Greyhawk

@PJC said:
Best wishes to all of our Florida paddling community friends (and others, of course) in the coming days. I’m very worried for one of our paddling friends (an Ozark rendezvouser) who bought a home two years ago in Ft. Myers very near the Sanibel causeway, which by this morning’s reports now looks to be in the direct path of the storm’s center. There are some very fine boats and an unbelievably fine piano at risk there. No answer to phone calls - must be on the road, hopefully with trailer.

This has been a rough month for our southern friends. For those who haven’t heard, CasitaAnita’s trailer in Corpus Chrisi was the only trailer in her trailer park undamaged by Harvey. (Must be good karma, eh?) I spoke with TexasLady in Beaumont last week and she and David are all right though they were “on an island” at that time. Has anyone heard from Barb & Danny, VeggieAnnie, or Osprey since Harvey?

With Harvey barely past, Irma not even ashore yet, and Jose in the pipeline… this could be a string of weather disasters like we’ve never seen in our lifetimes.

Good luck to you tjalmy, greyhawk, and everyone. Be safe.

PS: And how about Frank in Miami? I haven’t seen a recent post from him but have long enjoyed his posts. But then I haven’t been watching as closely as in the past.Anyone know him or seen him recently ?

He hasn’t posted here in a long time, but is Mark (mjamja) from Corpus Christi OK?

@Overstreet said:
We boarded up and left the house in NE Fla. The neighbor is “renting” our generator. Price is keeping the freezer powered.

Lounging at daughters in Alabama. Current track brings a tropical storm over the house in Alabama. Nice visit with the Grands.

Neighbor reports water up to patio. Additional 4 to 6 feet expected. :o Would make kayak launching easier.,…less carrying from rack to water.

@Overstreet said:

Neighbor reports water up to patio. Additional 4 to 6 feet expected. :o Would make kayak launching easier.,…less carrying from rack to water.

Really hope the foretasted water levels are wrong. Heck 4 to 6 feet would solve a lot of lifting too!
Power is out at my Dad’s place in Longwood, but they are hooked up to a generator so the frig and freezer are good, and he can watch TV if he wants.

Stayed at a friends house during the hurricaine and just got back home now. We got lucky, no damage to our home but had alot of yard debris to clean up. Even though Irma had shifted quite aways from us the damage and flooding around here was staggering in some places. We passed a couple of homes that had water up to their doorknobs on the front door. Can’t imagine what it must be like for folks closer to the center of Irma. Hope the other Florida paddlers survived alright.
Kayak_Ken

Good to hear your house is OK Ken. My Dad’s is fine. They have 2 head high piles of yard debris at the road now. No power,but are connected to a generator so the frigid an freezer are good. No AC so looking forward to full power. Many have it much worse they feel lucky.

Just heard from Frank, all are well with the only issue is no power. Also tree fell on their house, but electric chainsaw won’t do him any good! Greyhawk is antsy to get back to his house (lives in the keys). Also have to eat through their refrigerator!

All’s well in Leesburg. Had the eye go over us around 0330. Well protected here from the 60 mph winds. Lost a few large branches of the Red Cedar, but nothing else. Power out for only about 12 hours. Feeling very blessed!

Water didn’t get any higher. Lots of panic around rising water and news reports.

Lost a 24" caliper gum tree. Didn’t like it anyway.

Good news guys!

Moved from Ohio to Hilton Head three months ago so this was our first experience with a mandatory evacuation. Not fun. Left Friday and return home Tuesday to find all just fine. Realize how lucky we are when viewing the Fl devastation. Heart goes out to those folks.

Such a huge storm! Friend clear up in N GA mts had severe winds and rain and lost several trees. Hoping for a calmer Atlantic for the next couple months!

Welcome to hurricane alley.

@string said:
Welcome to hurricane alley.

The video and photos I’ve seen are heartbreaking. The destruction in some areas is so overwhelming I can’t imagine where one would start to clean it up. Glad to hear good news from those posting in this thread. Hoping Grayhawk’s place didn’t get hit severely.

Jut got power back in key Largo. Structurally my place did well but flooded the interior with salt water so it’s considered uninhabitable by FEMA, so we’ll see what happens. Kayak did fine…

@stevet said:

Such a huge storm! Friend clear up in N GA mts had severe winds and rain and lost several trees. Hoping for a calmer Atlantic for the next couple months!

It was unusual.

@grayhawk said:
Jut got power back in key Largo. Structurally my place did well but flooded the interior with salt water so it’s considered uninhabitable by FEMA, so we’ll see what happens. Kayak did fine…

OUCH! Glad you and kayak are OK, though.

A week into this mess. Not as bad in the upper Keys as the southern Keys are totally devastated. My section has about 90% power back but hard to bring up the homes after service boxes have been underwater. Most of my neighbors are totaled but some are fighting to bring back their places. My trailer had 15" of saltwater throughout and all appliances are gone. Power won’t come up and not worth pouring money into a sick place that will have problems for years to come. I decided to downsize and put a deposit on a brand new travel trailer with all the bells and whistles.
Downsizing to an RV makes sense in my case and having the ability to possibly run out of harm’s way is attractive.
Most of my neighbors are snowbirds and can’t believe our reports then are devastated when seeing their property.

Now where can I get one of those moose stickers?

A special thanks to Frank and Sally for taking a keys rat in.

The saying goes “When you live by the water, sometimes you live in the water”

“If you don’t know history, you are bound to repeat it.”
Back when people had a clue, beach houses were modest places that could be easily and cheaply repaired. And they were built like tanks. On SC beaches you can still see a few, usually between monstrosities that make great hurricane targets.

@grayhawk
So sorry for all the losses down there but what counts most is that you’re okay. Good your kayak is unharmed as well. Tiny house living sounds like a grand plan, especially if you can move yourself and your home out of harms way.

An RV sounds like a great solution. You just have to figure out how to transport the boats.

@pikabike said:
An RV sounds like a great solution. You just have to figure out how to transport the boats.

The problem is most of the RV trailers turn into park models. They loose mobility with Florida rooms and metal roofs over the slides, and car ports and sheds.