To Florida WebmasterWorld Members

Hurricane Frances

[zulufox]

Well, it looks like we are gonna get it again...

As always,
Good luck,
Be Safe,
Backup Your Data.

Chris from Miami FL

[EquityMind]

OK, today I'm supposed to book a flight to Orlando next Sunday for a meeting Monday morning the 13th. Am I off my rocker? Is it bad enough with no power and such? After Hurricane Charley, I was in Orlando about 10 days after and the hotel I stayed at had just gotten power back a few days prior. Just wondering if Orlando will be back to normal 7 days from now so if anyone can give me advice on whether or not to book my ticket I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

EquityMind

[christopher w]

Equity -

My guess is that Orlando should be fine by then. The damage does not seem to be too severe anywhere and a lot of it seems to be overblown by the media. But take this with a grain of salt - I have not really seen anything other than my area in West Palm and images online. But I think Orlando will be fine by then.

But - keep your eye on Ivan which was upgraded to a hurricane I think....

[gopi]

Ivan -Another Storm? ....Man it really sucks for floridians this year :)

[christopher w]

Yup Ivan - hopefully it misses us:

Meanwhile, in the tropical central Atlantic, Hurricane Ivan is intensifying rapidly. With sustained winds of 85 mph it is now the strongest hurricane on record for such a low latitude (about 10 degrees north) in the Atlantic Basin. Ivan is forecast to assault the Lesser Antilles as early as Tuesday, then churn into the eastern Caribbean as a major hurricane (the season's fourth, if it happens) by mid-week.

[netscan]

Starting to get breazy here in St. Pete, getting some good shots of my trees dancing....

Still have power which suprises the heck outta me...

[Liane]

Eventually I'm gonna guess which island you are on.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Yup, Ivan is gearing up and not looking at all pleasant for the Caribbean. The real problem is that Ivan has plenty of open water and hundreds of miles to travel during which it can really organize and strengthen before making landfall. Since it is already at 125 MPH with gusts of up to 155 ... this thing could be a monster. The good news is that its travelling very fast at 21 MPH. If it slows down (and it likely will) that's when we are all in trouble!

We should be in the thick of it by Wednesday or Thursday/Friday ... if it slows down. Based on past hurricane path behaviour, I believe the current forecasted eye path is quite a bit low. I am going to be doing some serious hurricane prep in the next two days.

The real bummer is that there is more "stuff" coming off Cape Verde right behind Ivan. It reminds me a great deal of Luis & Marilyn in 1995. This is going to be a very long month in the Caribbean!

On the bright side, I got a great photo of Frances passing us by last Tuesday afternoon! :)

Good luck to all in Florida. It looks as though Frances is breaking up which is a very good thing!

[digitalv]

Just got my power back - went out this afternoon. It's still raining here and the rooms down stairs are already flooded (less than an inch of water, but the carpet is going to have to come out). I'm on the water so I kinda expected it though. At least I have flood insurance :P

I wasn't really worried about this one, but I'm still kinda worried about Ivan lurking out there - jumped from a Category 1 to a Category 4 in less than 13 hours, that's nothing to take lightly.

[grandpa]

Considering you've just taken a one-two punch, will Ivan deliver the knockout punch... It's hard to believe, but people will get complacent in the face of danger; particularly those who may have just spent a few days in a shelter.

[EquityMind]

Wow, great feedback. I'm definately postponing my trip now that I've heard about Ivan. Thanks all, wouldn't be the first time that a post a WebmasterWorld influenced a business decision. :)

EquityMind

[visibot]

Frances moved out to the gulf last night, but in Orlando it's still raining and blowing too much to go out and put my fences back up. Gonna wait a bit to take down the plywood and stow the generator until I get a better idea about Ivan.

Been here 24 years and like most in this area it had gotten to a point where us "inlanders" haven't taken hurricanes that seriously. Getting hit twice in 3 weeks has turned our reality inside out.

We went 8 days without power after Charley, but with Frances we seem to be among the fortunate few to still have it in our area The biggest difference betweeen the two was that Charley moved through here in about 90 minutes, but Frances spans such a large area that it's been windy and wet for two days.

[Easy_Coder]

From Oldsmar Fl... My pool is just about to overflow... we've been getting 2 inches of rain per hour all night.

[Liane]

I feel so sorry for those of you in Florida. A hurricane is a horrible thing to deal with, but the flooding part is the worst. Even when the storm is over ... its not over until the flooding abates and the clean up is done.

I hope all of you make it through in tact and without too much damage or discomfort.

Liane

[lgn1]

We haven't got rid of Francis, But CNN is now hyping 'IVAN the Terrible' for a possible Friday landfall in Florida. I guess Floridians might as well keep plywood on their windows for the months of June -October.

[squallions]

Ivan? Another storm? grr .. How come Florida got all the storm? .. lolz .. :D

[webzila]

Squallions?
You think that FL is hugging all the hurricanes? You want one to go in the Gulf?

