FLfinfan back on the grid

[FLfinfan]

Hey all. I'm alive and well (sort of). No power for almost 7 days now. Just got it back. No water, gas, ice, phone or cell phone etc..... for the longest time. Cane took 2 days to go through. Longest I have ever lived through, even if you combined all the time from all the others. Will fill you in on all the particulars about how Titan fared (outside for all of it), house damage, and crazy, good, bad, and unbelievable crap. Gotta go find a big steak and some cold beer. Believe it or not, I missed you guys. Thanks to all of you who PM'ed or e-mailed me or posted. Could not check or respond till now.
Will talk more tonight or tomorrow.

[PHOEBISIS]

Yeah,we sorta missed you.There was a dog thread yesterday,and threads a while back,and your absence was noted.
7 days,no power.Generator would have come in handy.I was a little off on the prices.Home Depot has a 3500 watt-Coleman) for ~$500(or maybe $400) and a 5500 watt Generac for close to $700.Just a couple of years ago the 5000 watt was $499.Were generators available where you were?
Figured you were off the grid,but you had my #.I did hear-on the news-that State and Fed officials were strongly discouraging outsiders from coming into the effected areas.
Ivan is looking bad.My guess is that you guys in the middle of Fla will luck out,and it will hit the panhandle and the Miss. Gulf coast.Glad you and yours are ok.Charlie

[37L1]

We missed you like crazy!

We were all worried on how you fared through that ordeal. Thank goodness you are alive and still kicking. Hope FLA is done with the 'canes.

Ivan stay away!!!!!!

37L1

[rawze]

once again it looks like florida is going to get hit. god bless everyone and keep us posted

[FLfinfan]

Between Charley and Frances I almost can’t remember what day it is. But after seeing the date, who could forget (9-11). I feel like I have lost 2 weeks of my life. All the days have blurred together. I am mentally and physically exhausted. Please excuse mis-spellings and poor grammar. I have not slept more than 1 hour at a time since this all started (Frances).

We started getting feeder bands early (6am) on Sat the 4th. The day got worse and worse, bands started coming in closer and closer together, with the night being pretty scary. Got the dog out when we could between bands.

The Titan was parked out on the south side of the house, backyard, inside my 6 foot wooden privacy fence with the double gates, wind was from the north. Our front door and garage door face north. The Xterra was in the garage (because it could fit) and we had it backed up to the door with a full size piece of plywood between them, and the X snugged up against the door. Metal hurricane shutters all around except the front door (steel), the tall narrow side light window by the front door (covered with thick plexi-glass for the storm), and the steel garage door with extra hurricane braces/struts on the inside.
When the wind was from the north, it felt like the front door and garage door would alternate between being blown in and being sucked out. Duct taped the seams in the garage door to keep the rain from being blown between them, worked somewhat till the tape got soaked. We put the big heavy leather couch with 2 recliners built in up against the front door. The Titan was relatively untouched at this point. Just spitting drizzle on Big Red. Only way out of the house was through the front door and around the protected side between my neighbor’s house and mine. Although it was like a wind tunnel it offered more protection than the open side (live on a corner lot), which had a lot of debris flying by. Got the dog out to do his business during infrequent lulls. This went on all night with Frances moving at only 4 mph. Went to sleep on the couch up against the front door with the entire family, me, GF, dog and 2 cats. Probably not to smart but we felt really weird about not weighting down the couch. When the wind would shake the front door it would vibrate through the whole couch but it did not move. Before we did this the door was bowing in with the large gusts. Did not seem wise to do it, but seemed less wise not to do it.
Fell asleep with the eye making land fall just 1 or 2 towns below us (Vero Beach / Fort Pierce). Had the TV on so we could watch progress. Had a panic room set up with heavy-duty jack stands and plywood in a walk in closet. Even had a couple of football helmets set inside the room just in case.

