Hurricane Dorian, FL residents?

[1978elcamino]

If you're a Florida resident you are probably keeping a close eye on the Hurricane at this point. With trying to keep your location anonymous, if you would like to contribute your plan and general area of Florida Im sure others would like to share thoughts. I'll start.

Tampa bay area, already have plywood cut for each window from prior storms. Always have plenty of water, 6 five gallon water cooler jugs and I live on a well. I have two gen sets for loss of power, one to run the 220 panel, one to run smaller things on the 110 panel. I believe I have about 4 full propane tanks and one on the camper tounge. I plan on filling my gas cans and vehicles tonight after work and filling the boat with fuel in case I need to pump out for a vehicle or generators. Plenty of flashlights and a couple battery operated radios. Guns, rounds, check! Food, well Im not in charge of that, have no idea, we do have my sons 500+ pound pig if things get really bad.

 

[hatt]

I stay pretty prepared. I will probably fill up a couple 20 lb propane tanks I've been needing to fill. I'm right in the middle of the cone but closer to the West coast so it's not going to be catastrophic here no matter what.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Be safe guys and gals.

My Mom used to live in Ft Myers a bit south RSW and he only took a glancing blow once.

Get mom and dad out of the shoddy nursing homes. I don't think a DNR order involves stroke due to loss of HVAC!
Criminal.

If you want a great high res NOAA satellite image click here and look at the first box GEO COLOR in the upper left. pick a high res image and mouse around.


https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/conus.php?sat=G16

 

[GenesisGuy70]

NE Jacksonville here and less than 1 mile from the coast.

Wife and I have started to gather water, batteries, food, pet supplies, make "go bags", getting important documents into water tight containers. Live in an apartment so a generator, boarding up, etc are not an option. Luckily on second floor apartment so I'm more worried about cars flooding than our apartment. Since hers is a lease, if we have to leave hers will stay and face the storm.

If we have to evacuate, we're retreating to Young Harris, GA. Grandpa has a house there that was passed down through the family.

But it's really just a waiting game at this point. Too early to make any real decisions. We moved down here a little over a year ago and this is our first round with a hurricane. I'll take an Ohio snowstorm any day....

 

[bubbatime]

If you have to evacuate, I HIGHLY recommend that you have gas cans, full of gas, to get wherever you are going, and then home. Last big storm we drove from south Florida to Jacksonville, and there was not a single gas station the entire drive that had gas. And not a single gas station on the return trip, had gas either. Hundreds of miles traveled, not a single open gas station with fuel. Thats insane. Luckily I had 20 gallons of fuel in the truck with us. But I did see a LOT of cars broke down on the interstate, with no fuel. Probably 2 -3 cars per mile, on the side of the road, out of fuel.

 

[GenesisGuy70]

Originally Posted by bubbatime
If you have to evacuate, I HIGHLY recommend that you have gas cans, full of gas, to get wherever you are going, and then home. Last big storm we drove from south Florida to Jacksonville, and there was not a single gas station the entire drive that had gas. And not a single gas station on the return trip, had gas either. Hundreds of miles traveled, not a single open gas station with fuel. Thats insane. Luckily I had 20 gallons of fuel in the truck with us. But I did see a LOT of cars broke down on the interstate, with no fuel. Probably 2 -3 cars per mile, on the side of the road, out of fuel.


Yea, great idea. My Accord can go a long ways on a tank of gas but if we're stuck in evacuation traffic for hours, that won't last nearly as long. Need to go get a can and fill it....if I can even find a can. Stores have been cleaned out already.

 

[Cujet]

I'm in Jupiter, FL. So I am pretty much a target for these storms. My home is rated for 145MPH, but from past experience, I'd guess it's good for 130 or so before some damage occurs. The highest wind my home saw (in the past) was 128 and no damage. But it was a wild ride and the roof was moving around so much, it seemed like it was ready to go flying!

I have a concrete home with steel hurricane shutters and a concrete barrel tile roof. Good, but not ideal. A quality metal roof and hurricane windows is stronger.

I'll probably spend the weekend prepping.

