Ian Comin' - FL Hurricane

Lived within 50 yards of the Atlantic as a kid in NYC. Watched cars and garbage cans wash from the ocean side of the peninsula to the bay side during the most severe hurricanes of the 50s and 60s --- and there were many hurricanes. Sometimes had to move to the top floor of an apartment bulding from the family home when the storm surge waters were forecasted to be unusually high.

When I lived near Boston Harbror, saw a few bad blows there too. Then. Moved north of Boston, further inland so things got "relatively" easier during hurricane season..

I much prefer Nor'easters to hurricanes, that is, if I had to choose.

I’ve not been through a hurricane myself, but I have a brother in New Orleans who has experienced a few (post Katrina) and another in Tokyo who has experienced typhoons.

Best wishes to those facing this storm.

Wife's parents are in North Port and are expecting a direct hit. I was there in 2004 for hurricane Charlie and it was no joke. Stay safe.

My neighbors (here in Atlanta) asked me to dog sit this week as they head to the Miami are to visit their son at his college. 

Something tells me I won’t be needed!

Stay safe, Floridians! This looks like it could be a bad one.

I lived in Long Island (NY) for most of my adult life, so I've been through more than my share of hurricanes, including Hurricane Gloria, Hurricane Irene, and finally that bitch Hurricane Sandy. After Sandy, I had no power for a month. I have friends who lost their homes. I've also had flooded basements, and had a tree fall on my house.

I honestly think I sort of have hurricane PTSD as a result of all the hurricanes I've been through, so when I moved to Massachusetts a few years ago, I purposely did not move anywhere near the coast, so I'd be out of the path of most hurricanes. I moved to Central Massachusetts instead. 

This will be our third during our time in Orlando. Matthew (2016) stayed just out to sea but still walloped the Atlantic coast pretty hard still. Irma in (2017) did lots of damage on its way up the state.

We have taken our normal precautions,  but on the whole those who have been in Central Florida for awhile now aren’t too worried. As others have said in should be Cat 1 or TS. The sheer amount of rain is concerning at 12-15 or more inches.

definitely thinking of our neighbors on the gulf coast though. This thing hitting as a Cat 3 or 4 will be a rough ride. 

Stay safe all!

Rode out a few minor one's in the late 90's while in Virginia Beach. Was in the Outer Banks for Wilma in 2005 and thankfully that ended up just being a rough 2 days and nothing terrible.

My brother and his family are ready living in Port Charlotte 

He said whack 

Sparty should have hired Hurricane Ian for their head coach. 

It would have destroyed their organization from within for free at least!

In Fort Myers now. Looks like we are getting the eye. Too late to leave, so time to hunker down. So far it's just some heavy but gentle rain. But that eye is going to be devastating. If it misses just to the north, then the storm surge is going to be brutal. It's going to be one of the two evils.

Update: watched Devin and Borges until falling asleep. Looks like the eye is going to miss us to the west, for which I am thankful. Glad to be in the city and not out on Sanibel or Captiva. Everyone is still very concerned about the peak surge later today after the eye passes.

Further update (10am):  Now the silly thing has decided to turn right and head more toward the east. Looks like the city of Fort Myers will be catching the edge of the eyewall in a couple hours. So far it's not awful here in town. Windy and rainy, but Ann Arbor gets storms more severe at times. Of course, the duration of a hurricane makes a huge difference. Hour after hour... 

Stay safe everyone! My son’s name is Ian so we’re having fun at his expense at least. Might get some of the leftover storm up in Virginia.

I have to take the blame for this. I just moved to Lakeland a few weeks ago and it looks like the eye of this is headed straight for me.

Tied everything up in New Tampa late this afternoon, then drove to Stuart.  Steady but light rain on the road to Stuart, no wind, but a few traffic backups near something called "Yeehaw Junction".  (I'm not at all happy with the GPS system!).  Stuart, WPB area having multiple tornado warnings now.  TV says a few may have touched down.  Staying the night before a (scheduled) flight from MIA to Europe tomorrow morning.  Hope I make it out!!

Watch out along the coast west and southwest of Ft. Meyers late Wed afternoon/evening. 

Stay save, Florida.

Favorite relatives there. 

As of yesterday, I was right in the path of landfall.  Now as of 4am Wed morning, it is to make landfall further south perhaps into Lee and Charlotte counties.  I'm up early as the winds woke me up.  Worked our asses off yesterday getting ready (putting up shutters, hanging hurricane blankets, food prep, and other things like filling up the cooler full of beer in anticipation of losing power).  

A huge thanks to the 30,000 linemen out there ready to restore power to Florida.  

Stay safe MGoFloridians.  

I was in Miami and was to end up in Tampa this week on the last leg of a business trip. I checked into my hotel in tarpon springs Monday and was told that I could only stay one night as there was a mandatory evacuation. I’m now typing this in a hotel in atlanta waiting to board a spirit flight at 7:30 back to Detroit. Don’t judge lol. I flew delta, but they seemed to hop on the price gouging bandwagon as flights jumped up north of $600 so this was my only option to guarantee a ride home. I’ve never been through a hurricane and won’t be able to say I was. I did get to go through the hell of evacuation routes and fuel lines as well as trying to find water. My supposed 6.5 Hr drive to atlanta took 9 hrs yesterday. It was like a scene from a movie watching the hurricane prep. My heart goes out to Floridians and pray they stay safe. Looks like a monster and I’m glad I’ll be home freezing my ass of by 10. 