Woke up at 7 am on Sun the 5th to find the eye wall had not moved much and was coming for us. Wind changed to come from the east, the protected side of the house. Protected (Ha Ha) by my neighbors house. House was groaning from sustained winds now. No gusts, just constant sustained winds. Crap was flying around across the front of the house and I could see it through the plexi-glass. Don’t know how my big palm is still standing but it is. It would have gone away from my driveway if it fell so I had to make a decision. Move the Titan so it didn’t get my neighbor’s screened in pool covering wrapped around the Titan or my fence blown into it. The dog had not been out in forever, at least 12 hours, and was jogging around the house because he had to go BAD! Now the open side of the house was protected from the wind. So I decided to take the dog out and see if I could open the double gates to prepare the Titan for the move to the driveway or protected side of the house which was now the west side. When we got to the west side of the house I saw that everyone’s trees were down, crap everywhere and my double gates were blown open but not off the hinges. Remember we could not see anything from inside except facing north out the plexi-glass. Everything else was covered by hurricane shutters. Went around the west side of the house to the south side and was hit by the wind tunnel coming from the eastside. Ducked behind the Titan, which was facing east, taking the 100+ mph wind and rain right in the gullet/ grill. Had a nice semi protected spot behind her tailgate. One time I was really glad she has such a huge @#%$ and weighs a lot. Dog would not go and was very scared. I was too. We could not go back the way we came because the gate doors looked like they could go any minute and the wind was getting worse. Finally after what seemed like forever we made a break for it and made it to the west side of the hose and eventually back inside.
Conferred with the GF and it was agreed that the Titan needed to be moved. The Gf and me went back to the west side and she held open one of the gate doors that was most protected. The other one was held open by cross winds. Jumped into the Titan and started her up right away, but she was stuttering from all the water being driven into he open grills. Had to put her in 4wd to get out of the back yard because it was more swamp than back yard. Made it around to the driveway and got myself back inside. I know…not real smart, but it seemed like the right choice at the time. Wanted to protect our escape pod (the Titan). The winds keep on almost all day and into the night with no let up. It took forever.
The power went out about 8am and it was very dark because of the hurricane shutters and it was dark outside during almost the entire day anyways. Longest day of my life. GF was scared, as was I. Dog had to go to the bathroom. We did have papers down in the garage but the door made so much sound that he didn’t want to be there. Had papers down on the porch also (completely surrounded with hurricane shutters on the outside) with hunks of sod on the papers to make them to smell just right for bathroom business. He did not wanna go there either because the wind sounded like a evil banshee.
Could hear the house groaning all the time. Was sure I was losing soffeting, trim and shingles. Living with flashlights and battery TV all day. Would have to get used to this for a long time. By nightfall on the second day it was still on us. Could not see the radar on TV because it was a tiny B&W tube and was staticy. TV and Radio keep talking about all areas other than us, so we didn’t get much help from the media. Would flash a flashlight through the plexi-glass towards my neighbor across the street and he flashed back. He was ok. Sprung 3 leaks. Garage (same area as the Hurricane Charley leak) and now in the panic room and the laundry room too. Not too bad but was still worried. Put buckets down and they did not even fill up ½ way. Went into the attic against GF wishes to see if I could stop any rivers from starting. Yes…I know…not smart. Wanted to protect my 1st and only house. Water was being driven up under the shingles around the dryer vent flashing and running down the dryer vent tube till it crossed AC ductwork. There it was running down the ductwork and coming out the AC vents inside each of the leak locations.

Finally when it broke we had fallen asleep in the panic room, with the whole family. Didn’t have to coax the animals to join us. Have 2 cats also
The next day, Mon the 6th, it looked like a minor bomb went off in our neighborhood. We still were getting backside feeder bands but they let us get the dog out and inspect the damage. Leaks had stopped even though it was still raining. I guess the horizontal rain was the culprit. Regular rain was not a problem. Hurricane was moving away, finally, but we were now under a tornado watch for 8 to 12 hours. A couple touched down, but not by us.
After a quick inspection we had not sustained bad damage. Just a few missing shingles and a lot of trees down and debris everywhere. Gates on fence were still intact but the latch and lock had been bent backwards and the 2 metal posts that had been driven into the ground to hold the fence closed looked like they had plowed a furrow in my yard.

