Hurricane Irma
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KNIFE MAKER
Praying for you folks!
And watching hopefully to see this monster die off!
Be super careful Cliff...and all you knife guys there!
John Wilson
Well-Known Member
update: The storm is not yet to the Tampa area where Bladegrinder and I live. We are just getting the outer rain bands here at my place. Winds are still low about 10mph. The brunt of it should get here tonight.
There is good news. The water is being sucked out of Tampa Bay. That mean the storm is sucking water away from our coastline instead of driving it into us. As the storm moves north the water will return and may cause some flooding, but at least it won't be driven in front of a hurricane.
There is good news. The water is being sucked out of Tampa Bay. That mean the storm is sucking water away from our coastline instead of driving it into us. As the storm moves north the water will return and may cause some flooding, but at least it won't be driven in front of a hurricane.
Brad Lilly
Moderator and Awards Boss
Keep your heads down guys. Hopefully you get off better than Texas
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Starting to get mighty windy out there...ain't liking the looks of this.
C Craft
Well-Known Member
John, Steve just stay in you fox hole until it passes. Remember when the eye hits that is no time to take a peek! Watch for downed power lines. Several people got killed and hurt after Harvey by the power lines. This thing is gonna be bad all the way up. Florida ain't gonna be the same for a long time!!
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Well, it's 1:15 am and Irma is here. it started about 11:00 with the wind just getting stronger, I've never seen anything like this. around midnight the wind was around 70 with gust over 100, I went outside and all you could hear was trees snapping all over, you can hear them crashing and breaking all up and down the street . transformers blowing up lighting the sky up all over town. I'm still getting gust over 100. I got to say, this ain't for the faint of heart. it's like a tornado that won't go away. the worst is supposed to be over here in 5-7 hours.
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
I made it thru, neiborhoods a mess, got two big trees down on either side of my house, just missed my house. I'm at a staging area for my work now and the wife just called and said the elec. is out. I had electric for most of the night, I was one of the few. a lot of damage around town and not much electric around. could have been a lot worse, I don't know how John is doing but I think he may have got it worse than me. it looks like a lot of sight see'rs driving around and some people walking the streets, kind of looking for signs of opportunity.
John Wilson
Well-Known Member
All's well at the Wilson hacienda. Glad you are safe, Steve. Thanks for checking, Cliff.
Limbs and trees down, debris everywhere but no major damage in my immediate area. Wonder of wonders, we still have power. I had two huge pines in front of the house bent like horseshoes from the wind all night. Luckily they were bowing away from the house but I sat watch on those trees all night in case the winds shifted. Wind tore a trim panel off the truck but I'll take that any day over the alternative of what could have happened. Things finally got calm about 3am. I waited a few hours to see if we were just in the eye, but the eye had shifted eastward and broke up, so that was it for us. We are a thankful bunch today.
Limbs and trees down, debris everywhere but no major damage in my immediate area. Wonder of wonders, we still have power. I had two huge pines in front of the house bent like horseshoes from the wind all night. Luckily they were bowing away from the house but I sat watch on those trees all night in case the winds shifted. Wind tore a trim panel off the truck but I'll take that any day over the alternative of what could have happened. Things finally got calm about 3am. I waited a few hours to see if we were just in the eye, but the eye had shifted eastward and broke up, so that was it for us. We are a thankful bunch today.
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
That was the worst I've ever been thru John, if I never have to do it again it would be too soon.
C Craft
Well-Known Member
Good to hear both of y'all fared fairly well.
Steve I hear you, that is when that little voice inside of you says. hmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe I should have went. Oh well got to ride her out now!! The night I heard the freight train going over and was just hoping it wasn't going to pull in for a stop at my place. Well lets just say at the moment I didn't have a lot of time to think about it!! I went to the back door and shined a light in the yard and what I could see in the dark and the rain, confirmed what I thought. There were trees twisted off all of the back of my yard. In a hurricane they lay down but these were all twisted and snapped off!! I was just praying that was the worst for the night. There is something about it being dark and you can't see what is happening. Of all the storms I have been thru, I can only remember two that hit in the daylight!!! Yes sir there are boggies in the dark!! It all boils down to that everyone is OK you can plant trees, you can rebuild but, the loss of life it terrible. I always figure if I go, well it was meant to be but, if someone stayed because of me and got hurt....!
