FOLKS- PLEASE check in here as time passes so we can keep track of y'all???

Yep it's OT and It's NEEDED!

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 14, 1999

Answers

AND please let's try to kep it to those in Floyd's path. The first Cat V in 30 years. a 250 mile wide F-2 tornado.

OY

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 14, 1999.

Chuck,

I'm far from Floyd's path, but want to know how I can help if the situation and need warrants. Please keep me informed.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), September 14, 1999.

Yes, please let me know also.

-- Mumsie (Shezdremn@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

As long as we have a phone line, I will try and keep updated. We have large generator but live in a forest of Pine and Oak and its doubtful that the lines will stay up. There is a ham down the street and I am going to check with him to see if he can operate on battery. If so maybe I can get a message out to Old Git and she can put it on the forum. I am 40 to 50 miles inland. Others on the forum are on the coast, I think. Wish they would check in with location. Schools are closed across the state, shelters are open and the coastal communities are under mandatory evacuation. Over a million evacuating. I don't think this includes Miami as its coming in north of there. God help 'em if Miami ever takes a hit! This morning they say the hurricane is now the size of Texas and its now a catagory 5. It is now 6am and I am headed for WinnDixie supremkt, mostly to check it out and take a look at the shelves and see what people bought and what they left.. Probably didn't buy beans and rice as the hurricane is of such short duration. I am betting no milk,water,bread, rolls, chips, dip, beer,eggs,cheese,canned speghetti and similar stuff. No flashlights or batteries. Will let you know. Taz

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

We're in Sarasota, on the west coast. I work in a contract post office (PO boxes only) for the Amish community here. We don't have television, and only a few folks have radio, but folks are preparing.

By the time I got off work yesterday, most of the stores had been cleared out of supplies, but were saying they would have more today (Tuesday). If the storm doesn't turn, we will probably lose electric and phone, Lord knows what else. But prayers are needed, especially for those on the east coast.

I have to get my kids to school now, and then work. I'll check in whenever I can later this day.

-- elaine s (eeema@earthlink.net), September 14, 1999.

Floyd much on my mind....as they are predicting the storm track (and granted hurricanes can be quirky), my folks in SC, are 35 miles inland of coast out of Beaufort, a bit further from Savannah.

All my thoughts coming to everyone in the storm's path.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), September 14, 1999.

Taz 'n all, thanks for reporting in. Our prayers are ongoing for you. Early test for preps, may yours do all they were intended and more. Peace of mind re having stuff on hand is valuable when facing the possibility of physical disruptions.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 14, 1999.

8am Was at the grocery store at 6am. No customers but me. Took a spin through the whole store and in a state of shock. The hamburger bin and the candy shelves were empty!! Plenty of everything else. Is this how my area is preparing for a 3 day storm? Whew! They will be in a world of hurt. Not supposed to get REALLY bad until dawn tomorrow for my area. But looking into the eastern sky I can already see the outter bands. Winds and rain are supposed to start here this afternoon.

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

I wasn't going to post on this thread coz Chuck said don't, but since others have I just have to say "best of luck" from Australia.

All the best

RonD

-- Ron Davis (rdavis@ozemail.com.au), September 14, 1999.

We live in SW Dade county, Miami. We did have mandatory evacuation here for all beach residents, mobile homes and low-lying areas. We're in flood area but have animals we couldn't leave. It seems we're not going to get the brunt of Floyd, only up to 50 mph gusts. One of these gusts after Andrew tore our back porch off, so we aren't out of the woods yet. Yesterday (Mon) at 8 am I went in to Miami to buy matches, lamp oil, clorox, propane and gas. I went to two supermarkets, a large drugstore and a discount store before I found a few matches and their last bottle of lamp oil at walmart. In Publix the matches and clorox were gone and the only water left was in pint bottles of the most expensive kind. I noticed that people were filling their baskets with cookies, chips, candy, more chips, crackers and coke. No one wanted real food. This is a wake-up call for those who want to stock up for y2k. It's no fun to shove your way through irritable scared people only to find empty shelves. I went to a warehouse store to get propanebut left because the line was three blocks long, not of cars but of people lugging their tanks along in the line. Got gas OK although the radio was saying that many stations had sold out. Went to our rural gas station to get propane--sold out, and gas was rationed to 10 gal per car. Went home without propane or clorox. The moral of this story is don't wait till the last minute to get emergency supplies if you don't like hassles and disappointments. Now that Floyd is leaving us behind, my prayers and thoughts go out to those of you still in its path. John

-- johnphil (glades-egret@webtv.net), September 14, 1999.

