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I know no one cares about the weather in another place, but oh well.
Florida just got slammed by Charley and I think Bonnie clipped the panhandle. That time, I was on the far edges, and only got alot of rain every night. Well, just after Charley's mess got cleaned up, here comes Frances. Needless to say, the whole state is going
This time, though, it's predicted to head straight for where I live.
We've got all the stuff we need for a hurricane, though none of it's set up yet.
I heard a few hours ago that Frances is (the eye is) 700 miles SSW off the east coast (Don't know which point on the east coast, though). I think it's a Class Four. That's pretty much all I know. I haven't been paying much attention; it's kind of hard to get me worried about some things, no matter how serious ::shrug::
The major thing is this is the perfect time to learn how to surf.

Anyways, I'll report back if I live.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Well, good to know. I have only had experiences with tropical storms once in my life, while I was in Korea, and that involved only a great deal of rain.

i'm not entirely worried. me being in Dublin and all. i am however worried about my dad. he's in Leesburg. he's going to try to dcome up, but it'll take forever.

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moé in the streets, senpai in the sheets

Hope you make it through Frances I know you people in Florida are having some pretty wicked times I hope that the rest of those hurricanes miss you people down there.

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www.allinthepackage.com

Ahhh, good luck, DP. I remember Hurricane Opal when it hit my town. I mean,we got the brunt of the storm. No power for a week, trees littering the road. It was awful. Complete darkness, lightning, and heavy rain. So, best of luck to you.

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Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality . Wake Up and Live! - Bob Marley

If Frances does hit Florida it will be the worst double hit hurricane in at least a century they're saying.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"

Quote (Dark Paladin @ 2nd September 2004 10:21)

I know no one cares about the weather in another place, but oh well.

I sympathize completely. The sixteenth typhoon this season just passed by my home earlier this week, and I'm in utter shock as to how powerful tropical storms really are. I hardly slept Monday night for the constant noise and literal rocking of the house, and the prefectures to the southwest apparently got hit even harder than mine.

A few minutes ago, the weatherman was saying Frances might stop for a few hours to build up power before she inevitably hits us.
The projected path I saw last night looks like Frances is going to hit Vero Beach. Since the upper right-hand corner of hurricanes are the strongest portion, my area is going to get hit the hardest.
She's a Category Four. Maybe on the Three-Four border, I don't know what the standards are. It's predicted Frances might become a Category Five when she hits.
This hurricane is weird. They showed a map with dots showing where all the hurricanes hit in the last decade, and they were mostly hit the southeastern part of the state (Miami area). There were a few up north near Jacksonvile and the GA border, but my coast was empty (must be why the shuttle launches are here).

We got all the windows and stuff boarded up already, so the roof is safe. We're going to end up going to my aunt & uncle's house, which is only two miles away. Their house has solid concrete walls and can withstand 250 MPH winds. My uncle estimated ours is meant to take 110 (I think Frances is in the 125-150 range at the moment).
We thought about going to either my dad's or grandparents', who live in Orlando and Kissimmee, respectively. Problem is, we probably woudn't have ended up getting there. Back when Floyd (Floooody) was a threat, traffic was so backed up that if it had hit, hundreds of people on the highways would have died.
Last I heard, both 192 and I-95 were at a standstill (we're talking about a S.R. and an interstate, here). A neighbor of mine left yesterday to go wait in that traffic.

My uncle and cousin came over to help board up the windows, since between the two households, they are the only two who know what they're doing. Meaning my cousin can use a Power Drill without breaking it, and my uncle can cut wood in a straight line. My job was to hold the wood in place, and I didn't even do that right a few times.
Interesting note: Mine and my little brothers' rooms were the easiest (one piece of wood, rested on window sill), but they were the two times drill bits broke.
The Front of the house was difficult. My uncle had to cut out fancy shapes to get around the J-channels.
The sliding glass door sucked. We used two uncut, 4' x 8' sheets of wood, and it took two-and-a-half hours.

Almost every "outside" thing we have (lawnmowers, wheelbarrows, trash cans, etc. Not the cars, though) are in the garage.
The trampoline is tied to a tree with some sort of strap with ratchety clamps. It'll probably become a taco.
The pool will be gone. Frances will probably blow all the water out, and with that gone, the walls will be flimsy. I just built the stupid thing, too.
The tool shed is weak, so that'll go.
We had a bunch of potted plants in the yard, so we just tossed them on the other side of the fence.
We have a ton of dead and dying pine trees behind our property line, so they'll end up crossing said line and power lines. If the pool doesn't go, we might end up with one in it, like a giant spoon for our human soup.
The only "rooms" that aren't on the outer walls of the house are three closets. I have all my video game stuff in partially-waterproof boxes in one of them.
My brother seems more worried about trying to figure out how to keep his car safe than he is about keeping everything else (including himself) safe. He's helping board up his girlfriend's house right now, though.

