Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Wilma...

Whew...got the plywood up on the windows, the generator standing by, plenty of beer in the (for now) cold fridge, lots of water and plenty of ice in the cooler. Oh, and the Axioms will be in a good safe place.

Bring it on Big Girl, the surfboard is waxed and ready!

Take care Rick, and be very carefull down there in Florida. Speakers can be replaced, lives can't.....Randy

Thanks Randy!

We are located along the east coast just about where the predicted path will exit the state, we're fairly confident that the winds will not be anything compared to what we had last year but we are prepared nonetheless. We have 17 huge oak trees in our yard and last year the hurricanes showed up within 2 weeks of us getting the trees trimmed....believe it or not we just had them trimmed about a week and a half ago! Wife and I have already decided next year we'll have 'em trimmed *after* hurricane season! We're learning.

Rick
Best of luck! Take care of yourselves.
best,
oz

Would somebody send a memo to the Atlantic and tell it enough with the hurricanes already?

Stay safe BrotherBob.

Rick, I just talked to my brother in Ft. Myers. His place is all buttoned down. He has storm shutters, generator, and loads of supplies, so they are prepared as best they can be. His stepdaughter, her husband and two kids are in Naples, and are sticking it out. I'm concerned.

You take care. We'll be thinking of you.

Rick, I wish you and your family well through this storm.You take care my brother.

Rick, I have never been through one and I don't want to be.....................take care and stay safe.

Any chance of you posting some up close pictures of this thing? I'm kidding. Don't even think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Many thanks everybody! We really appreciate the thoughts.

Jack, I do hope your brother will be OK, those folks over in FT. Myers, Naples and the surrounding area will take a heck of a lot more damage than we will. We'll be thinking about them!

Never...going through a hurricane is kind of like going through a bad storm that seems to last forever and ever. We live a couple of blocks from the beach with quite a lot of oak trees and two streets of houses, during Jeanne last year the back of our house (facing east) was literally sand blasted from the salt and sand spray. Was wild to watch the huge oak trees bend and sway like grass blades!

Monday morning update...

So far so good. The winds are really whipping at the moment, I'm estimating 60-70 mph with some stronger gust and we still have power!

In about 3 or 4 more hours it's supposed to get really nasty with some 80+ mph winds and gusting upwards to 100. The last 3 or so hurricanes have came during the night so the visual effect wasn't anything like this one, it's wild to see the huge oak and palm trees sway and bend...almost to the point of 'Oh no, I can't watch'.

We've only lost power a couple of times this morning but the TV folks are telling us to be prepared because the 'sure enough' power outages are coming, the part I really hate.

Everything except one small TV and the PC is unplugged so needless to say, I'm bored! I do believe I've read through every post on this site a time or two during the past several hours, makes for some great reading.

If I were 15 years younger I believe I would have taken a walk down to the beach by now but after going outside just a couple of times I'm content to just stay put right here. Something about being older *and* wiser?

Rick - I cannot help but think of the dread that would come with a negative, destructive force like this looming over you - you know it is coming, and can do nothing to stop it.

Come to think of it, actually I can. My wife's family comes every Thanksgiving.

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Come to think of it, actually I can. My wife's family comes every Thanksgiving.

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You too, huh?

Actually this one really isn't that bad Craig. Being on the east coast and having the hurricane coming from the west coast, along with the fact that it is a fast moving hurricane was a huge factor in our decision to stay here. Had this been a strong cat 3 or 4 hitting on the east coast we probably would have considered evacuating.

About all that you can do is to be prepared and hunker down until it passes, probably not that much different from a really bad snow storm that you folks get from time to time up there...I would guess.

It just absolutely amazes me to no end the power that mother nature can produce. Being here in the house and just hearing the roar of the wind through the trees and the sound of the ocean pounding the beach is very incredible. I'd love to be able to see the ocean at this moment...a site that must be quite amazing.

The dreaded part comes with the final loss of power! I'm baffled why we still have it at the moment...knocking on wood!

We usually get one or two big storms per year. Rarely does the power go out, and our snowstorms are a time for a stocked bar, good movies, heck, sometimes I even cook on the grill (which I put just inside a garage door) and we have a picnic.