Go Gators!

-- Spidey (in@swamp.palmetto), September 14, 1999.

Greetings from Charlotte, where everyone remembers Hugo. Folks are hitting the stores...being advised to have 5 days of supplies on hand. My DGI sister in-law evidently "gets" hurricanes. She's been Walmarting and shopping like crazy this morning. Perhaps a finge benefit to an otherwise nasty situation.

Thoughts and prayers to all in the path. Stay safe.

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), September 14, 1999.

Durham, central NC--am a bit stunned to see the first bands of rain from Floyd less than 25 miles to our east thbis morning. This storm will occupy the thoughts of many people on the forum for the next few days--it is incomprehensibly huge--two and a half times bigger than UK! Hurricane force winds reach over 100 miles out each side of the eye, tropical storm force winds (up to approx. 70 mph) nearly 300 miles from the eye. Was reading yesterday that Camille (one of only two Category 5 storms on record) dropped 25 inches of rain in Virginia's mountains--Critt, are you ready for this? I suspect Critt in Wilmington, on the NC coast just beyond the SC/NC border, is busy battening down. Local news says we may have coastal evac orders in NC at noon. Asheville--sorry, have to cancel our trip, David, and I think Critt has cancelled too. Taz,, will call yuo late morning. Sorry to be so disjointed--pretty normal though, considering!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), September 14, 1999.

We're in Miami-Dade county, too. Seems everyone is boarded up, and from what I hear, they are going to keep most of them up until Gert's path is determined to miss.

Geez! Not one, but two! What fun. Thankfully we have the preps for next year on hand already, and so did not have to suffer the lines as a lot of others have. We managed to get gas last night at a remote station away from the bustle of the main shopping areas.

Seems most [if not all] of the regular county services are cancelled, and the majority of businesses are closed for the day. American Airlines has cancelled all flights to Miami until late Wednesday at last report. [We're watching NBC6. nbc6.com] The airports were announced to be closing at 9 am this morning, for Miami-Dade and Broward, and I haven't heard if this has changed.

Noticed that the Post Offices are open in Miami-Dade and Broward. Their hot line number has been updated to say that all employees are expected in. They're a 24/7 entity, ya know. Guess I have to work.

We sure wish our shutters had been installed on time! We are still waiting and it has been 14 weeks this week. Estimate was 5-7 weeks! We were very nervous about using the wood from last year to cover up. But, you use what you got, right?

Sure hope our relatives to the north [Jax FL and NC] make it through! To all in the path, we send our prayers for safe passage through this nightmare storm.

Why do they always seem to hit at night?

J

-- J (jart5@bellsouth.net), September 14, 1999.

Thanks Chuck and all!

We're battening down here, just east of Orlando. To save from duplication, I'm posting over on the Prep Forum.

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), September 14, 1999.

I live near VA Blue Ridge Mountains where in 1969 Camille devestated this area and people here remember. I wasn't living here at the time but I've heard stories and seen some leftover signs. I will be praying for everyone in the path that they be safe.

-- Debi (LongTimeLurker@shy.com), September 14, 1999.

I've been monitoring Floyd on JAMZ Radio in Nassau, Ch12 Palm Beach, and the Abacos Message Board. It's not good. Govmt of Nassau has lost contact with Eleuthra which took a bad hit - Cat Island, Abacos and E. Grand Bahama in direct path of the eye. Winds sustained 150 mph gusts higher. My thoughts are with those of you in the path of this monster. I'm happy to help anyway I can.