In preparation, I have found a few good things about this hurricane:
1) I finally cleaned my room. Mostly.
2) My mom works part-time at the Post Office. After the hurricane, alot of the regulars will probably take time off, so more hours for her.
3) My dad works at a Body Shop. Orlando traffic keeps him plenty busy, but a hurricane will get him more cars to do (might get some sent from my area).
4) My mom's (middle) name is the same as the hurricane's, and the jokes have yet to get old.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

I wouldn't live in Florida for anything simply because of the Hurricanes. Of course in East Texas we have alot of Tornados come through towards Oklahoma during the summer. I even heard that this summer there was a city above us where 77 tornados dropped all within one hour in the same county. To me it just seems like Hurricanes are a bit worse though so I think I'll just stick with running to the storm cellar rather than having to evacuate my town. And besides, the tornados tend to just pass over the area where I live and drop in the next town over for some reason. So I think I'm safer here in Texas than any place that has Hurricanes, but good luck with the next one you've got coming.

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

Man, I read Frances really tore the place up. Hope all's well, DP, and anyone else who's in Florida.

Where I live, hurricanes and tropical storms are real rarities. The only time I really had to deal with one was several years ago when Opal decided to reach out this far inland and make a mess of things. Wasn't too bad; just the lingering smell of ozone for a few hours due to lightning hitting the roof and a large willow tree branch through the kitchen window. I'm much more accustomed to tornados since I frequently take trips to Oklahoma. They're almost an everyday thing in the springtime; always great opportunities for me to dig out the tripod and snap pics.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Well, my little town in Georgia is scheduled to be hit on Monday. We're supposed to get it pretty bad. DP, hope all's well. I'll be in the same boat as you are now tomorrow.

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Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality . Wake Up and Live! - Bob Marley

Good luck DP on that hurricane (My luck is all I get is earthquakes, which is never bad for me and it is because I live in California). Hopefully everything will turn out fine.

Good luck guys... *prays for your safety*

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Uwao. aooh! I'm Gau!
I'm your friend!
Let's travel together!

I live!

Well, Frances luckily didn't build up power when she stood still. She went from Category Three-approaching-Four to a Category Two. The eye had a 70-80 miles diameter, and it moved slowly, which meant it got to spend more time tearing us up.
Trying to get to my aunt's was quite the ordeal. My mother, for some reason, is incapable of leaving the house on time for any reason. And this was before we found out it lowered in power and slowed down significantly.
I ended up leaving before her, because she didn't want me yelling at her any more. I had to take the animals, so now my car stinks. Whoever loaded them had the bright idea of sticking the cat in one of those carrying cages with her head pointed at me. That stupid cat must be claustrophobic or something, because it clawed at me the entire way.
I ended up sleeping through most of the hurricane. It hit us the most between about midnight Saturday/Sunday to noon Sunday. The power at my aunt's went out at like 4:00 on Saturday.
We ended up being lucky. When we got back, not one shingle was loose. On the way, we kept seeing houses with the shingles removed in a checker-board like fashion, and even one house that didn't have any shingles left. I live in the center of the hole in the suburban doughnut (I might as well live in The Compound), so there are alot of tall trees around my house. They must have took most of the force from the wind. The only damage we got was the mailbox got spun and sank in to the ground about a foot, and the basketball hoop (which was cemented into the ground) fell over.
We went over to check on my brother's girlfriend, her house was fine, amazingly. My mom and I made sure not to let my brother know how much danger she was in, since she lives in a wooden house. A tree fell over and cut her street in half. Another tree landed on one of her neighbor's cars, which was completely undamaged.
Alot of street signs got spun around (the one on my road lost the bolt at the top, so the stop sign is upside down). Most of the street lights are out. The construction workers are doing a good job of getting them back up. Police are guiding traffic at the biggest intersections without lights, and everywhere else is a Four-way stop. If the drivers here follow ONE rule, it's the four-way stop thing.
Our power was out until Tuesday at around 1:30-2:00 PM. The first few days were ok, since the hurricane winds kept us cool, but Monday night and Tuesday morning were horrible. There are probably places in Hell that aren't as hot as the Floridian summer. When the lights kicked on, my little brothers and I started running around screaming like lunatics. We have a well, so no electricity means no water in addition to no AC. Good thing the pool was okay; we had to use that water to cool off, flush the toilets, and to do some form of bathing (stand beside the pool, shampoo, pour pool water on ourselves to get it out).
We saved on the electric bill, but our other expenses made up for that (extra food since there are no leftovers, etc). My aunt, who lives two miles away, still doesn't have any power, and neither does my brother's girlfriend, who lives two streets over. We live in an area with few houses, so the FPL people must have started with us, since there were less transformers to fix (doesn't explain brother's girlfriend).
Shortly after the power returned (like 10-15 min), what we assume was someone's generator exploded. It was a large boom, and it sent a shockwave through the neighborhood, causing the lights to flick/er. It might have just been one street over, but since I don't know much about exploding "things," I'm not sure how far it was. I wanted to call 911 in case someone was hurt, but couldn't since the the phones were out (they still are - both landline and cellular).

