Here Comes FRANCES!

jsmatos

jsmatos

Joined
Apr 6, 2002
Messages
1,979
So, we came out of Charley okay only to be staring down the eye (literally) of Frances. WTF!!! :mad: Did you guys see the map? What it should be saying is: Jennifer lives here. :eek: I thought we were safer when we moved farther West, but this storm is going straight across Florida.

The weather people are saying that Frances will take one of two tracks. Either it will continue on with its same speed and intensity which will cause it to hit south around West Palm Beach. My father lives there with his girlfriend. My sick grandfather lives there with my aunt. My grandmother lives there by herself, and my brother, his wife and three children live there too. And just because it came in at West Palm Beach doesn't mean it won't cross my area. The maps reflect that I'm getting hit either way. Alternatively, the storm can slow down, hit farther North which would take it at top speed right through my area. This time it seems like there's no winning. :( I was talking to my father yesterday and he said, "I'm really hoping that it hits North of us." GEE THANKS. :mad: Like I said during Charley, I hope that it hits the least amount of people possible. I hope that it unexpectedly changes its course entirely and goes out into the ocean.

How's everyone else doing? Is everyone preparing? What are you guys and gals doing to prepare this time around? Did you keep your plywood from Charley? :( :mad: :(
 
My relatives evacuated Wednesday morning hoping to get out of there before gridlock sets in. They did what they could before they left -- couldn't get enough plywood for all the windows. Their main concern is that Charlie left fallen trees and branches lying around everywhere for Frances to pick up and throw -- the hurricanes are teaming up on us! :eek:
 
All I can say is GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! Safely.

Nature's wrath is cruel, and she's dealing Florida a bad hand this year...worst hand, ever.
 
I rode out Isibel in my house last year and the best advise I can give you is to go several states inland to a good hotel with a nice bar and room service and ride it out there.
That is what I am going to do next time.

However,if that is not an option,buy flashlights,candles,batteries,canned goods and a manual can opener,plenty bottled water,several good coolers and fill them with ice,some 6 gallon plastic gas cans and fill them up and top off your cars tank and a battery powered radio.
Most of this you can use later even if you do not get hit.

If you have a garage or a place to store it get a gas powered generator,I lost power for two weeks but I had a 7KW generator that made life a lot more comfortable,kind of like camping out.If you get one,get plenty of long,heavy extention cords and big fans.
Do all of your laundry now and maybe buy some socks,teeshirts and underwear,at least have enough clean clothes on hand to last for a couple of weeks.

If you live in a wooded area,a chain saw is handy,I lost 12 trees in my yard and had to cut one of them up to get out of the driveway.
Hammer,nails and plywood if you lose a window.

Good luck and stay safe.
 
Yeah, I am very concerned but we're going to stay put for this one. We have three shepherds that don't have any place to go, and neither my husband nor myself will leave them alone here. We have most of what mad cow listed already. We discovered during Charley that our generator was leaking gas. We brought it to a local mechanic, and he's fixing it right now. No guarantees that it'll be ready in time for the storm. :rolleyes: All we have left to purchase is canned food and more gasoline for our cars. We have a couple of big containers of gasoline all ready filled (for the generator) left over from last time. :rolleyes: Great advice about the laundry and fans. I didn't think about the fans part. duh! :o That big, beautiful oak tree (actually we have three but only one that threatens our home) in our front yard is still standing there. Hopefully, it'll make it through the storm. I love that oak tree, and I love our house. :(

Doesn't most of the damage happen to the mobile homes. I know, I've seen the pictures of roofs ripping off buildings, but did that happen to buildings farther inland? :eek: :( PLEASE NO TORNADOS, PLEASE NO TORNADOS!! :(
 
I live in St. Lucie county, one of the projected landfall targets. With a path 150-160 miles wide and no clear idea where it will strike, I'll be riding it out. My wife is a nurse and has to go to work tomorrow. Her hospital is very close to the ocean and I'm terribly worried about her. :(

Prayers for all Floridians would be appreciated.
 
Geraldo,

I used to live in St. Lucie County. Right around where they had all of the fires a few years back. I also used to live on Hutchinson Island down next to Shuckers. I don't know if it's there anymore. :confused: I worked for The Admiral's Table restaurant on and off throughout my teenage years. St. Lucie is a lovely place to live. The people are very friendly. I sincerely hope that you guys will be okay. I'll pray for you and your family, if you'll pray for us. :D Does your wife work in the hospital along Jensen Beach Boulevard?
 
The Hurricanes are the one thing I don't miss about living along the coast. The best of luck to all you in the way of this one.
 
I just got off the telephone with my grandmother who lives in W.P.B. The whole time I was talking to her I could hear opera screaming out in the background. She LOVES opera and listens to it all the time especially when she misses my grandpa like I'm sure she does now. She plans on sitting out the storm. I knew she would, she's got a thick skull. My brother tried to get her to come with them to Naples, but she refused. We laughed about how incensed her neighbors will be if they should get hit and have to listen to all of her opera glaring out in the background.

I can see it now on channel 5 news, "The residents of this disaster area are all fixated on some sort of, very surreal, music playing in the background as the storms were tearing through the area. Some see it as the heavens opening up to get them and are holding prayer vigils. Others think that Satan was mocking their misfortune. Some are running the streets screaming, "Stop the music, stop the music." And still others believe that the mafia may have somehow played a part in all of this destruction. We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out." :D
 
jsmatos,

My wife works up in Vero, where the hospital was engineered in such a way that they expect floods in the first floor. Supposedly it will take a Cat 5 hit, but this will be it's first real world test.

