Hurricane Irma

Byker28i

Byker28i

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Finally managed to get hold of friends who live in Tampa. They've been told to evacuate so are currently in a huge traffic jam heading north out of Florida to their daughter in Tennessee.
This is hitting home. It's on the wrong side of Florida to the storm, they live in a residential area away from the bay but the storm is so large and is going to hit at full force, they are expecting serious damage. I think the highest point where they live is 32 feet above seal level.
They told me a neat trick.freeze a cup of water, put a coin on top once frozen and put it in your freezer.
If the coin is still on top when you get back then the freezer hasn't lost power. If it's on the bottom of frozen water, then the food needs to be thrown away.
 
Florida's Governor has told people it's too late now....the roads are totally gridlocked... To seek shelter where they are and leave their cars.

Irma is now downgraded to category 3, but I wouldn't want to be there.
 
viv1969 said:
Florida's Governor has told people it's too late now....the roads are totally gridlocked... To seek shelter where they are and leave their cars.

Irma is now downgraded to category 3, but I wouldn't want to be there.
Click to expand...

Katrina was only a Category 3. Category rating is only for wind speed, and wind isn't the biggest danger, it is water, aka storm surge. Harvey was a weaker storm than even Katrina when it hit, but the amount of water it brought is what caused the damage. Irma is MASSIVE, and it's potential for a storm surge therefor is big.

 
Raymond Lin said:
Katrina was only a Category 3. Category rating is only for wind speed, and wind isn't the biggest danger, it is water, aka storm surge. Harvey was a weaker storm than even Katrina when it hit, but the amount of water it brought is what caused the damage. Irma is MASSIVE, and it's potential for a storm surge therefor is big.

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Yes, I know.
I don't believe I stated "only" category 3. :thinking:
The point is, that an awful lot of people seem to have left it very late to try to get away.
 
That's why they didn't call for the evacuation of Houston, too many people would have been stuck in jams when the flooding hit.

Some have stayed behind fearing looting, in Tampa they issued mandatory evacuation notices only yesterday fro zone A. Whilst it's currently a category 3, it's expected to pick up on ferocity before hitting Tampa.
And just to give you an idea how flat Tampa is...

upload_2017-9-10_7-22-40.png

https://maps.hillsboroughcounty.org/HEAT/HEAT.html
 
Newsthis morning is it's picked back up to category 4 as it's hit the keys
 
Byker28i said:
Newsthis morning is it's picked back up to category 4 as it's hit the keys
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And shifted west, which is bad as it means there is more water between it and the coast = storm surge = biggest cause of damage.

Irma basically will batter the west coast of Florida all the way up and pushing water against it for the next 24 hours.
 
Now down to a category 2. I've heard from my friends, they've evacuated to her daughters house in Bowling green which took them over 12 hours for the 90 min journey, but looking at the track of Irma, I'm not sure that's the best place to go.
 
I have family on the east coast. Seems that got battered by strong winds and heavy rains but other than a some uprooted trees and a few missing roof tiles they're all okay.
 
Catfish down the main street,
https://BANNED/Breaking911/status/907092352036208640
 
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