Hurricane Ian

[Bigpapapumpaf]

What a bitch this storm is/was.

It made landfall where my younger brother lives in Ft. Myers as a really strong Cat 4, 150+ mph winds and more rain than they could measure. Storm surges / rising water in some places was over 20ft. Power went out around 10am yesterday. I have not heard from him today but last night he said it was the worst case scenario. He had lost shingles and people nearer the beach were being told to go to the roofs of condos with life preservers. The storm sucked the water out of the bays, boats were sitting on mud and when the winds changed the surge was unbelievable.

The storm exited or is exiting over the area that I live as a Cat 1 storm, 74+ mph winds. We've had 12" to 18" of rain so far. I'm in a new area so I don't see much if any damage. We never lost power but the older areas here lost power late last night. There is a river in the Orlando area that is up over 8ft.

We will fully recover here in a matter of days, the West Coast of Florida will take years to recover.

Send your prayers to any of our brothers and sisters that live over there. They will not have power for some time, nothing will reopen for sometime. NO MAIL in most of the state or anything else for that matter.

BPP

[liftsiron]

It said on the news that it may be the worst storm to hit Fl in history.

[Crossfire]

We will be in the Ft Myers area doing commercial mitigation. I have desiccants and generators in route now. I am staged in Wildwood currently with equipment and crews on hand ready to work. Hit me up n a pm and I will do all I can to help.

[unclem]

did clearwater get hit, anyone?

[Roughrydr]

Not too bad. I'm in central Florida south of Orlando. We got the northeast section. It pounded us for hours starting as a cat 3 then downgrading slowly to a one by the time it passed us. It lasted about 48 hours. It's still breezy but super clear skies. The one real blessing in this is usually after a hurricane it gets super hot and humid. But yesterday it was 68 degrees. And today it feels to be about 80. So we'll take it.
Yesterday I was on my Harley yesterday morning headed to work. It's 545 am maybe 6am, pitch black. I ride through a patch of water in the road. Next thing I know I'm in over 3 feet if water and my bike dies out. I pushed my bike probably 50 feet to get it out if the water. Stopped three times to catch my breath. 975 lbs plus water resistance. Once I got out if the water it started right up. But I learned my lesson about mud puddles after hurricanes. Lol.
But Clearwater is okay. Minor stuff.

[b52]

I was looking at some aftermath photos and it's crazy how much damage was done. It looks worse than Andrew.

[unclem]

i got to get pins iam out , clearwater is ok but the postoffice isnt up yet down there.

[Roughrydr]

Our post office still has no power. But soon hopefully.

[Dawgpound_Hank]

BPP good to hear you made out OK brother - same to you Rough.

I have a nephew in Punta Gorda. He is still without water but electric is back on today. I'm kinda surprised with that bcoz I believe it was right in the jist of it.

I remember in 2003, I lived in Richmond, VA, and hurricane Isabel came by Richmond and knocked out power for 3 days at my place. Some friends who lived out in the country lost power for 3 weeks. And I think the heaviest gusts in our area were only around 70mph. I can't even imagine being in that cat 4/5 shiznit directly dayyuumm. Not to mention Richmond is 120 miles from the coast.

[Dawgpound_Hank]

Not to go off topic of Ian, but this is the scariest storm surge video I've ever seen. This was from typhoon Haiyan which hit Philippines in 2013. I lived there during that time but thank God I didn't live near where it hit directly - we just got a ton of rain and some heavy winds. Haiyan is known to be one of the most powerful storms on record EVER, with sustained winds of 195mph and gusts to 235mph. I pity the people who were in the path bcoz as you see from this video, with poverty over there as it is, these don't even qualify as "houses", but more like wood/bamboo huts. How fast this surge comes in is CRAZY! I bet the guy taking this video had to change his shorts afterwards - I know I would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS0gv4Xbw7w

[Stickler]

All I can do I pray for whomever needs it. There is some serious loss down there and I hope no one anyone here knows got hurt or died. As much as mitigation, restoration, and rebuilding sucks..at least it can be replaced (assuming you fit the criteria your insurance requires) <---- they will do whatever is in their power not to pay, or else they would all go bankrupt every time nature took a shit on us.

[wallyd]

All I can do I pray for whomever needs it. There is some serious loss down there and I hope no one anyone here knows got hurt or died. As much as mitigation, restoration, and rebuilding sucks..at least it can be replaced (assuming you fit the criteria your insurance requires) <---- they will do whatever is in their power not to pay, or else they would all go bankrupt every time nature took a shit on us.

They, the insurance companies, will make up their losses by raising EVERYONE’S rates to balance out whatever they lose on this natural disaster. Screw them! They never lose in the end.