Once the scary part was over the misery began. No water because of a boil water alert. No power to boil the water, but we had lots of bottled water on hand. No phones either. Worst of all no AC, and no breeze because of hurricane shutters. Went around and checked on neighbors, all ok.

Went from Sat the 4th to Sat the 11th without power. Had filled up the bathtub with water and used that and a bucket to make the toilets flush. Had to wear rubber boots to walk around the yard because it was flooded. Monday could not take it any longer and took some shutters down to get whatever breeze we could. Monday was not to bad because it was overcast still and somewhat breezy. Used a portable energy source (Xpower pack we got off of QVC months ago) to run a small fan to make things bearable.
Tues it got hot and there was no breeze. All unshuttered windows were open so the dog was on full alert, especially at night. Weds, Thurs, Fri and today were terrible. Hot and very humid. One day felt like 10. Ran out of laundry so did it in the tub with a mop stick and soap. Hung it up on the porch. House had a tent like smell. Everyday was a chore to go find… ice, gas, food etc…. We were lucky sometimes and found what we needed. Other times we had the civilian version of MRE’s. Tuna and cracker kits or trusty peanut butter. Had to throw out everything in the fridge and freezer on Monday. Tried to clean up yard and fix roof when we could but it was very hot and there was no relief inside the house. Could only do alittle at a time. Allot of the hood had power but we (and 65 others in the hood) did not. That’s hard to look at everyday. Some business’ were great, others like Walmart said they did not have ice but were giving it out the back door to employees who covered the cart it was in with broken down boxes, and took it to their cars. I saw this with my own eyes and was really disgusted. Publix was great. Sam’s club was forcing people to buy memberships to get ice until someone called the local radio station, the one still on the air, and had the manager listen to the dJ’s ripping him over the radio. Then they changed their minds and called it a “mis-communication”. Neighbors on my corner all looked out for each other and when we found ice or gas we got what we could for each other. Some neighbors with power made ice for us and brought it over when we struck out on ice. Gas was a joke. Hit and miss, or none at all. A lot of stores had no food. You had to get up out of your pool of sweat at 5 am just to maybe get lucky somewhere.
Thurs got lucky and found a generator to rent from a friends equipment supply business which was returned by a guy who got his power back, and ran cords to my house and the neighbors houses. We shared a couple of big 26-inch drum fans I have in my garage and could almost fall asleep. I almost never fell asleep more than 1 hour a night so I could protect the generator from thieves. 15 were stolen in 7 hours in Orlando I heard on the car radio. Had to go hunt gas every morning for the genny but there was no gas cans anywhere and even less gas, so my little gas can had to make do. Most business’ were closed or destroyed, so no free AC there. Didn’t use the car too much because gas was hard to come by. Most traffic lights were out, or gone, and people were not using the intersections like a 4 way stop, like you should when the light is out. National guard wearing M16’s type of guns had to work the intersections because morons were blowing through them and T-boning people left and right. DJ’s had to keep ripping people about it for days to get peoples attention. Curfews till yesterday too.
Things got better eventually with area business getting back on their feet. Still no power and FPL was not giving out much info at all while other companies made solid progress and brought customers on line. Finally talked to a old friend who is a fire chief on the beach side (had one of the worst hit areas) and he made a FPL official aware of our problem and, wow, we got power in 24 hours. Took one man and one truck 10 minutes to fix our problem. Nice to have friends like that. I know it is not FPL’s fault and the power truck guys busted their @#%$, they are great, but patience goes out the window when you have no power after 6 days and its 90 degrees in the shade and FPL says you won’t get it back till Sept 18th. Yes…2 full weeks. My patience was gone when I heard that. Had to call in a favor.
Doesn’t sound too bad to those with power… unless you lived in a sweatbox all day for a week. I don’t know how the early settlers did it here. They must have been tough as nails, or didn’t know any better because it (AC) was not around then. I really didn’t miss TV, Internet, fridge or driving a car that much, but no AC here at this time of the year makes you feel 3rd world. Laundry piles up fast and stinks when you sweat out your clothes 5 times a day. Cold showers are not a problem. They were looked forward to, all 7 of them a day, even with boil water alert water.
Sorry so long, but would be even longer if I could remember ½ of what I forgot due to mind bending heat and humidity. I had to ask people what day it was almost everyday, sometimes more than once….in a conversation. I would not wish this experience on anyone…well almost anyone. Such is life in the tropics. Just gotta suck it up and deal with it. But it (complaining) does tend to leak (sweat) out when it’s Sept in Florida.
Dreading Ivan if it turns up the east coast of FL. Hopefully it will die out in the Gulf. Seems like we are almost gonna be out of harms way, but all it takes is one big wobble and this will all start again…only worse.
And for those who say evacuate…that’s a nice thought if you can. It took people 15 hours to make a 2-hour drive to Tampa, and even then canes freaking can and sometimes do go there too. People were running out of gas on the road. Orlando and Tampa were only slightly safer than here with Charley and Frances. Again, sorry so long, but some of you have asked me more than once to post this.
If your thinking of moving to FL…. Is where you are really that bad?

