10-13-2024, 08:36 PM
With a storm surge Forecast to be 10-15 feet in my area, I was a bit freaked out.
Our house is at 13.66 feet if the USGS chart is to be believed
Siesta Key is to our west
With the Category 5 storm headed right at us, riding right atop the swell was sending this way, I thought that 15' of surge was perhaps too conservative.
if the storm slowed and went through a tide cycle, i thought it could easily flood over Siesta key and make it another half mile and start flooding the neighborhood.
We are in a mandatory evacuation zone at that level of surge, and My Dad said he was taking my Mom 5 miles inland to his recently passed brother's house.
I was gonna stay put. I figured no roof and thigh deep water is not going to kill me, but I wanted to be able to split, and get the Van and select possessions to safety .
I stayed up all night, running saws and other powertools to make a brace for the South facing garage doors, and got everything off the floor, and buttoned everything up as much as possible, thinking If we lose the roof, an it floods, where in the house might still be standing and intact, and I placed the valueable stuff up above waist high in a tight closet, covered in in tarps.
First light and we were already seeing heavy rain, and strong gusts.
Demento mom was all freaked out and shaking, and dad took her inland.
I kept prepping, but started getting delirious with fatigue.
My cousin called me and said my mom was freaking out, being ultra annoying, asking for Me and Fiona, and they would really like it if I were there with them.
I wheeled the Honda 3000 watt inverter generator to my Van, and lifted it into my cargo carrier, rachet strapped it secure, Said f goodbye to the house and drove out of the Floodzone, and 45 to 60mph gusts were really pushing me all over the road.
I got there and tried to calm mom down to no avail, and then went back in the Van to try and catch some sleep, but it was pretty damn loud with heavy rain and huge gusts shaking it, and being way over caffeinated, I couldn't sleep I did have 40 tv stations to watch the live updates.
The rain kept getting harder and the wind and wind gusts stronger till about 8:30 at night. My younger cousins and I were venturing outside during the gusts.
They were saying it was definitely stronger than Hurricane Ian from 2 years earlier, but overall It was not nearly as severe as I expected.
Even when the easterly Eyewall was atop us, it was really not all that intense. Not all that much rain as the High end Cat3 storm had been ingesting dry air from the cold front to its north.
I'd been venturing outside regularly, checking on the van and getting more beer from within it, and was surprised how cold it was, and then it got calm, and super Hot and steamy humid.
Saw the neighbors has lost a tree and their pool cage had partially collapsed, but not much other local tree damage.
Went inside to check the radar and make some last minute preparations as that strong East wind was gonna turn west.
Went back outside and that hot humid air was still there, but there was a rumbling to the west.
Almost like someone lowered a Giant vaccuum cleaner, that hot air was evacuated, and a 45mph cold gust out of the WSW hit us, but then faded, but there was the sound of a freight train coming at us from the west.
Boom! Felt like 60 degrees, and 100+ mph winds slammed us, the wind whistling and screaming through the pool cage screens, and I shown my 3600 lumen headlamp at neighbor's partially collapsed pool cage as it lifted off the patio and started slamming the roof and shredding itself.
Then the gusts got even stronger and I was turning sideways to lessen the resistance and could barely stand up, and would nearly fall over when they'd abruptly let off, ,then nearly get blown backwards off my feet when theyd instantly return.. There was a small pond to our west, and some leaves. palm fronds and random debris started surrounding us and we scurried back inside.
The big sliding glass doors started flexing inwards and whistling, and we closed the heavy curtains. So much air was getting past the door seals, the curtains were acting like the doors were open and there was a 20 mph wind blowing them inwards.
The wind gusts kept getting stronger, for easily 2 hours.
No power but we still had mobile data and started getting reports of the surge flooding downtown to the second level of garage parking lots, and supposed collapsed bridges and all sorts of Misinformation was lighting up their social media accounts. But the wind was so freaking strong out of the west, i assumed that 15 foot of surge was going to be realized, and my House was gonna be flooded 2 feet deep, and likely tons of wind damage.
The eyewall passed us the second time about 10Pm or so and the wind did not even begin to ease until about 2:30.
It was nerve racking after a while, even inside a solid structure, and as someone who loves to experience nature's Fury, I was like Milton Fuck off already you son of a bitch.
Come daybreak the winds had lowered to steady 25, a few bigger gusts, but no rain.
No power of course, but text messages were not going through and no or very little mobile data.
We couldnt figure out how bad it was.
I set up generator and we made coffee and breakfast. My cousins drove to check on their other grandparents and said the raods were mostly passable.
I took the generator, and drove home. My dad had arrived before me and declared the home free of any major damage.
No flooding. Just lots of clean up required as there was tree branches everywhere.
I set up the generator and put a window shaker AC in parents bedroom and was relieved.
Not having grid power is of no concern short term, and we can power the router, but there was no connection to the internet, so No TV, and that is the only way to placate dememto mom, so she proceeded to try to drive My dad, Fiona and I absolutely nuts for the next two days.
Fiona and I were sleeping in the Van as it was relatively cool, and I had 40 TV stations, and would pretend I didnt hear the knocks every 5 minutes at the door, and Fiona is 95% deaf and cant hear it anyway.
Overall we were very fortunate. Those with property on the barrier Islands, not so much.
Even with all the time I had top prepare, it was not enough time, and If the roof lifted off and the house flooded with 2 feet of water, I doubt my efforts would have been very effective at mitigation.
There's another month and a half of Hurricane season, and some energy brewing out there. Could be something threatening the east coast in 8 to 10 days.