Listening to the radio, Osceola County got hit real bad. I keep hearing about how the shelters are running out and how so many people are now without homes. The city-specific places I'm hearing about is Cocoa and Cocoa Beach (not sure which county those are in).

Sephiroth: Take your tornado, and instead of sitting in it for like 20 minutes, imagine sitting in it for an entire day.
Mellow: Have fun. What's the intensity of your hurricane?

The next two hurricanes were Gaston, which went to NC, and Hermine, which went to Massachussetts (or the other way around). Now we have friggin IVAN, who is sitting in the Carribbean right now. He looks like he's going to hit us, so we pray he's going to pull an Earl.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

I happened to get a bit of Frances where I live - Georgia. Western coast of Georgia, to be specific. We had 50 mph gusts of wind all day Monday with the occasional sprinkle. Then, at about 7:45 PM, the power began to randomly out itself. An hour later, it began to surge and went off for good. The storm started kicking up, and it was a rough night of sleep. When we awoke on Tuesday, we listened for school closings, and sure enough, our school was closed due to power outage and flood conditions. No harm done to anyone. Scattered limbs on our lawn, bird feeder cracked in three, and a large tree landed approximately two feet from the Fire Station.

Oh, and by the way, I happen to know Mellow. I thought it was odd when I read his post and I realized he must live somewhere in the general area of where I live. Turns out he goes to my school, and he told me that his computer is completely out. He doesn't have a warranty and it'll be a while before he gets a new one. Glad you're OK, DP. It was a category 3 when it hit us, IIRC.

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You know. I think you're a very special unit.

I would just like to say that i am able to post here at this moment because due to excess flooding of roads in Buffalo NY i have no school today. Since i'm only getting the reminents here i can IMAGINE what sort of hell it caused in florida. Though the hurricane (Tropical Depression Now) has benifited me i shudder tho think what it was like in full swing down south.

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

Florida sucks.

Charlie, Frances, and now Ivan, the big class 5 that's killed 15 in the Carribean *so far* heading right up the gut to Miami..... you crazy Floridians are in my thoughts and prayers.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Hurricanes and tornadoes really can't be compared... only contrasted. Hurricanes cause huge amounts of damage over a wide area, but tornadoes (large ones, at least) completely devastate the specific area they hit. Anyone remember Jarrell, Texas? Yeah.

Edit

Tornadoes are also extremely wierd things... sometimes, the house to both sides of you will be gone... like, lifted up and tossed two streets and left with just a few wires and foundation, but leave yours totally undamaged. Sometimes they even throw plastic straws through trees and leave them sticking there...

It's like that guy said on Twister... an F5 is basically the Finger of God.

This post has been edited by Zephir on 9th September 2004 21:57

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Quote (Hamedo @ 9th September 2004 14:13)

Florida sucks.

Yes it does. But because of heat/humidity more than hurricanes. We don't usually get three of them within a few weeks (Four if you count Bonnie, if it did anything).

I think Ivan is still sitting in the Carribbean. So far, it looks like it might come up and shave at the Western Coast of the state. But, considering how early it is, that's as valid a prediction as is Ivan going to Mexico City.

The phone lines came on shortly after my last post, but were gone by the following morning.
Because of the power outage, I think I almost like Pokemon again :-P
Here's an interesting note: Dehydration makes everything except Zephyrhills taste better.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

I feel so sorry for those in Florida...

I live in Long Island, NY, and I've experienced the remains of one hurricane, I went down to a beach, and watched the waves in the rain, but I've never experienced a full hurricane.

Quote

Well, good to know. I have only had experiences with tropical storms once in my life, while I was in Korea, and that involved only a great deal of rain.

You were in Korea, that's where I am from!


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Wind, Time, Life..
All flows on...

Don't look back, yo can never look back.

