And Now, A Hurricane

[JHof]

One of the reasons I chose to live in the little nowhere town of Ocala is its distance from the Atlantic or the Gulf. After living in coastal Ft Myers and low-lying Tampa for over 30 years without a significant storm affecting me, I decided that my string was about played out and the Law of Averages was about to catch up, so when I went to buy a house I chose Ocala, partly for the safety that it's inland location afforded.

It's a sort of rule of thumb that a hurricane loses one degree of strength for each 25-30 miles of land it must move across and since Ocala is about 90 miles from each coast it seemed to me that it was one of the most hurricane-proof towns in Florida.

In 2005 I found out just what that meant.That was the year that TWO 'canes hit Florida, then tracked inland and directly over my little adopted hometown. When they hit, the storms had indeed dissapated, but their strengths were still scary. Within a 25 day span, I experienced twin storms packing incredible winds and amazing amounts of rain. In both cases I lost power and water, and during the second storm --ex-hurricane Jeanne-- the wind gusts (clocked at 90 MPH) managed to split a tree on my property in half, which then crashed onto my garage, crushed the garage door and imprisoned my Z and my 200SX, resulting in my being stranded for 4 days with no power, little food and provisions, and no means of escape.

Fortunately, I had plenty of beer, so it really wasn't a great hardship. Also, sympathetic neighbors armed with large chainsaws managed to slice up the fallen tree after a few days, so it was really a mid-grade adventure for me. For 2-3 days after the storm passed, all the neighbors ( myself included ) threw impromptu candlelight cookouts. This enabled everybody to cook up the contents of their freezers before the food thawed and THAT resulted in several really cool parties.

One of the tells that a serious situation was about to unfold was performed by the actor, John Travolta. John lives in a fly-in community a couple miles from my house, and when I heard his Quantas 737 jet fly over my house and get out of Dodge as Jeanne approached, I knew there was going to be trouble coming. John's no fool.

Well,a few minutes ago I heard John's plane go by overhead,leaving Ocala.

The path of TS Fay is projected to pass over Ocala. While it is not YET a hurricane, if it does follow the path that the weather people say it will, on Tuesday I can expect 60-80 MPH winds, lots of rain and probably a few days without power. A couple of friends, who live in a mobile home have already called, asking to stay with me for a couple days,and I have to begin making ice and stocking up on charcoal and beer.

I know that a lot of NICO members live on Florida's West Coast,and I wish all of you well during the next few days.

Me, I'm shopping for a few cases of Beck's and some Ziploc baggies to keep my, um, rolling papers dry.

[Mark Linkous]

Hello,Here in Sarasota, gas stations are starting to be busy and grocery stores are clusterchucks. I live on Siesta Key which is a barrier island right off of Sarasota on the Gulf of Mexico. I am dreading the barrier island evacuation which I am afraid will ensue. In addition to whatever ziplock bag related needs, perhaps some anti anxiety snacks might be in order.Cheers,ML

[Dattebayo]

I heard that Xanax is a good legal alternative guys

[rn79870]

Good luck guys. Hope the storm fizzles out and heads back to sea.

As long as the beer doesn't run out, you should be fine.

[Mark Linkous]

That would be the anti anxiety "snack" I was referring.

[packerjd04]

Down here in swfl ive already been hearing gas stations filling up, and today we even had to get our generator working just in case . I havent missed hurricanes these past couple years and i hope miss Fay moves on without causing to much of a problem.

[MastaYu]

Good luck guys. Hope the storm fizzles out and heads back to sea.

As long as the beer doesn't run out, you should be fine.

[frapjap]

I really, really, sincerely miss not being able to/having to go to work when hurricanes struck. You can't leave your house even if work is open, because, well someone might loot your sorry ***. Perfect excuse to drink, eat hamburgers, steak, and grilled vegies all day!

Oh, and don't forget to fill up your bathtub with water so you have somewhat fresh water should you lose water utilities.

[4cefed]

You can't leave your house even if work is open, because, well someone might loot your sorry ***.

Good thing Florida has the Castle Doctrine eh?

Well, that's one reason I like living up in Vermont. We may get a remanent of a hurricane, just windy rain for a day or so. We don't get tornadoes. maybe some straight line winds. I live on a hill so floods aren't a concern.

We have crappy winter conditions and the only thing I really have to worry about is another ice storm, the Yellowstone volcano, or Armageddon. After watching all that Katrina sh*t unfold. I went out and got four 5 gal gas cans and filled them. That will keep the generator running for a long time, or I can get an additional 300 miles away in the truck, (600 total with an already full tank.)

I have chainsaws, food and water stockpiles, tools and lumber for building repair. Plenty of firewood, and ice racing tires for the 240 so if we do get another ice storm, I won't be stuck here for a month while they thaw the roads.

Also on the list are a full compliment of shotguns, rifles, and handguns, enough for everyone here and a few close friends. That and a few thousand rounds of ammo will let us either hole up here or get a long ways away.

Some say I'm paranoid, but I was a boy scout and our motto was "be prepared." After Katrina, I got picked on a lot less. I'm sorry, but in this day my priority to my family is self preservation. I like to have faith in my fellow man and help my neighbor, but when I see fellow man wading through flood waters with a flatscreen, and the police looting walmart, I just want to sit on a roof and start shooting.

Sounds like you picked a good place in Florida and your strategy is working so far. I might only suggest a chainsaw and extra fuel to get out if you have to. Oh, and now that Ruger is finally selling the factory 20-fd mags, a nice Mini-14 and a couple hundred rounds of varmint ammo would be good insurance too. Good luck, stay safe.
Modified by 4cefed at 1:15 PM 8/18/2008

[Jesda]

I'm buying a car there. Better not be a tree trunk sticking through my Crossfire!

