Hurricane Irma report

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judway

judway

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Posts
1,179
Location
West Melbourne, FL
We just got the first report from our neighbor of damage to our house and property in West Melbourne, Florida. We lost power. One porch screen was damaged. Damage was done to the roof of our barn/garage. Moderate debris.  Looks like we dodged another one. We are still in Ohio.
 
We live in Ocala near 484 and 200 in Oak Run.  No house damage.  The good news is a tree blew down in our back yard.  It was leaning anyway and very ugly so I was happy to see it on the ground.  11.2 inches of rain.
Didn't lose power.  Still windy though.
 
I have one nephew in Coral springs. He had a couple of trees blow down, and the ones still standing have no limbs left. He and his family are doing well though.
I have another nephew who's home is on Bellleaire Island West of Tampa/St. Pete. They also have a townhouse in St. Pete. They left the island and went to the townhouse. It was in between rentals, and was boarded up. They are well also. They had power through the whole thing in St. Pete. They won't be able to their house until late today.
 
We lease a spot in an rv resort in Ft Myers. Generally the park survived with a lot of tree damage and debris, but no structures suffered  serious damage. Power is out. Out storage trailer (tied down) and golf cart came thru just fine as did our neighbors fifth wheel, also tied down.

We're currently in a park in northern Georgia and don't expect we can return for at least a couple of weeks. Damn, it's cold! :mad:

Ernie
 
Repeating some of what I just posted on another thread, but we're on the outskirts of Winter Haven/Lake Wales not far from Legoland. We had minor damage to our screened lanai. Some neighbors lost shingles, and we saw a pool cage collapsed. Some trees down with some tree/limb debris about. Our MH in storage did fine.
We never lost power or cable. Our sons in Lakeland have no power so will probably be coming here. Lakeland is without power and traffic lights. Lots of big oak trees down and lots of debris. All-in-all, we all fared better than the Keys or the west coast.
 
I ask net control on my morning radio net about our Florida contingent since I could not hear them he said they were still good, even the antennas survived.. I'm on line now with a station near Atlanta GA (he headed north to GA) and he's in good shape though he lost half power. (one leg). many trees down . Kind of glad I got my engine replaced when I did.
 
Lots of tornadic activity especially on the east side of the storm. Must have gotten 20 or more tornado warnings from Brevard, Volusia and Flagler counties. I think that accounts for the bulk of damage. Driving around the area, we saw a lot less damage from Irma than from last year. Thinking that Matthew cleaned out a lot of the dead trees, branches, etc so there was less debris from Irma. By the way, FPL doing a great job restoring power. Duke trying hard.
 
Our house east of Ocala suffered a broken window when a big tree limb fell in our front yard. Power is out as well. We are at our summer cottage in NC, but a neighbor went over yesterday, cut up the tree limb and boarded up the broken window to prevent further damage. That will save us an emergency trip back home and we can deal with it later. We expect to be back home around Oct 13th.

Our daughter's duplex on the south side of Ocala had a heavy wooden gate at her patio entrance literally blown off its hinges. It crashed into her patio sliding glass door but only damaged the screen. Nothing serious. She has no power either, and no idea when it will be restored. 

Some cell towers in the area were damaged, so both voice and internet service are spotty but with perseverance we can stay in communication. Many, many trees down, some sewer lines broken, and quite a few streets are flooded.
 
Good to hear you and Nancy are doing well, and the damage to your home is minimal.
 
Our house in Punta Gorda, FL suffered no damage.  One cabbage palm tree went down.  Our power was down for about 24 hours.  I can see the house on our video system and looks like all is well.


We don't have any reason to be home so we are waiting for the roads to clear up a little and get a bit more fuel to the stations.
We will probably leave the Florida panhandle about Monday to start home.
 
wackymac said:
We live in Ocala near 484 and 200 in Oak Run.  No house damage.  The good news is a tree blew down in our back yard.  It was leaning anyway and very ugly so I was happy to see it on the ground.  11.2 inches of rain.
Didn't lose power.  Still windy though.
Click to expand...