The only good thing I got out of this storm. I got a shed I rebuilt after Ivan. Sort of a lean to on the storage shed! My insurance Co. wanted pics of it after they had freed-ed up the money, to replace it, (I got a replacement policy)! Or they were going to cancel me. I sent them pics and they said since it wasn't closed in to stop the wind from getting under it and it going away in the next storm. They would not cover it no more. So I closed in two sides and started around the third. At the time I ran out of time and money. So I did a little creative angle with the pics I took of the third side. So I lacked about 3 1/2 sheets to get it finished so yesterday I got out there and finished the last 3 + sheets. We were getting gust here yesterday at times was in the neighbor hood of 25 -30 MPH. Took a sheet of that metal off the horses and half way across the back yard before it stopped. I went to the back door and told the wife, check the local again and see if they have changed it. Nope suppose to only be 25 -35 MPH. I sure hope they got that right as we are getting gusts right now that high. So anyway I did finally get my shed finished. I haven't been in a hurry since it was only suppose to be a lean-to anyway!!
Steve I hear you, that is when that little voice inside of you says. hmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe I should have went. Oh well got to ride her out now!! The night I heard the freight train going over and was just hoping it wasn't going to pull in for a stop at my place. Well lets just say at the moment I didn't have a lot of time to think about it!! I went to the back door and shined a light in the yard and what I could see in the dark and the rain, confirmed what I thought. There were trees twisted off all of the back of my yard. In a hurricane they lay down but these were all twisted and snapped off!! I was just praying that was the worst for the night. There is something about it being dark and you can't see what is happening. Of all the storms I have been thru, I can only remember two that hit in the daylight!!! Yes sir there are boggies in the dark!! It all boils down to that everyone is OK you can plant trees, you can rebuild but, the loss of life it terrible. I always figure if I go, well it was meant to be but, if someone stayed because of me and got hurt....!
The only good thing I got out of this storm. I got a shed I rebuilt after Ivan. Sort of a lean to on the storage shed! My insurance Co. wanted pics of it after they had freed-ed up the money, to replace it, (I got a replacement policy)! Or they were going to cancel me. I sent them pics and they said since it wasn't closed in to stop the wind from getting under it and it going away in the next storm. They would not cover it no more. So I closed in two sides and started around the third. At the time I ran out of time and money. So I did a little creative angle with the pics I took of the third side. So I lacked about 3 1/2 sheets to get it finished so yesterday I got out there and finished the last 3 + sheets. We were getting gust here yesterday at times was in the neighbor hood of 25 -30 MPH. Took a sheet of that metal off the horses and half way across the back yard before it stopped. I went to the back door and told the wife, check the local again and see if they have changed it. Nope suppose to only be 25 -35 MPH. I sure hope they got that right as we are getting gusts right now that high. So anyway I did finally get my shed finished. I haven't been in a hurry since it was only suppose to be a lean-to anyway!!
Hang in there Steve- my first wife is the only person I know who could sleep thru a hurricane! Glad to hear both ya'll (John 'n Steve) came thru ok. You're right, when the wind is blowing - it's a bugger. BUT - I do understand the reasoning behind staying put, as long as you're on high ground. Consider the dangers 'n hassles of evacuating with all that stalled traffic! I drove to Dothan and back yesterday to BIL's funeral services and traffic was really light on I-10, east and west.
Mentioned ex-wife sleeping thru hurricane - we were anchored up a river for our first ever hurricane on the boat (cat 3). She and the kids (two girls about 5 yr and 9yr old) got tired and went to bed about midnight. I stayed on watch, going out on deck every little bit to check lines for chafing, using googles for eye protection. The windspeed indicator stayed pegged at 100 kts (115 mph) for a LONG time, 2 or 3 hrs it seemed. Of course the gusts were much higher. About 5am the eye went inland and things were starting to calm down some. Windspeed falling below 100 kts quite often now. I'm so tired I woke ex-wife up telling her she had to stay on watch a couple hrs so I could rest a bit. OK, I woke up at 7am and she's curled up on settee sound asleep! I was not happy about that and "might" have raised my voice expressing concern. "What's the problem?" she asks, "the wind has died way down". Well, at 7am it was still gusting well above hurricane strength, but I guess it was so much quieter than when the wind was blowing full strenght she just didn't think..... she did that a lot {g}
Anyway, glad John 'n Steve came thru ok.