At opening, the price of crude oil futures went up a dollar. Nothing is unusual about that, as the price jumps up and down throughout the trading period.

The problem is that some retard wrote an article declaring price hikes due to supply concerns related to Fay. Well, after publishing his article, crude oil dropped $1.50. Apparently he thought he could create fear and concern among speculators and send prices upward, thus creating more news.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080818...?.v=6

Journalists are morons. All of them.

[brandonDavid]

born and raised in south florida so i've been through a lot. i mean, lived in hollywood when andrew hit, lived in west palm when irene came, probably most memorable storms. andrew cause i mean, just google image search and you'll see, irene because i had to take out my jon boat to go to my neighbors.

and for the record, this "fay" is a joke and a half.

[ThePrincessx10]

I live in Sarasota. 4 years ago when the hurricanes came they were the worst i've seen in my lifetime. and they were cat 3 hurricanes.

this one is just a tropical storm. needless to say i'm not leaving. schools and colleges have cancled tomorrow, so it looks like a party is in order for tonight :-)

[Dittoz7]

2nd Day Of College Canceled!Fray Is Just Mother Natures Version Of A Complementary Car Wash.

But Srsly Hurricanes Are So F*cking Fun!Skim Boarding In Fields WIN!All The Huge Neighborhood BBQ's WIN!Meeting People In Otherwise Wouldn't EVER Meet. 50% WIN!Bond Fires Are Excuses To Set Random Sh*t On Fire... WIN!No School/Job WIN!

[riz906]

STORM NEVER MADE IT TO TAMPA NO RAIN OR NOTHING THIS SUKS I WANTED A HURRICANE PARTY !

[Dittoz7]

Most People That Are Hurt In Hurricanes, Only Have Them Self To Blame.I've Skim Boarded During A Hurricane, But This Is Just Retarded...

http://www.weather.com/multime..._tab2

[JHof]

So far--3:30 PM Tuesday-- there have been only a few minor rain squalls in the Ocala area.Fay, having spilled her guts all over SW Florida this morning, is taking her time doing the rainy crawl upstate. A quick glance at the Weather Channel shows a formidable glop of green doing a slow, counterclockwise turn as the storm moves north, but except for a few short-lived feeder bands (which actually delivered a lot of rain in a really short time) there has been little activity here.

Right now, as I write this, the sun is shining nicely, but as the evening approaches I'm expecting this area to be overwhelmed by green glop and get drenched.It should be an interesting night...

[CRIPES]

born and raised in south florida so i've been through a lot. i mean, lived in hollywood when andrew hit, lived in west palm when irene came, probably most memorable storms. andrew cause i mean, just google image search and you'll see, irene because i had to take out my jon boat to go to my neighbors.

and for the record, this "fay" is a joke and a half.

i was born in west palm as well and also went through andrew, to me fay is a reg rain storm... BTW, i've never been through a TS with 80 mph winds.... that would be a hurricane.

we used to go surfing in weather like fay..

[JHof]

Friday morning...

For the most part, at least around Ocala, Fay has been a soggy adventure. Since Tuesday it has been constant rain--not a deluge like the coast has seen, just an endless drizzle, puncuated by moments of intense downpour.Most of the swales are full and the retention ponds -- designed to catch storm runoff -- are filled to their capacity. Low spots on the roads are ponded and some of the dirt roads are impassible bogs, but otherwise it's no worse that what a heavy summertime thunderstorm would produce.It's just taken four days to do what an hours' Summer storm can create.The High School down the street, where classes began on Monday, looks like it has gone out of business.Many of the stores around here, anticipating the worst, have closed for the duration and the government has closed its' doors until everything passes.

There are branches down everywhere,due to the frequent 40-50 MPH wind gusts,and I've lost power a few times ( including an outage that must have lasted most of last night), but otherwise this has been a big, wet non-event.

If I got in my car and drove an hour East it would be a different story. Along the Atlantic coast in towns like New Smyrna Beach or St Augustine, over TWO FEET of rain have fallen, resulting in historic,catastrophic flooding.The beaches from Jacksonville and on South to Cape Canaveral have been pounded by huge waves and have eroded seriously,threatening the condos and mansions that line the shore and thousands there have been flooded out of their homes. I'm not going to drive East anytime soon...

Fay's "eye" crossed the peninsula overnight, passing about fifty miles to my North and the storm is predicted to enter the Gulf sometime today ( which could generate another few days of the same thing ) but I doubt if that will cause any significant changes.They think it will glide over the water and re-enter the land in the Panhandle,which will make Fay the only storm to make FOUR landfalls in the state.

I hope it hurries. I miss the sunshine.

I wonder if anybody on this board has been seriously affected by the storm ???

[Delerium]

I love the local news station here that is trying to play up the "devastation" caused by this storm. They actually reported on a leaky window in the court house stating how the carpet is soggy. I realize that there are a couple of places that were seriously flooded but that wasnt near here and the news is trying to find local things that show how "powerful" this storm was. Though the guy that got tossed around by his kite while trying to kite surf was rather crazy looking.

[LER]

The kite guy was hilarious. Yea I live in Jacksonville and it isn't doing much. Just a lot of water and downed trees. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. We even opened our store (NAPA) yesterday and today despite a corporate suggested shut down, haha.

[etschell]

xanax isnt legal with out a prescription. plus you can only snort that stuff otherwise its just annoying to do.