Live in North Fort Myers, second story condo. Staying put as most everyone in the Gated Community.  Some left last time with Irma and had a hard time getting back to their homes or Condo. I spent the last two days help neighbors put up storm shutters. The new accordion styles in the upstairs units are not bad to close down, but the lower unit use heavy metal ones with sharp edges. Needless to say at 78 yrs old I'm a bit tired, but we worked together to help the ones that needed it. These are solid buildings, the only problem for this area could be the storm surge. I'm in a evacuation area so were on our own as of now. Been in one hurricane in North Carolina and now my second in Florida. I'm sure we will lose power at sometime but we gather as neighbors and cookout every evening as a group until power is restored. As bad as this might sound I am retired here and love it 

It’s a CAT 5 hurricane now…prayers to those in the path of the storm

10' + of storm surge into the bay plus another 1'+ of rainfall is going to be devastating....

I'm in the Bradenton area, nothing too crazy this morning. Mild gusts and light rain mostly, though rain is increasing. Planning for power outage by end of the day. We have a generator so as long as it's not an extended outage we'll be good. Definitely praying for those south of here, getting a direct hit from a cat 4 is no joke.

I have lived in southwest FL for 30 years  .I  have been through several cat 4- 5 storms. My concern now is that I  might not have power for Saturdays game . Any suggestions on best streaming service to watch on my laptop or phone. I  checked Hulu they want 45 bucks for three months .looking for suggestions

I have lived in Naples for 30 years been through several cat. 4-5 storms. My concern is that I will not have power for Saturdays game .I  need suggestions  for best streaming service to watch on my laptop or phone HELP

I'm in Plant City, FL. Expected to get smacked tonight by the western eye wall. 

Another impact you forgot to mention is that the Piney Point phosphate waste dump in Tampa Bay is almost certain to either collapse or have the storm surge take a lot of the waste into Tampa Bay. This will have an insane environmental impact on the marine life of Tampa Bay

I was stationed in Charleston when Hugo came through and wrecked the place.  However, we were on deployment in the North Atlantic at the time.  No pictures of what family went through, and only tidbits of news updates.  It was, essentially: do your job, hope for the best, and get home.  We got home ~2 months after it hit because we left only one week before.

I also went through Isabel when it came up through Virginia.  I lost power for ~5 days, but had 7 downed trees in the yard to keep me busy.  Fortunately, no other damage and I was able to borrow a friends generator, so things were okay.

I hope everyone in Florida comes out the other side safe and secure.  Good luck, peeps!

They should call it Hurricane Mel Tucker.

Costs hundreds of millions of dollars and leaves nothing positive behind.

I experienced the impact of (ex-)hurricane Ophelia in 2017 on the SW coast of Ireland. It was an extra-tropical storm at that time, but with borderline Cat 1 sustained winds and gusts over 100 mph. Apparently the most powerful storm in a century for the Irish coast.

Everything shut down for like a day (highly unusual for a coastal storm in an area that sees a lot of them) including my workplace, so it was basically an extra day off. I recall going out for a walk at lunchtime and thinking it wasn't too bad until a wooden sign flew past my head. I made a prompt retreat indoors. Fortunately I never lost power which was a blessing. The only other impact was that a good amount of roof insulation materials landed in my backyard and tree branches and roof shingles were scattered in the streets.

It shows you how powerful the tropics are that a storm like that is one that will be remembered for generations in a country that sees a lot of Atlantic storms, and yet it's much much weaker than a major hurricane of the type that will hit SW Florida today.

The storm surge is what took out my dad's place on Big Pine Key during Irma in 2017.  He was still in Michigan when it hit but we went down as soon as they opened up the Keys to traffic. The house withstood the winds but the surge was 3 feet high in his house!  It took out an extra car he had there as well!! 

They are predicting even higher surges for Ian!!  If you are there, be safe and find some way to get to higher ground.  

The old man lives in South Venice, this is his first foray into serious nature. 

He just text and said "can't really see out the window." The eyewall is going to destroy Manasota Key. He lives on Manasota Beach Road. 

Probably should have, you know, left. Bonehead!!!

Looks like its going to go right through the Ft. Myers / Naples area. Not that there is a good area for a hurricane to rip through, but we used to spend at at least a week or so every year vacationing on Sanibel/Captiva Island. One of my favorite memories growing up was going down the main road on each island and just being covered by mangrove trees on either side. Just like this big, beautiful canopy. And then Hurricane Charlie came through in 2004 and essentially destroyed everything. Those trees were going to take decades to grow back, if not longer. 

I know the lives of the people living there and their businesses/homes are more important than some trees, but the island, particularly Captiva, has just never felt like its been the same since then. And now I have to believe Ian is going to re-create a lot of the damage that Charlie caused almost twenty years ago. Those islands may never be the same again. 

Times like this make me grateful to live in Michigan where we may have crummy weather sometimes, but don't have to worry about something like this.

Best of luck Florida Wolverines!

Zoiks!

I've never been through a Hurricane, but I have friends & family that live in the gulf region.

Parents of a friend live in Ft Myers and they said that they'll have to rebuild their house due to flooding/damage.