Ken H>
Mentioned ex-wife sleeping thru hurricane - we were anchored up a river for our first ever hurricane on the boat (cat 3). She and the kids (two girls about 5 yr and 9yr old) got tired and went to bed about midnight. I stayed on watch, going out on deck every little bit to check lines for chafing, using googles for eye protection. The windspeed indicator stayed pegged at 100 kts (115 mph) for a LONG time, 2 or 3 hrs it seemed. Of course the gusts were much higher. About 5am the eye went inland and things were starting to calm down some. Windspeed falling below 100 kts quite often now. I'm so tired I woke ex-wife up telling her she had to stay on watch a couple hrs so I could rest a bit. OK, I woke up at 7am and she's curled up on settee sound asleep! I was not happy about that and "might" have raised my voice expressing concern. "What's the problem?" she asks, "the wind has died way down". Well, at 7am it was still gusting well above hurricane strength, but I guess it was so much quieter than when the wind was blowing full strenght she just didn't think..... she did that a lot {g}
Anyway, glad John 'n Steve came thru ok.
Ken H>
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Here's a before and after picture of the tree next door that I thought was going to fall on my house, shop....
Fortunatly, it just got de-boned.
Fortunatly, it just got de-boned.
bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Yea Ken, my wife actually slept thru most of it, I don't know how. I finally crashed about 4:00 after the eye was a bit north of me.
It's best she was sleeping...I was nervous enough with out having intermittent crying and screaming..Ha ha
It's best she was sleeping...I was nervous enough with out having intermittent crying and screaming..Ha ha
C Craft
Well-Known Member
I have been hesitant to post this as I did not want to depress anyone that was sitting in wait for Irma to arrive. I got my first peek of the devastation left behind by Irma on Florida. It was bad, I am not sure if it was a bad as I really expected but, those were just the first photos!! Don't get me wrong what I have seen, was bad but they haven't gotten into many areas!! I am sure some areas are completely gone!
My heart goes out to all effected by Irma. Until you have been through it, you have no idea! Their are homes that were never re-built, businesses, that never came back! I can still show you today of reminders of Ivan. Hurricane Ivan hit back in 2004! Living after the storm is difficult, to say the least! We watched power restored to many neighbor hoods and our was one of the last! Living on a generator and cooking what food didn't spoil on my fish cooker. Hauling water just to be able to bathe, flush the toilet became the morning chore. And do not, do not waste and ounce of precious water. What you bathe in can flush a toilet. The first day after the storm. I walked the street I live on to check on my neighbors and to invite them to my house to eat, I was cooking everything in the fridge. We had a feast and many of them returned the favor later on!!
The days drudgery was almost always the same. Once you got the water and feed everyone. Everyone went out to spend the entire day cutting up trees and clearing away the brush. I had no phone so on the third day I made a trip to the insurance company to see about getting started on that process I had two vehicles totaled and one more damaged. Then it is back to the jobs at hand picking up things in the yard that belonged to you and finding things that you have no idea who they belonged to. I live in the county but it is a small subdivision on this dead-end street. When I moved here I was one of three houses. Now there is a dozen houses. Since I live at the end of the street and my 1 1/4 acres is pie shaped with the point of the pie to the street. The county said pile all the storm debris at the right of way, to your property. I had no right of way so of the 25 trees that had either fell or I decided to take down due to damage. I had to haul all of it to the dump, about 5 miles from where I live. I had a 10 x 28 ft. trailer at the time so welded some stanchions on it and used the plywood from the windows to build it up about 3' high!! I'd work til it got so dark I could no safely work anymore to have the trailer loaded. I passed the water job off to the kids and I got up and drove to the dump every morning and emptied the trailer, (not a dump trailer) so you handled everything twice. I hauled 16 loads off of my property on that trailer and I usually had it packed above the 3' sides! We raked the yards, made temporary repairs, more permanent, made gas runs for gas for the generator, ice runs, fought with insurance companies and that is how the first three weeks went. By that time they had some of the bridges repaired and we could get out and see the rest of the world and that is when I found out how truly blessed I was!!