Here's hoping None consolidate and decide to put another bulls eye on us.
Our house is at 13.66 feet if the USGS chart is to be believed
Siesta Key is to our west
With the Category 5 storm headed right at us, riding right atop the swell was sending this way, I thought that 15' of surge was perhaps too conservative.
if the storm slowed and went through a tide cycle, i thought it could easily flood over Siesta key and make it another half mile and start flooding the neighborhood.
We are in a mandatory evacuation zone at that level of surge, and My Dad said he was taking my Mom 5 miles inland to his recently passed brother's house.
I was gonna stay put. I figured no roof and thigh deep water is not going to kill me, but I wanted to be able to split, and get the Van and select possessions to safety .
I stayed up all night, running saws and other powertools to make a brace for the South facing garage doors, and got everything off the floor, and buttoned everything up as much as possible, thinking If we lose the roof, an it floods, where in the house might still be standing and intact, and I placed the valueable stuff up above waist high in a tight closet, covered in in tarps.
First light and we were already seeing heavy rain, and strong gusts.
Demento mom was all freaked out and shaking, and dad took her inland.
I kept prepping, but started getting delirious with fatigue.
My cousin called me and said my mom was freaking out, being ultra annoying, asking for Me and Fiona, and they would really like it if I were there with them.
I wheeled the Honda 3000 watt inverter generator to my Van, and lifted it into my cargo carrier, rachet strapped it secure, Said f goodbye to the house and drove out of the Floodzone, and 45 to 60mph gusts were really pushing me all over the road.
I got there and tried to calm mom down to no avail, and then went back in the Van to try and catch some sleep, but it was pretty damn loud with heavy rain and huge gusts shaking it, and being way over caffeinated, I couldn't sleep I did have 40 tv stations to watch the live updates.
The rain kept getting harder and the wind and wind gusts stronger till about 8:30 at night. My younger cousins and I were venturing outside during the gusts.
They were saying it was definitely stronger than Hurricane Ian from 2 years earlier, but overall It was not nearly as severe as I expected.
Even when the easterly Eyewall was atop us, it was really not all that intense. Not all that much rain as the High end Cat3 storm had been ingesting dry air from the cold front to its north.
I'd been venturing outside regularly, checking on the van and getting more beer from within it, and was surprised how cold it was, and then it got calm, and super Hot and steamy humid.
Saw the neighbors has lost a tree and their pool cage had partially collapsed, but not much other local tree damage.
Went inside to check the radar and make some last minute preparations as that strong East wind was gonna turn west.
Went back outside and that hot humid air was still there, but there was a rumbling to the west.
Almost like someone lowered a Giant vaccuum cleaner, that hot air was evacuated, and a 45mph cold gust out of the WSW hit us, but then faded, but there was the sound of a freight train coming at us from the west.
Boom! Felt like 60 degrees, and 100+ mph winds slammed us, the wind whistling and screaming through the pool cage screens, and I shown my 3600 lumen headlamp at neighbor's partially collapsed pool cage as it lifted off the patio and started slamming the roof and shredding itself.
Then the gusts got even stronger and I was turning sideways to lessen the resistance and could barely stand up, and would nearly fall over when they'd abruptly let off, ,then nearly get blown backwards off my feet when theyd instantly return.. There was a small pond to our west, and some leaves. palm fronds and random debris started surrounding us and we scurried back inside.
The big sliding glass doors started flexing inwards and whistling, and we closed the heavy curtains. So much air was getting past the door seals, the curtains were acting like the doors were open and there was a 20 mph wind blowing them inwards.
The wind gusts kept getting stronger, for easily 2 hours.
No power but we still had mobile data and started getting reports of the surge flooding downtown to the second level of garage parking lots, and supposed collapsed bridges and all sorts of Misinformation was lighting up their social media accounts. But the wind was so freaking strong out of the west, i assumed that 15 foot of surge was going to be realized, and my House was gonna be flooded 2 feet deep, and likely tons of wind damage.
The eyewall passed us the second time about 10Pm or so and the wind did not even begin to ease until about 2:30.
It was nerve racking after a while, even inside a solid structure, and as someone who loves to experience nature's Fury, I was like Milton Fuck off already you son of a bitch.
Come daybreak the winds had lowered to steady 25, a few bigger gusts, but no rain.
No power of course, but text messages were not going through and no or very little mobile data.
We couldnt figure out how bad it was.
I set up generator and we made coffee and breakfast. My cousins drove to check on their other grandparents and said the raods were mostly passable.
I took the generator, and drove home. My dad had arrived before me and declared the home free of any major damage.
No flooding. Just lots of clean up required as there was tree branches everywhere.
I set up the generator and put a window shaker AC in parents bedroom and was relieved.
Not having grid power is of no concern short term, and we can power the router, but there was no connection to the internet, so No TV, and that is the only way to placate dememto mom, so she proceeded to try to drive My dad, Fiona and I absolutely nuts for the next two days.
Fiona and I were sleeping in the Van as it was relatively cool, and I had 40 TV stations, and would pretend I didnt hear the knocks every 5 minutes at the door, and Fiona is 95% deaf and cant hear it anyway.
Overall we were very fortunate. Those with property on the barrier Islands, not so much.
Even with all the time I had top prepare, it was not enough time, and If the roof lifted off and the house flooded with 2 feet of water, I doubt my efforts would have been very effective at mitigation.
There's another month and a half of Hurricane season, and some energy brewing out there. Could be something threatening the east coast in 8 to 10 days.
Here's hoping None consolidate and decide to put another bulls eye on us.
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