I'm praying for everyone down here, so consider it a deal.
 
Just read on another forum that most of the plywood is gone from home depot and lowes stores. Most stations are out of gas already too. If you are waiting for the last minute to get this stuff the last minute looks to be ...yesterday. :(

Do what it takes to be SAFE
 
jsmatos, try this link: www.wistv.com this is Columbias best television station and hope it can provide some insight. Alot of folks in Florida are headed up to South Carolina and I am assuming we will only get alot of storms Sunday through Monday, at least that's what I am hearing on the news. Charleston is suppose to get a lash from Frances and that's all I have really heard from our neck of the woods. Looks like you are in for a heck of a ride there, anybody who has ever been in the path of a catagory 4 hurricane has no idea what it's like. Jsmatos can you get your family together and head up here for a while?
 
Cindy Denning said:
jsmatos, try this link: www.wistv.com this is Columbias best television station and hope it can provide some insight. Alot of folks in Florida are headed up to South Carolina and I am assuming we will only get alot of storms Sunday through Monday, at least that's what I am hearing on the news. Charleston is suppose to get a lash from Frances and that's all I have really heard from our neck of the woods. Looks like you are in for a heck of a ride there, anybody who has ever been in the path of a catagory 4 hurricane has no idea what it's like. Jsmatos can you get your family together and head up here for a while?
Click to expand...

Cindy,

I really appreciate your concern (offer :confused: ) and thank you, but my husband and I plan on staying it out right here. I actually think that if I showed up at my mother's house in Tennessee with dogs in tow, she probably wouldn't say a word about it. As it is now, she's calling every couple of hours to talk to me about the forecast. She's really good too...a very dramatic, strong-willed, Italian woman. The minute you hear her voice you cringe because you know what's coming. :eek:

Shappa, there really aren't big lines for gas yet in my area. If we get hit it won't be until Sunday. We still have our plywood from Charley. :rolleyes:

Hey guys and gals, check this out: www.jacksonville.com, the forecast picture reflects that the storm will pass right through Jacksonville. Remember when you look at these pictures that the storm is huge so anything even slightly near the line is a hit. Now look below the pictures to the article that says Mayor Peyton plans on leaving government offices open on Friday. That's not what I find really rediculously stupid. If you read the article it says that he doesn't plan on any evacuations if the storm follows current projected paths. :confused: Does he mean the path depicted in the picture right above the article? :confused: So you see folks, this is our tax dollars at work. And here comes the cacophony of conflicting weather reports...:rolleyes: :(

Edited to add: Even better look at the picture on the right and the picture on the left. They're projecting two completely different paths. :mad: :rolleyes: ACCU-Weather Image vs. NOAA Image. :rolleyes:
 
Just watched the weather channel and I did not realize it was so close.Some people in Fla. are going to get clobbered.
Get at least $500 cash on hand,paper plates,plastic cups and cutlery,pre moisened towellettes,clean and fill your bathtub with water and clean and fill as many 5 gal. buckets as you can lay your hands on.Buy 2 propane Coleman lanterns and a propane Coleman stove and spare mantles for the lanterns and as many propane bottles as you can find.Get a couple of 6 or 8 outlet power strips.
Replace the windshield wipers on your car.Tie down anything in your yard you would like to see the next day,I had over 2 cords of firewood and not one stick remained but my canoe was still there.
Have the ability and the tools handy to get into your attic and from your attic to your roof,more people die from drowning in hurricanes than anything else.Eight died in Richmond Va. 2 days ago from the very weak remnants of Gaston and Richmond is nowhere near the coast.
If you know the high point on your property,park your vehicle there,I put down 3 2x8 boards with 10 inch ramps on top of that and drove my truck on them.My back bumper was under water but the engine stayed dry.stay in the middle of your house away from windows during the worst of it.
You might want to move important papers,pictures,heirlooms up as high as you can and then move stuff higher in your house based on replacement cost.Same goes for your garage .Buy charcoal or propane for your grill and do not buy any more frozen food,when you lose power,cook and eat your frozen food first.
Get some duck tape and tape x on all your windows and leave your drapes and blinds shut till it is over.
Find out when high tide is,with luck the storm surge will not hit then but it is comforting to know when the water might start dropping.Charge up your cell phone and have the ability to charge it by 110v and 12v,I lost phone service for 6 weeks.

The best advice is still to leave.
Good luck and stay safe.
 
Good luck to all the people in the storm's path. Hope everyone comes through safely.
 
Kind wishes are appreciated! I'm in Sarasota and last reports indicated that we should get hit with Cat2 level winds. Hopefully the pundits are wrong and the storm heads north of us and into relatively unpopulated regions.
 
The weather's been beautiful in New Jersey.

Courtesy of Astronomy Picture of the Day, Hurricane Frances Approaches Florida.

Courtesy of WeatherBug:
Frances is expected to make landfall as at least a strong category three hurricane with the first outer bands from the storm reaching Florida by Friday afternoon. Conditions will rapidly deteriorate overnight on Friday and the full brunt of the storm will begin to hit Saturday morning.
Click to expand...
Keep your powder dry.​
 
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