-- Casey DeFranco (caseyd@silcom.com), September 14, 1999.

daytona beach, fla. (beachside) checking in. running out of plywood and rope way too early. never enough. 1st bands of gusts and squalls just starting to come in. bad deterioration expected about 9pm tonight. haven't seen any national guards or police as of yet. they probably have their hands full with all the condos and hotels directly on the ocean.

-- Susan (number9@mindspring.com), September 14, 1999.

My sister had to evacuate from Vero--the barrier island part. That's where our preps are, so I wouldn't exactly say it is a test of Y2K preps since those could be wiped out, along with the house and everything else. For sure I hope not. They went through Andrew in South Miami seven years ago... However, as long as they are safe, we can start again.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

Threads on Prep Forum:

Time for Y2K Drill - Hurricane Floyd

FORMER Semi-SYSOP AUTHORISED CHECK IN THREAD FOR FLA FOLKS

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 14, 1999.

TBY2K Floyd threads...

OT Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when Floyd comes for you?

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001Oev

Plan as if this hurricane (Y2K) is going to hit you

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001P2n

OT: HURRICANE FLOYD

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001P61

OT: 1 Million Told to Evaucate For Hurricane

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001P06

hurricane floyd ?-- & y2k awareness

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001OvP

Floyd Over Our Heads

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001PAC

Be well all... blessing and prayers... thanks for the check ins!

Much love,

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 14, 1999.

I'll second that, Diane.

Thinking about you guys and gals.

Prayers.

(I went through a tropical storm on the fourth floor of a Florida condo a few years back. Looks like that would have been considered a walk in the park compared to this.)

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

I've been keeping in contact with Uncle Deedah and his wife. Uncle went to bed around 1 a.m Florida time and was up and gone before 5:30 this morning to help others finish putting up plywood. They are only 5 miles from the coast. Praying for safety AND STRENGTH for all of them! They're exhausted!

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 14, 1999.

Well its noon here in the Ocala National Forest. Had to go to store again to get Chubby Hubby's beer. Seems you can't buy beer before 7am in Florida. This time the store was mobbed. But the hooker is that the bank next door (AmSouth who claims compliancy)the ATM was out of money and the bank closed its doors. This was at 11am, nice sunny day still. Some big guy was beating and kicking the glass door of the bank. And you think there won't be a bank run for y2k? And John, shame, shame on you. You should have had these supplies in your house a long time ago. I can't imagine not having matches, lamp oil, etc when you live in Florida, let alone y2k. You deserve to sit in the dark and listen to the wind. LOL Some of the towns on the coast have announced they are turning off the water and sewage treatment plants and gas and power. Now these areas are under mandatory evacuation. Sheriff says they won't drag people from their homes but they won't go in and rescue them either. Sheriff said that if you elect to stay to leave name of next of kin with the sheriffs office. Also told people that they had ample warning, they live in a hurricane state and its hurricane season. "If you are not prepared its no one's fault but your own". Sigh...why couldn't he have Koskinem's job?? Said he wasn't risking his men to save people that could have saved themselves. On the other hand, the highways are almost grid lock. Someback ups have been as long as two hours on I95. I wouldn't want to be on the highway in a car when it hits either. Lesson? Be prepared and THINK AHEAD.

Taz...the trend of Floyd is encouraging. It really looks like it will stay off shore. I guess it listened to me when I told Old Git I was going to send this sucker up to her and Critt!!

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

Taz, your updates are great! We've noticed, for many big storms, municipalities turn off the water & sewer so there won't be back-ups. Back to that primary fear. It's real. Aaaccckkk! And yep, KoSkinEm is fraid o dem bank bangers most of all. But he's taken the EXACT approach to bring on exactly what he fears most. Imbecile!

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 14, 1999.

12:45 PM EST--friend just called from Raleigh. Said there are no batteries to be had and "people were grabbing jugs of water out of each other's hands." RALEIGH--an hour's drive from the coast and Floyd not expected in the vicinity for 72 hours or so! Feeling a bit smug, huh, Puddintame? Me too! Don't have to get anything except Sweeite needs to fill up the gas tank on his car (and the 2 x 5-gall containers I put in the back this mornijng!)