[bppilot]

The storm has come and gone and Orlando still looks fine. A few stop lights were out but were quickly restored. It looks like quite a few people here are still without power, cable and phone service, so online business may be slow here in Florida for a while until all is restored. Fortunately, we didn't loose power, internet or any of our servers throughout the storm. This was a welcome change from when Charley hit when we had to run on a whole line of generators for 6 days straight. Tomorrow will still be a challenge as we move many of our redudant servers back to our facility which were pulled and moved to several alternate locations in case our building didn't make it. I would much rather be doing this though instead of dealing with the alternative.

Good luck to all of you who are currently being affected by the storm. After going through Charley, I feel for you!

BPPilot
Orlando, Florida

[chrisnrae]

UGH! I just got back online, and it is only because I resorted to dial up. Was without power for about 12 hours, and going on 24 now for being without cable (i.e. internet). So, I've resorted to dial up so I can at least be online. We're fine, the house is fine, some trees down, etc. Just checking in as requested earlier ;).

[Josefu]

First off, I hope you all made it through alright and all you and yours (including hardware) are well. Second off, I almost had to laugh as... by a quick reading of this thread's title it looked like, aside from Florida's weather problems, we were in for another Google "Florida update".

[hooloovoo22]

I hope everybody in FL made it through...the worst of the hurricane season is almost over, hang in there.

On another note, I watched Geraldo Rivera doing hurricane coverage and it was one of the most humorous things I've seen on television in awhile. I swear his mustache almost got carried away by the winds.

[Liane]

Geeze ... this damned storm is BIG! Grenada is a mess and many parts are wiped out! Jamaica may be in for it and likewise, the Cayman Islands.

From Grenada, 5 boats were lost from a friend's fleet. No lives lost ... thank you God!

Much more to report later, I'm sure . Wow ... this is a very nasty storm! Ivan is indeed terrible! We are very lucky in the British Virgin Islands. Nothing happening here at all!

Many thanks to the Gods of the winds for sparing us!~ Yikes ... this is a bad one! Keep a good thought for those in Ivan's path tonight. He is raging out of control! My prayers are with those in his path.

[amznVibe]

Hi folks I am back. Was without power for 4 days, 3 night.
I have a new found respect for electricity and the power grid... ;)

It was so humid in the house that the doorframes are warped now, doors don't fit!

Spare laptop batteries were depleted after the 2nd day. Seriously thinking about one of those small 1000watt generators just to keep the fridge working (lost about $50 in food) and the computer running as well as a fan.

But just TRY to find a generator in Florida these days, not gonna happen. Mass stampeed at Home Depot/Lowes whenever there is a suprise delivery. I know people a bit further out who still do not have power, and need it for sewer and water well operation. They are NOT happy campers...

now IVAN is about to come-a-knocking... [nhc.noaa.gov]

[Sanenet]

TRY to find a generator in Florida these days

You ever tried this little thing called the internet? :)

so humid the doors warped...

Man that is humid!

Still, glad to see all you guys got thru OK. In other news, we had a lovely week here in Ireland, not a cloud in the sky!

[amznVibe]

Getting a generator on the internet is not as easy as you think.
Most of them weigh well over 50 pounds, adding huge shipping costs (most cannot be delivered via parcel services) and will take over a week to get to Florida, defeating the whole point of a timely solution.

I've got my eye on a smaller 1000 watt unit which is light enough for UPS delivery and could power some fans, lights, fridge and most importantly charge the laptop or run the PC directly at times.

[Leosghost]

You could always build your own "genny" in the back yard ...done lots ..diesel and petrol..based on car and truck engines ... not as hard as you might think .

Oh ..and just heard on the radio that Ivan is about to hit Jamaica ....

hope all the people on "The Islands" make it through..

[lgn1]

Well, there is another evac order.

Perhaps they should change the slogan on Florida license plates from 'sunshine state' to 'evacuation state'

[creative craig]

Liane, sorry to tell you that news reports say that 12 people have lost their lives in Grenada due to Ivan.

[goodroi]

This year really sucks. I'll be thankful this year for my bad New York winter instead of having to face a Florida evacuation.

[EquityMind]

Should we splinter off this thread into 'Hurricane Ivan' or just a general Hurricane thread? Isn't there another one coming on the tails of Ivan I read somewhere?

Good luck everyone.

EquityMind

[amznVibe]

No joke, some parts of the Florida keys might disappear temporarily from going under water during Ivan. They aren't even opening any shelters down there, it's a 100% manditory evacuation. News is showing shots of people loading their PC's into their car trunks.

[amznVibe]

It's probably not feasible for Google to do this, but if they can, any Adsense checks for delivery in Florida should be given a priority and shipped sooner.

There are so many people affected by this and every dollar could help. I know I could sure use it for a generator.