 

[Schmoe]

Having lived on Guam for 10 years and lived through a super-typhoon, don't take these things likely. We'd get as much dry goods, ice, water and charcoal as possible. We knew we were going to loose power and water for x number of days because on Guam, you just can't get up and leave. You ride the storm out. Luckily, most houses are built to withstand typhoons, but infrastructure, not so much. Generators were useless because when you run out of gas, you're out. Also, we'd get as much beer as possible because you know there's going to be a party. All the frozen foods will hit the grill sometime soon. The one thing about living on Guam when a typhoon would hit, was that everybody was cool. No burglaries or anything like that, we were all in the same boat together.

 

[RDY4WAR]

I hope after it hits Florida and weakens a good bit, it'll move up and sit over southern and central Georgia for a couple days. We need the rain.

I was living near the Mississippi gulf coast during Katrina. We lost the corner of the roof over the master bedroom, but otherwise no serious damage to the house. We lost 2 cows though when the 2nd floor / hayloft of the barn collapsed down on them below. My uncle's house was just 3 blocks from the beach in Gulfport, and it was wiped out to nothing but a concrete foundation.

 

[pilottravis]

Fort Lauderdale area, prepped as much as can be. Trimmed trees last month, water, food, and gas stocked. Might be riding things out at the Airport in case things get bad so as to be open as soon as possible once the storm passes. Will need a clean runway to facilitate emergency supplies flown in if needed. Home was built in the early 50's and been through many since then, hopefully survive this one. Have plenty of ammo as well if things get fun afterwards too..

 

[Benzadmiral]

Good luck to all of you. I'm keeping an eye on the reports. When Dorian is done with FL it may decide to make a snack of SE Lousy-ana.

 

[Mr Nice]

Things will be fine if you prepare.

On Tuesday I filled up our gas tanks and did some grocery shopping.

Nothing worse than people ignoring the news and don't take the warnings seriously.

 

[GSCJR]

Stay safe friends!

 

[kam327]

We spent over $1,000 evacuating the state from Hurrican Irma and regretted it ever since. By the time it got to Tampa it was a nothing burger. Dorian looks like it will hit Tampa no worse than Irma did, and probably even less, so we're not doing much of anything. We have some bottled water and will fill the tub. In the highly unlikely event we lose power for more than a day we can drive to stay with family in South FL.

 

[BeerCan]

Tampa area. I am deciding tommorow if I will board up my work building. Home I have water, propane, charcoal and food that needs no refrigeration. I am not worrying to much about the wind, just worried about electric outage

 

[1978elcamino]

Since my home is on a well and gravity septic, my gen set will run the well, my main priority is making sure the food stays if power is lost. I have a commercial ice machine running since last night so friday night I should have hundreds of pounds of ice. My smaller gen set can run the fridges, deep freeze and ice machine if needed. During Irma my rural area was lucky, I lost power for just a few minutes, many folks had no power for several days a couple miles down the road. My parents stayed in their RV for a few days and my generator ran the fridge's and freezers in their home for almost a week straight. (Rotella T4 15w40) A friend of mine used my inverter gen for about 5 days straight running fridges, also t4 15w40.

 

[MoneyJohn]

Originally Posted by Throt
getting important documents into water tight containers..

If you don't mind, are these anything other than ziplock bags? I have everything properly filed, looking for something where I can stick the folder together in it. At the moment, they are in small non-vacuum packing bags. Any other option?

 

[EA82]

haven't done much, bay news 9 is saying it won't be much by the time it reaches Pinellas county.

 

[wemay]

I've been putting up shutters today and already bought food stuffs and gas. Fingers crossed.

Good luck to all my fellow Floridians.

 

[bubbatime]

All the gas stations in my town are wiped out - no gas at all for 100,000 people. No water in the stores. EVERY canned food item gone. If it's in a can. It's gone. Even the vegetables. This is nuts. The storm is still 3 days out and not forecast to hit my area at all. Just left Walmart and it looks like an honest to god zombie apocalypse. Insane!

I have 2 generators, 2 window ac units, 2 propane powered stoves in my kitchen, a propane grill, 6 propane tanks, a bunch of gas, plenty of water, and enough food for a year. I think we will be ok.

My house was built 2 years ago with all the latest hurricane codes, so it's built to withstand at least 145 mph winds. Don't need to prep my house at all other than clean up the yard and put the patio chairs in the garage. All my windows are 1/2 inch thick hurricane glass, impact resistant windows, so don't need shutters.