hurricanes

My aunt and uncle are inland and won't get hit until 11 Florida time. They are just waiting. They think they will just get some wind and rain. Hopefully their house will be fine.

MD, it will depend on where they are inland. Some areas are getting hit harder than others. I hope your aunt and uncle are okay.

Beth, I don't get it either.

One last check in for the day. Winds are still howling. Rain still pouring down. Spooky as it was during the day it is down right scary in the dark.

We will want to hear all about how the kittiez and Beej handled the storm. Hopefully you will get power back soonest.

Power still out. Some minor roof leaks. Have not been outside yet, but do not see any major damage outside.

Una, will do once I get power.

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Originally Posted by *Beth* I am in no way discounting the severity of the hurricane. It's annoying to me, however, that all of the world news media channels extensively cover the yearly hurricanes, but when California is practically burning to the ground we get a blip comment on CNN. "Oh, yeah, and by the way California burned down today. On to..." I guess they're too cheap to fund sending a reporting crew out this way.

Calif got lots of news when the whole northridge part of the San Fernando Valley & the bridge I needed to get to work all collapsed in the 1994 earthquake. But maybe news was presented differently then.

Lizardlady: Have been watching Ian on my weather app. Was glad to see it was back down to tropical storm & heading back to sea....residual rain still is torrential. Be safe

Am using laptop to post this.

Still no power. Not sure how long computer battery will last so going to make this quick. Nearest town has power. I may go there later to charge devices. A neighbor told me that "all" the power poles along the closest main road blew down. I'm thinking we might not have power until Saturday or Sunday. A friend next county over offered to put me up until the power is back on. May take her up on it if this goes on much longer.

I am happy to report my hurricane kit is a success! I would not want to live this way long term, but am doing okay. Will post details about the kit later.

Cats have calmed down. BJ has to stay near me, but is no longer glued to my leg. Horses are still kind of unnerved.

This morning is the first time I've heard wild birds calling since the storm. I saw them flying around yesterday, but no singing. They must have still been spooked too.

Will post again when able.

A bunch of volunteer utility vehicles and workers headed your way from here to help restore power. Was a whole convoy of them.

I hope that everyone is safe who is affected by the recent hurricane. My prayer and thoughts are with you. Stay safe.

Fingers crossed for everybody. So glad you have been able to hold your own throughout this storm, lizardlady!

Fort Myers Beach looks like a 3rd world country. The ground is covered in inches of kindling sloping up to 3 remaining feet of structures.

This is a text I just sent out. Still trying to save power on the phone. What I didn't say in the text is that when I got to town I broke down and bawled my head off. Ian stirred up scary stuff from Charlie and Irma.

Will post again when I can.

Quote:

Hello everyone. I am going to copy and paste this to send to multiple people. Power is still out and trying to conserve phone battery. Went to Wally World today to get new charger cable and propane. Today was my first day off the farm since Tuesday. Good gawd almighty the damage in the area and we "only" got brushed by the storm. I am VERY lucky. Probably going to have to replace the roof, but no major damage. Power company is saying Sunday or Monday night or longer until power is back on. Seeing the damage for myself I think Monday is optimistic. Local damage reminds me of Charlie in 2004. Okay, going to shut down the phone to save power. Will be in touch again as able.

Thinking of you and your critters, Liz.

We just got rain where I live in NC. But I've been through several hurricanes in different places in NC where I saw trees twirl around and fall over and water pouring down my dining room wall. "Evacuate" is my approach to any hurricane that's eyeing where I live! We went to my sister's house during one hurricane, taking our critters with us. The city we lived in was surrounded by water and no supplies could get in for awhile, so I'm glad we left. Liz, I hope you can evacuate next time. Being in a hurricane is a scary experience.

Omg I hope you are all ok guys. Thinking of everyone effected by this crazy weather

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Originally Posted by eskielover Calif got lots of news when the whole northridge part of the San Fernando Valley & the bridge I needed to get to work all collapsed in the 1994 earthquake. But maybe news was presented differently then.

Seems to me that it was. Good old Walter Cronkite type of news. Everybody got a fair shake and "just the facts." And "breaking news" brought everyone in the house to the TV, because breaking news really did mean something major had happened. Very different from the breaking news repeatedly used today until we're all desensitized.

