mikelj

Best case scenario is that the center comes up the east coast, so that the dirty, NE quadrant is out to sea most of the time.

Frankie the Fink

Apparently its curving more and more Eastword - good for me....maybe not for others. The only way I'll bail out is if the entire glass on the rear of the house goes or the roof lifts off...then its off to the local hurricane shelter.

The pick-up already has my valuable papers, extra prescriptions for the wife and I, and, of course, an appropriate 'black rifle', with 1,000 rounds handy - ya never know when the zombie apocalypse may start

Avispa

I second that advice. The only safe place in a hurricane is damn far away from it!

rtruman

Your welcome here plenty room help me work on this new truck .

jimh_1962

Yeah, I guess heading for the hills is out of the question.

OHSIXX

The storm is moving fast. My biggest concern is wind. I can probably say good bye to the pool enclosure and maybe the fence too.

MarkC

Best of luck to you guys down south, however we may need it up here next week.

Also, make sure comphrensive coverage is on your auto policy and you may want to drop your deductible to zero for a while. It may be too late to do this for FL folks but it's worth a shot.

RJ1

No hills in Florida and as Frankie said only two roads out. Florida Turnpike and I 95 which runs along the coast from Miami up. They will be bumper to bumper. Miami Beach already opening shelters and doing evacuations. Gas station lines and many empty already. Same with stores.

Powershift

When I last visited Pine Island (near Naples) a year ago, I drove the highway on the extreme western side of the Florida peninsula. It was almost deserted and wide open road, with about 55-70 MPH speed limit. Not many gas stations or rest stops though. Map shows it to be US Highway 19.

When I evacuate SE Louisiana (8 times in 37 years) I try and not drive the Interstates or major highways. I use secondary roads.......and have generally found them to be lightly traveled.

FWIW.

Larry

Frankie the Fink

If you mean the back roads up through Appalachcola to Mexico City those will be everybody's back up plan. They are hardly a secret with many whistle stop towns en route and two lanes for many, many miles. 19 is a major secondary road and would clog up quick in a mass evacuation. There are no 'secret' ways out of the state. There are some tricky ways to get to Georgia out of Live Oak but even getting that far North to use them would be dicey.

Powershift

Trying to be helpful.

I sat on interstate 10 during one evacuation (Katrina).........with the backup caused by cars that ran out of gas on the highway and were stalled. They had to be manually pushed off the roads to clear the lanes.....and not everyone wanted to help.

Finally got to an exit just west of Lafayette and got off the interstate. We were over Whiskey Bay at the time and nowhere to exit. Drove to the coast and followed the coast road into Port Arthur and then Beaumont (Texas). No traffic at all..........yet interstate was stalled.

No expert on Florida however. So i will just listen.

Larry

Frankie the Fink

It was helpful Larry If somebody were on the leading edge of an evacuation. Once it's in full swing you'll be fighting everything from the blue hairs in their Winnebagos doing 30 mph to the zonked out preppers in their jacked up 4x4s. Trick is to leave early with several alternate routes in mind.

I sat on the Woodrow Wilson bridge ( the old one) in DC for 5 hours because some @hole was threatening to jump off it and cops were talking him down. I heard later a baby was born in the traffic jam and there only so many ways to discreetly pee surrounded by cars. Thank God for Big Gulp cups.
At 3 hours in I was ready to kill the clown myself.

jbmcrae

We're watching from Vermont but have a 2009 at our winter place in Port Charlotte. We can watch the car on the security camera but can't do much if it gets bad there....

Westlotorn

I hope the storm turns hard East and leaves you all safe. Fingers crossed in California for you guys.

RatDog

We're an hour north of Orlando. We got our motorhome out of storage today, cleaned it up and filled the freshwater tank, It has a full tank of gas (85 gallons), and a full propane tank. By Friday the waste tanks will be dumped. Onboard generator so A/C, lights, TV, refrigerator, etc.

Friday, we'll bring it back to the house and park it in the cul-de-sac at the end of the street. The HOA ****s will go nuts but by the time they exhaust their threats and engage their lawyer, the motorhome will be gone.

Plan A - don't need it and will put it back in storage
Plan B - live in it if we lose the roof on the house
Plan C - use it to evacuate if things are really bad
Plan D: loan it to a neighbor who may have lost their roof

Pray for the best, plan for the worst.

Steve

Powershift

Steve:

Hang in there. Keep the Corvettes high and dry as best you can. Keep wife and rat dog safe and cool. Take care of yourself.

When my wife was still alive and we had three Scottish Terrier show dogs, I ALWAYS sent her to safety early and as far away from the storm as possible. I stayed back for work or storm preparations. My worst nightmare was wife and those three dogs up in the attic with me and no lights or air conditioning............with 6-8 feet of floodwater below.

Beach Dude

We are about 1 hour North of Tampa, pulling the boat out tomorrow and moving the cars inland Friday morning.

I really hope it is a waste of time.

Remember, run from the water, hide from the wind.

Best wishes to all and be safe.

RJ

rtruman

That's a good plan I know it tricky driving a RV even at 30 MPH .
Put bump outs in and jack down ,to weather the storm .Pulling for you guys for sure.

Chuck Gongloff

I live about 1.5 hours North of Tampa in Pine Ridge/Beverly Hills on the Gulf Coast.

I'm 10 miles as the crow flies from Kings Bay/Crystal River. I'm not real close to any of the major rivers.

My house sits at about 70 feet above sea level. Flooding is not a concern for me.

I've stocked up on food. I have my "hurricane kit" ready with batteries, transistor radio, etc. I have plenty of candles, oil fueled hurricane lamps, etc. I have two 20# propane tanks full.

I'll be moving my lanai furniture inside.. probably today, maybe tomorrow.

I have no intention of leaving. I'll ride it out. Looks like the storm is shifting more toward the East, and that's good for us on the Gulf Coast, bad for those on the Atlantic Coast.

RatDog

Thanks for all the good wishes.

We're 180 feet above sea level in the center of the State, about the same distance from either coast so water is not a concern. Wind is. But it looks like the storm may go a little to the east and rake the coast.

I got got an email from Adam Boca at the National Corvette Museum offering to help with the cost to relocate my '67 to a safe location. Wondering if anyone else got that? It's in a concrete block attached garage that got a new roof a couple of years back when I had it expanded from a 2-car garage to a 4-car garage do I think it will be fine.

Steve