of a large shopping mall. The helicopter shots on TV made it look like one of those "100-Year" floods in the Midwest, but in reality it really only affected a few small neighborhoods and that section of the mall.

Mike

So far, the biggest issue here locally is finding gas for cars/generators.

Power coming back to 50% or so of town (less for Marco Island), so people are lining up for about 2 hours to get fuel at the dozen or so gas stations.

Limit of $30 per customer which doesn't get you too much gas...

For those with the power back on, it's a minor inconvenience to be short on gas. For those with generators, it's gonna get pretty uncomfortable. No breeze, temps and humidity in 90's

Bugs are starting to come back out...

All said, it's been quite an orderly disaster. Helps to have law enforcement presence in the gas lines.

Some idiots don't realize that a downed/non-functioning traffic light is to be treated as a 4-way stop. So a handful of car crashes in addition to everything else.

My biggest fear in those conditions would certainly be other people. Having a running generator probably makes one a target. I could live with the heat and bugs, but wouldn't survive against armed, desperate packs of people.

The stories coming out of the islands were insane (and undoubtedly censored). Storms like these bring out the best, and unfortunately worst, in people.

Mike

yes, we've received reports of generator theft as of late.

And despite minimal damage, there were reports of looting in some Ft. Lauderdale stores. All caught on video of course

I think the law enforcement presence has done wonders to keeping things civil despite long lines, heat/humidity, sewer backups, and bugs.

I still wonder why some people insist on returning to the area with full knowledge that it's not back to "normal" yet. Maybe they like to stand in line for fuel and poop in buckets...

Well, there was one person on camera complaining about the continued closure of access to the lower Keys. Their issue was that they owned the property, not the government, and should be allowed back to start cleaning up, and to keep people (who didn't evacuate) from looting.

But, you're right, as soon as something hits the fan, they'll be on the phone demanding services, which the government won't be able to provide.

Sounds like a great time for an unplanned vacation. Of course, so many people can't afford to do that.

Mike

On one hand, I agree with that citizen. It would be nice to start cleaning up their property.

On the other hand, I'd rather have law enforcement out doing their job instead of a bunch of private citizens taking the law into their own hands. While I believe in the "stand your ground" concept, I think many folks take way too many liberties with that....

Well we lost power for 6 hot sweaty nights, came back on last Saturday morning. I think the eye passed about 20 miles west of Sebring which put us in the worst place, the NE corner. I was told the wind was 80 gusting to 110, out of the south-south east, which is the worst direction for my dock/beach, being on the north side of the lake. The heaviest winds came over around midnight Sunday night, our power had gone out about 9pm so I couldn't see on TV exactly where it was going, but I was looking out the back window at the lake, using a high powered flashlight I could see huge waves were breaking over the dock and coming way up the back yard. I told my wife the dock wouldn't be there by morning and I was right.

Every dock on the north side of the lake was wiped out, lots of pontoon boats that were up on dock lifts were washed up on shore, I had one in my backyard that belonged to a neighbor two houses over, along with half his dock boards. The waves were huge and the lake level came up about 3 feet above flood stage. LOTS of trees down all over the place, my pool cage (south side of house) was completely crushed up against the house, half in the pool. Tree branches down blocking the roads and driveway, two days of cutting up limbs and piling up same at the edge of the road, in 92 degree heat. Great fun.... but then try sleeping in 90 degrees with no air, no generator, no fans and no breeze. At least the beer was cold.... until all the ice had melted by about day 2 of 6 without power.

I had taken the masts down and flipped my cats upside down in the grass, put them up against the solid fence to protect them form the wind, my biggest fear was a tree landing on them. They survived fine, two trees came down and the H14 and P18 were just in between them, but I did see a H16 down the road that was cut in half by a huge pine tree that had fallen on it. There were tall pines down on top of houses, cutting trailer homes in half and power lines down all over town, many power poles down too, blocking the roads and of course taking out the grid too, which is why it took them 6-8 days to restore power, depending on where you live.

As the lake was draining, it flooded many neighborhoods on the south side of the lake. Luckily I live on the higher ground on the north side, but the guys on the south side all kept their docks

Dermot, thanks for the thoughts, I do need to get back home! Maybe after I get the house all repaired I can get away from the swamp and get over there to see you, I hope all is well with you and the family.

Timbo,
Glad to hear you, your home and cats survived
what lake is this?