Some areas it will be years before they come back and they will never look as they did before! Hang in there everyone and when it looks the darkest remember you got yourselves and your family and your faith. Without faith the everyday things will tear you apart!! Do what you can for today and there will always be tomorrow! Love your family and you will get by!!
Oh and be careful with those chain saws, and other cleanup! I saw my neighbors father handling a bow saw and it kicked back. My neighbor had been waiting behind him, as the saw spun his father around he caught my neighbor in the leg and foot. Thank God we are only a few minutes from the hospital or he might not have made it!!
My heart goes out to all effected by Irma. Until you have been through it, you have no idea! Their are homes that were never re-built, businesses, that never came back! I can still show you today of reminders of Ivan. Hurricane Ivan hit back in 2004! Living after the storm is difficult, to say the least! We watched power restored to many neighbor hoods and our was one of the last! Living on a generator and cooking what food didn't spoil on my fish cooker. Hauling water just to be able to bathe, flush the toilet became the morning chore. And do not, do not waste and ounce of precious water. What you bathe in can flush a toilet. The first day after the storm. I walked the street I live on to check on my neighbors and to invite them to my house to eat, I was cooking everything in the fridge. We had a feast and many of them returned the favor later on!!
The days drudgery was almost always the same. Once you got the water and feed everyone. Everyone went out to spend the entire day cutting up trees and clearing away the brush. I had no phone so on the third day I made a trip to the insurance company to see about getting started on that process I had two vehicles totaled and one more damaged. Then it is back to the jobs at hand picking up things in the yard that belonged to you and finding things that you have no idea who they belonged to. I live in the county but it is a small subdivision on this dead-end street. When I moved here I was one of three houses. Now there is a dozen houses. Since I live at the end of the street and my 1 1/4 acres is pie shaped with the point of the pie to the street. The county said pile all the storm debris at the right of way, to your property. I had no right of way so of the 25 trees that had either fell or I decided to take down due to damage. I had to haul all of it to the dump, about 5 miles from where I live. I had a 10 x 28 ft. trailer at the time so welded some stanchions on it and used the plywood from the windows to build it up about 3' high!! I'd work til it got so dark I could no safely work anymore to have the trailer loaded. I passed the water job off to the kids and I got up and drove to the dump every morning and emptied the trailer, (not a dump trailer) so you handled everything twice. I hauled 16 loads off of my property on that trailer and I usually had it packed above the 3' sides! We raked the yards, made temporary repairs, more permanent, made gas runs for gas for the generator, ice runs, fought with insurance companies and that is how the first three weeks went. By that time they had some of the bridges repaired and we could get out and see the rest of the world and that is when I found out how truly blessed I was!!
Some areas it will be years before they come back and they will never look as they did before! Hang in there everyone and when it looks the darkest remember you got yourselves and your family and your faith. Without faith the everyday things will tear you apart!! Do what you can for today and there will always be tomorrow! Love your family and you will get by!!
Oh and be careful with those chain saws, and other cleanup! I saw my neighbors father handling a bow saw and it kicked back. My neighbor had been waiting behind him, as the saw spun his father around he caught my neighbor in the leg and foot. Thank God we are only a few minutes from the hospital or he might not have made it!!
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bladegrinder
Well-Known Member
Damn C Craft...you been thru the wringer. it definatly helps to have the hard work, survivalist attitude.
today on the news they showed a story of a lone burger king open near me...the line for the drive thru had to be half a mile long, one guy said he's been in line for two hours. I didn't get that at all. I don't know what these people would do if there was a serious calamity, beyond a hurricane.
today on the news they showed a story of a lone burger king open near me...the line for the drive thru had to be half a mile long, one guy said he's been in line for two hours. I didn't get that at all. I don't know what these people would do if there was a serious calamity, beyond a hurricane.