Speaking of news, I saw that a couple of hotels were smashed up in the hurricane. I saw that and I wonder why anyone builds a hotel in such a location?

Thanks for your update, liz. I cannot even imagine.


What on earth do people do who are impoverished, have no car to evacuate, no money for anything. I never hear anything about it from any news source.

Very true. I think about it all the time. How do you evacuate if you have no resources???

Completely unrelated situation but I thought of people in Russia who drive, walk, bike to Kazakhstan, Georgia and Mongolia to escape draft and how they often have to give bribes to Russian police and recruiters if they get stopped. But what if one has nothing? No money for bribes? No money to feed themselves as some walk to the borders for like 3 days.

Same here with hurricanes. No car? No money for gas. No money for hotel. No money to stock up your pantry. What happens to those people???? Who takes care of them?

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Originally Posted by divine1966 Very true. I think about it all the time. How do you evacuate if you have no resources??? Completely unrelated situation but I thought of people in Russia who drive, walk, bike to Kazakhstan, Georgia and Mongolia to escape draft and how they often have to give bribes to Russian police and recruiters if they get stopped. But what if one has nothing? No money for bribes? No money to feed themselves as some walk to the borders for like 3 days. Same here with hurricanes. No car? No money for gas. No money for hotel. No money to stock up your pantry. What happens to those people???? Who takes care of them?

I always wonder about it. When we were having the terrible wildfires a couple of years ago we were constantly being warned that we'd have to evacuate. Well, I decided that I just wouldn't. It was out of the question. I have 5 cats and a 2002 car that is a dear thing, but certainly not reliable. No money for all that gas, and sure none for a hotel! I never heard a peep about what to do if you don't have a bank account with thousands in it, a new, reliable car, and provisions for your pets.

My son and DIL were just in Georgia (the country) for 2 weeks. He said that Russians are generally disliked in Georgia because they take advantage of the lower prices in Georgia by bargaining to pay less for higher quality, and that Russians look down on Georgians and mistreat them, which of course, Georgians resent.

????? I thought I posted a reply earlier, but it's not here. Or I'm so stressed I'm not seeing it.

Power is still out. Still keeping phone off to conserve battery. I think I might be able to hear repair crew a couple of miles away. Fingers crossed.

Next time this happens, and it will happen again I am leaving no matter what. I came up with a solution to getting cats in carriers.

For those wondering what people with limited resources do.... busses went around offing rides to shelters for homeless folks. I don't know if rides were offered to people in poor neighborhoods. There is a large migrant population in my are. I'm wondering how they did. Some folks shelter with other people in their homes. Some hunker down in place and hope for the best

Okay, phone says time to sign off

I hope & pray you get power VERY soon, liz. That's interesting about the buses. I wonder about people's animals, though? I'd die with my cats before I'd leave them.

btw, once I had to escape a dangerous situation with 9 cats and my rat. The rat had her cage, of course. I had 4 "real" cat carriers and 5 cardboard "temporary" carriers. Well, I grabbed every cat, stuck it in a carrier of one kind or the other, piled all of us in the car, and we made it out of the situation we had to leave behind. I was a lot younger, but I could do it even now, if I absolutely had to. I'd just deal with the slipped back disk later, lol.

I am so sorry that you and your babies have gone through this. Hope peace and calm catch up with you soon.

Still no power.

Power company now saying it could be Tuesday or later.
I used all the buckets of water I stored in the bathtub. Am now resorting to dipping water from the horses' trough. Using bottled water for drinking. Going to the library later today to charge phone and laptop. It is impossible to find a motel room. They are all full of repair crews.

Compared to others south of here I have no room to complain. I still have a house and damage is repairable. Still.... I'm ready for this to be over. I'm tired of hauling buckets of water and soooooo want a shower.

I feel so sad for this ordeal you're going through all by yourself & your wonderful animals. I hope it's ok to say God bless all of you.

... ((( @lizardlady ))) ...

I HAVE POWER!!!!!!

Power came back on about an hour ago. Power company warned it might go back out. I'm going to refill buckets just in case. Going to go do that in case it goes back out.

Once water heater has a chance to do its thing I am taking a nice looooong hot shower!