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), September 14, 1999.

Heard about 1 hour ago the that all public utilities have been shut off in daytona beach shores (not confirmed); this is one city down from where we are so we may be next. some more sideways rain getting ready to come onshore any minute.

-- susan (number9@mindspring.com), September 14, 1999.

5PM NE Florida: I traveled to my office approx. 55 miles inland from the coast early this morning no traffic to speak of. This was not the case this afternoon. At 2pm the traffic on highways heading west was at a crawl. I was heading for home in the opposite direction and was suprised that there were no police directing traffic in the smallish towns where the traffic backups were occuring. As I approached the mid-size town I currently live in (60 more days) I noticed that all the gas stations were empty. NO GAS! It is as if a swarm of gas locusts had been through the area. I have recently been reading about making decisions and then taking action. Based on what I have seen with this hurricane and the behavior of people fleeing the area I am more concerned than ever about rollover. Not the night of 12/31 but in the weeks that follow. I understand why some people want to believe nothing will happen. I saw the lines and still I sit and type when I have at least 2 hours of work to do before I go and stay with my older aunts who won't leave their house. (It is near my neighborhood) I feel the same way DGI's feel I just want it to go away... But because I know what happens to folks who don't prepare I am going to have a strong cuppa and get my behind in gear. If I get a chance I will send more info later. I just got a message that a family member who was going to exit has decided to stay. You guessed it they waited too long and are afraid they will run out of gas b4 they get far enough away! We have plenty of food etc. my old aunties are GI's and at 70 and 72 they have plenty of kick left.

lili

-- lili (lilipo@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

I sure hope this becomes a wake up call, and not a death knoll for the folks in the path, along with everyone else.

This hiricane has the potential to really do damage. Imagine if it hits a city like JAX, a major metro, along with most of the East Coast Of Florida.....major hell!!!

Thank the powers that be that it skipped us this time in Miami! prayers and good thoughts all along it way!!!!!

Just for info, the Post Office announced that no one was expected at work from Marathon Key to Pompano Beach. No work, so I can continue to ready for the next one!!!! Stay away Gert!!!!!!!! And any others!

-- J (jart5@bellsouth.net), September 14, 1999.

Re-read this one folks, bookmark it if you wish....

"The reports you've just read are real, only the date has been changed to preview the innocent...."

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 15, 1999.

I just got off the phone with my folks in SC. They are pretty remote,...35 miles inland from Beaufort, west of Charleston about 50 some miles...Dad (the former pilot and life long weather watcher) is planning to sit it out where they are. He says they will lose power...he has a well and generator,...but says he doesn't expect much but some wind and a bunch of rain...his windows are shutterless but taped from the inside to prevent shattering,...says their young neighbors decided to go west for a couple days...Funny thing is that area has been more than a bit dry all year...they will appreciate the rain inland there in 'the low country'.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), September 15, 1999.

We were spared the worst of the storm here in NE Fla. Trees are down and power was out for a while but we were fine. I was out for a while this afternoon and made a few observations. Many people had cabin fever after only 24 hrs. I plan to get more games etc. Many of my friends spent all of their time in front of the tube hearing the same information repeated. If we have no power many people are going to be a little crazy for want of something mindless to do. We still have no gas at the pumps as of tonight. One of the state emergency folk made mention of this on a television appearance. The reference was, folks traveling back from Tallahassee need to have gas b4 they leave as we have no gasoline in the supply lines. I do not wish disasters on anyone but this was a real eye opener for me. I am not prepared emotionally for Y2K. I am going to figure out a way to get prepared and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

lili

-- lili po (lili po@aol.com), September 15, 1999.

I don't know if anyone is ever prepared emotionally for a disaster. When one hits, you do what you have to do to survive. Try not to panic because you will for sure get hurt. If you survive, you can always start over, millions have done it and so can you.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 15, 1999.