[NITEBLITZ]

Reminded me of when Hugo hit Charlotte, we lost power for 2 weeks. The tornados did as much or more than Hugo did. Nothing worse than wondering when a tree will crash through or when the roof will blow off. I know you and the GF had a couple of very scary nights, the pets too! Of course the clean-up seems to go on for a year afterwards. I remember the song of chainsaws for months and months afterward.

Glad to hear from you, as all have indicated. We all wished the best for ya! We saw a lot of folks from Florida up here in the Charlotte area. Hope things get back to normal for you soon! I guess waxing the Titan is kinda low on your list right now!

NITEBLITZ

[FLfinfan]

oh, forgot to add, thought the Titan was dogged out. Looked like roof shingle scratches and scars everywhere. Turned out to be palm tree husks (like from an ear of corn) all over her. Took 2 washings but she is almost back to normal. Only a few little scratches. Looked like the windows had cataracts (sp?) but it was silt of some kind all over the windows. Had to scrub pretty good to get that off. Still got some kind of grime on the paint that comes off with wax, very faint, gotta get down at an angle to see it. Tried alittle spot with wax and it came off, should be ok. Over all she was lucky. No trees fell on her, no large debris hit her, like fence material or street sign material.

[BudmanHemi]

God bless you and your family. Hopefully Ivan dont take the same path, but if it does please stay safe.

[rrumaner]

Glad to hear you are ok. We were concerned for you and everyone else we could not get in touch with this last week.

[FLfinfan]

Thanks to all well wishers and those concerned! Tons of thanks to those who offered help and assistance, offers were greatly appreciated. There are some great guys here.

[beallendall]

glad to hear you made it safely through FLFinfan, best of luck on recovery and just getting things back to normal. God Speed

[the head]

Good to hear you guys made it in one piece. Sooner or later we'll get our share of the fun in Houston.

[PHOEBISIS]

Good story.The post hurricane heat,and the return to the 19th century is what I remember most-no lights,cooking with charcoal,no AC,no TV.The house is hot and dark ,and outside the air just hangs-no breeze-with high humidity.Nothing to do after dark but listen to the radio,sweat,and try to sleep.Glad you guys did ok.Looks like you might get lucky with Ivan-you need some.Charlie

[my0my0my]

FLfinfan:

I left my frame house for the higer safety of a concrete block home just blocks away. Upon return the roofing materials had been ripped away from the garage and most of the east roof. I ran in to check on my baby parked in the garage.... there was water dripping from a wet ceiling but no damage (yippee!). I too had to go the generator route and search for gas each day (what an experience). Thank God my power returned on Friday afternoon. There are those nearby who still don't have power. Some of the greatest challenge was driving around town, with no power and many missing traffic signal, it was a mess and took forever to get around town. No injuries however so that's great. I'm glad to hear you fared well.

[keane]

Flfinfan: I am very happy you and your loved ones made it through in one piece!! That was a well written post and made for riveting reading. I really hope Ivan sidesteps you guys!! Good luck!!