A few days ago a bit of Frances hit all the way here in North Carolina as well, at least the area where I live. I slept through most of it apparently, but it was considerably weakened by the time it got here of course (just a strong tropical depression really). It wouldn't really be worthy of mention if not for the fact that the flooding and mudslides it caused tore up the water lines. Goin' on day three of absolutely no water now. Damn, my hair wants a shower...

I suppose it would be beneficial if I knew someone around here with well water, but alas, I don't.

Just have to see what Ivan does. Hopefully it'll steer clear of Florida (doubtful, but there's a chance).


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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Quote (SilverFork @ 11th September 2004 00:30)

I suppose it would be beneficial if I knew someone around here with well water, but alas, I don't.

That's funny, because the people with well water were worse off here. No electricity means no pumping. No pumping means no water. When the electricity returns, the water is usually still no good because flooding causes wells to get infected for a good while.

I recently spoke to two of my friends. One was out of power for five days vs my three. His singles were tore up, and a tree was uprooted (which was good, actually, because they were planning on doing just that to the tree). The other still has no power, but that's because the wire that connects to her house got ripped out when a tree fell on it after being hit by lightning the day before the hurricane hit.
Going to school was difficult, because half the parking lot was set up for relief. People in my area are still worse off than the three of us combined.

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

Alright, well, Ivan is set to hit us at around 2 AM Thursday. It took a slight easterly turn and looks as if the actual eye will go over my small town. This is going to be big, folks. My poor house is about 100 years old, and I'm not feeling to well about its ability to withstand the gusts of wind Ivan is prepared to hurl at us. My family doesn't understand the enormousness of Ivan and what it could do to us. Schools are shut down for Thursday and possibly Friday. Power outages are highly likely, too - in fact, about 99% likely, I'm guessing. We have a major leak on our porch, and when Frances hit, the porch flooded. We have a tarp with four cement blocks holding it down on top of the roof now. Those blocks, I'm guessing, will be gone by morning.

I'm nervous, but at the same time, excited. I can't really remember Opal - only bits and pieces. I want nothing more right now than to be in my grandparents' closet with the rest of the family, telling jokes and laughing. Strange but true.

DP, did Ivan gets you guys bad? If it didn't, Jeanne is right there to take its place. This is terrible, eh? Florida is being pancaked by hurricanes.

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You know. I think you're a very special unit.

Ivan will barely touch me (Did it already pass me?)
I heard something about it being in the Pensacola-Moblie area (or is that what's left of Frances?).

Jeanne is just a Tropical Storm right now. It looks lke she might become a hurricane, but if it does, it probably won't strike us. Like I said earlier, I live on the part of the east coast that hardly ever gets hit. Frances was just a special case, it seems.

This post has been edited by Dark Paladin on 16th September 2004 01:50

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"I had to write four novels before they let me write comic books."
-Brad Meltzer

It was in the Pensacola-Mobile area about an hour ago. Where it is now, I do not know. You're correct, Jeanne is just a tropical storm now, but it will most likely become a hurricane, yes. I believe Ivan did pass you guys if you live on the east coast. Lucky, dude.

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You know. I think you're a very special unit.

Good to hear Ivan missed you, DP, but unfortunately it looks like I'm in the same boat as Math. Ivan's scheduled to hit here dead-on with rains beginning tomorrow night/Friday morning. All I'm really worried about is the flooding; Frances only knocked out power for a few hours and left us without water for almost a week, but Ivan's expected to drop over 20 inches of the wet stuff in a very short amount of time.

Can't wait...[/sarcasm]

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

Frances came to Norway today!
Well the rest of it. Just a lot of rain and very windy"

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I am a Chimp! I am the newest n00b here!

Norway is in Europe, correct? Saying that it came to Norway is a bit...well...odd. I would've thought it died up near New York.

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You know. I think you're a very special unit.

Ivan and all the little tornados it caused just passed through Athens, which caused school to be cancelled yesterday and today. It wasn't terrible, but a lot of trees and branches and stuff are all over the place, and a few traffic lights were knocked down. I got to miss a biology test and a computer science project, so I think in the end I'm glad it hit. No one was hurt, that I know of anyway.

Glad to hear that, io. We weren't damaged nearly as bad as we were supposed to be. A few limbs down, a few leaks. Nothing serious. School was cancelled yesterday and today, but it's nice and sunny today. We did, however, have a tornado touch down about 5 minutes away from where I live. No one was hurt, to my knowledge. We really got lucky, and I'm glad Ivan didn't do too much damage to the main cities that got the full frontal assault.

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You know. I think you're a very special unit.