It is usually the 3 or 4 days AFTER the storm which are the most annoying.

Talked to my brother in Ft. Myers shortly after 9 AM. All was well there. They lost power around 7 AM, but they have a small, black and white, battery powered TV, so they are able to keep up on what's going on. They also have a generator, so if the power outage is extensive, they can run the refrigerator to keep their food fresh, and run a couple of portable AC units, to keep themselves fresh. They were without power for about a week after last year's Charley, and really suffered in the heat. The generator was the first purchase after Charley.

He had talked to his kids and grandkids in Naples, and Cape Coral, and all was well there as well.

Just before I called him, he said he had cranked up one storm shutter just enough to provide a 3/16 of an inch peep hole. He said the overflow drain on the pool was working fine, preventing the pool from flooding the house, and he could see no damage, other than the usual small pieces of tree debris.

He also said Wilma is lingering longer, and is considerably noisier, than Charley. Much more roaring and rattling, and thus a bit more scary.

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It is usually the 3 or 4 days AFTER the storm which are the most annoying.

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It's always during the storm that is the most annoying for us, the power is very unreliable and will go out so we try not leave anything but the necessities plugged in and it's way to nasty to try to open the garage so therefore we're stuck in the house and about the only thing to do is hang out here. Wife and I have stepped out on the back screen room a couple of times just to watch the action, it's very hypnotic.

Last year during Jeanne the barrier islands where we live were closed for 4 days after the storm and if we left we couldn't get back on so therefore we were 'stranded' if you will. There were only a handful of folks in our neighborhood who stayed and we sure had a couple of fun days. Lots of cleaning up, BBQing and drinks...was fun to have the roam of the island for a couple of days! I don't believe very many left for this one.

Jack I am very glad to hear your brother and his family are fine! I was very concerned for the folks over there because they took more of the 'brunt' of the storm. We have friends in Naples and Ft. Myers but haven't heard from them as of yet, hopefully everything is fine with them as well.

Fingers crossed for you up here! We lose power all the time up here since we're on the Canadian shield and can't bury power lines. I can almost hook the generator up by myself - I can plug it in and make it start - but I can't throw the main breaker on the house! How wimpy am I? So I sit in the cold and the dark with my little laptop until the batteries run out, and hope for the power to come on or Ian to come home.

<bump> - you okay down there, BrotherBob?

Yeah, today while on lunch I watched news footage of the aftermath. Hope everything's okay. I've lived in Southern Cal my entire life and am okay with the earthquakes, but I don't think I can take hurricanes and tornadoes. Too much for me.

I heard there was like 6 million people without power down there, I'm guessing his computer is not working...

Breaker 19 Breaker 19 BrotherBob do you copy, this is the Rubber Duck...

Wilmaaaaaaa!!

(Where's Fred Flinstone when you need him?)

Hey we made it through! Power, phone and cable has been restored here with not much damage in the area other than trees, screen enclosures and etc. My travel trailer is a complete write-off, looks like a giant with a can opener had a field day with it...oh well.
Thanks for the thoughts and considerations, I appreciate it! The folks that are not as fortunate as most of us a little further south can sure use our thoughts and prayers though.

Isn't it more like "Willllllllmaaaaaaa!!!!" ?

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Isn't it more like "Willllllllmaaaaaaa!!!!" ?

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Actually if you are in the middle of it, it's more like "Holiiieeeee SH!T"

Really.

Hey Rick good to see ya back online.

Thanks my man....good to *be* back on line!

Glad to see that the planet is still capable of generating relatively mild hurricanes.

Yea my friend was stuck in Cancun during Wilma. He went down there to work the MTV Music awards show. Some of his crew got out but he got stuck. He said it was so powerful it did'nt just blow out the windows, it blew the whole window frame and all out of the concrete in his hotel. Said they had 2 days of hurricane force windows because it was only moving 5 mph when it hit them. When it first hit it had 140 mph winds with gusts to 175 mph! Good thing it was not as strong when it hit Florida or there would have been a lot more deaths. I think its time they started building houses out of concrete and steel in Florida, like they do in Mexico, they just get hit by too many hurricanes and wood just isn't strong enough.