Super  :))
 
We're on 10 acres in Alachua County, east of Gainesville. We have lots of standing water and around 3 dozen trees down on the property, mostly pines and water oaks, but thankfully none on the house, shop, warehouse or our trailer!  Not sure how that happened, but as Momma used to say, "clean living does it every time!" Still no power, but the generator is running the house (no water pump,or a/c) but all things considered, we got away pretty well. Our fall trip has been postponed for a couple of weeks, but we hope to be on the road to cooler climes and pretty fall colors in another couple of weeks!
 
Our brand new 40 foot travel trailer that we just put on our new permanent Rv lot in Key Largo is totaled by the storm surge.
The trailer sustained no wind damage since the hurricane tie downs held it in place perfectly and I had the sliding glass patio doors protected with 3/4" plywood, but who would have expected a storm surge that  went through it?
  We are headed down this coming week end to salvage what we can of the contents and see where we go from here.
We also had a brand new washer and drier in a large dock box at the back of the trailer which are now just junk

Jack L
 
but who would have expected a storm surge that  went through it?
Click to expand...

I guess all your neighbors were not Keys veterans either? Anybody who lives there could/should have warned you that a storm surge of 6-10 feet is pretty much guaranteed if a hurricane passes through or even near the Keys. That's why all newer houses are on stilts - required by the building code for Monroe County.
 
Our trailer in East Naples is about 10 miles from Marco Island, (off highway 951),  and about 15 miles from Naples city centre.  Although damage reports are spotty, there is no electricity in our area, FPL estimates repairs by 22 Sept only. There is a boil water advisory in Collier County, there is little/no cell service as a tower was reported knocked down in the area. No flooding reported. Many sheds sustained damage or disappeared. Roof tiles missing on homes nearby. Many trees down/destroyed. Gasoline unavailable or in short supply, food shortages in markets, with long lineups to get anything. As a result we have been advised NOT to go there for now. At least 12 permanent residents of our park sheltered in a clubhouse in the park and all are fine.
 
JackL said:
Our brand new 40 foot travel trailer that we just put on our new permanent Rv lot in Key Largo is totaled by the storm surge.
The trailer sustained no wind damage since the hurricane tie downs held it in place perfectly and I had the sliding glass patio doors protected with 3/4" plywood, but who would have expected a storm surge that  went through it?
  We are headed down this coming week end to salvage what we can of the contents and see where we go from here.
We also had a brand new washer and drier in a large dock box at the back of the trailer which are now just junk

Jack L
Click to expand...
The huge majority of hurricane damage is not from wind but from storm surge.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
I guess all your neighbors were not Keys veterans either? Anybody who lives there could/should have warned you that a storm surge of 6-10 feet is pretty much guaranteed if a hurricane passes through or even near the Keys. That's why all newer houses are on stilts - required by the building code for Monroe County.
Click to expand...

Yes, we knew that and gambled. (fortunately we have complete insurance coverage)

the Monroe county building code doesn't apply to RV's accept in regards to hurricane tie downs.

Keep in mind, that many houses that were built before that code was put in are completely legal. they just cannot get insurance.

Jack L
 
Well, Irma is gone and now we have another disaster brewing.....the dadgummed love bugs are here again.  :-\ :-\ :mad: :mad:
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
I guess all your neighbors were not Keys veterans either? Anybody who lives there could/should have warned you that a storm surge of 6-10 feet is pretty much guaranteed if a hurricane passes through or even near the Keys. That's why all newer houses are on stilts - required by the building code for Monroe County.
Click to expand...

I just got off the phone a little while ago with a full timer(old timer) who has lived there since the early ninties and he said that at least a half dozen ones came close (this is Key largo) and the only one that sent in a surge that did any damage was in late 1990's and that was only a foot where we are.

jack L
 
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