Ian is driving me out of Florida.
Last edited Wed Sep 28, 2022, 06:39 PM - Edit history (1)
125 mph winds. Not much to be optimistic about.
Battened down the outside of the house. Have ten extra gallons of gas in the trunk. If I leave in the AM, I think I can beat the traffic rush on Tuesday, because once it starts raining it will be a pain in the neck to escape this state. Heading to Alabama, which is an hour away from Tallahassee. It's at least on higher ground. I think I don’t want to go through this particular hurricane in a double wide by a lake. The car’s packed with all I’d still need to get by with just in case the whole house gets totaled. Cuz ya nevah know.
And as the saying goes, I don't want to go through things that don't kill me but make me stronger anymore. Especially in a DeSantis state.
With any luck I'll come back in a few days to an intact house, a standing backyard tree, and start again. Love y'all.
EDIT: See updates labeled below. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
Even being 20 miles inland is a huge difference. Alabama will be fine.
However, local evacuations get crowded. Best to get out now.
However, just the process of evacuation is not without risk. More people died from trying to evacuate during Hurricane Rita than Rita. Vehicles ran out of gas. It was 100 degrees. People collapsed from heat exhaustion. After Rita, they set up evacuation zones for low lying areas, rather trying to move 6 million people across the state.
** Storm evacuees stand on the side of Highway 290 that became a parking lot as people attempt to flee the approach of Hurricane Rita in Houston on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005. State and local officials have taken a beating for waiting until millions of Hurricane Rita evacuees had been trapped in gridlock for more than 24 hours before they opened Houston's major highways to one-way outbound traffic. But the Texas Department of Transportation says it wasn't easy to convert 487 miles of highway, including two interstates, to one-way traffic. (AP Photo/Ron Heflin, File)
During the evacuation from
Hurricane Rita, many vehicles, such as these on the side of Interstate 45 in Huntsville, either broke down or ran out of gasoline.
The worst traffic jam in Houston history began 12 years ago today
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-weather/hurricanes/article/Hurricane-Rita-9236850.php#photo-5228604
Thousands who evacuated from the Bayou City would have been better off if they had just stayed home, made a batch of margaritas and watched TV.
This is what they say about hurricanes:
Run from the water. Hunker down from the wind.
I don't know how this applies to mobile homes. I would get out. Local shelters are usually good even in Florida because they are inland.
Wind from hurricanes rarely kills
Storm surge is deadly and extremely damaging.
Spin off flooding from rain and tornados are often an inland issue. However, this is always a risk and can happen as far north as Ohio.
They are prepping although they won't leave. It worries me because they are rural and surrounded by trees. Even though they aren't on the coast, they still get tornadoes that spawn off the storm. She just left Colorado, visiting me. I wish she had stayed longer.
I'm glad you're leaving. It's smart.
Got a spare room here, if you want to drive 8 or so hours away from Ian. Might be over by the time you turn around and drive back. 
especially in your case. 
Please keep us up to date on your situation.
Take care, Bill. Please keep us posted.
Take care, Bill. Please keep us posted.
It's always better to be able to live to tell about it. One hundred twenty five mph winds sounds really scary. I know I couldn't bare it. I think you're definitely making the best decision for the circumstances. It's hard to lose stuff but it's only stuff and you are way more valuable. Good luck! Safe travels! Stay encouraged.
❤️ pants
I was fully traumatized by H. Michael even though my pets and I evacuated to my ancestral grounds in Georgia. We’re still here.
Be safe, best of luck on the drive and throughout.
your home intact after the winds die down, ancianita
I have already started texting family down in GA to keep a close eye on this storm since it is an efficient rain-maker, along with the winds. Me and my weather buddies up here also have an eye on it as this area seems to have "a thing" with "I" storms (Isabel, Ivan, Irene, isias, Ida).
I also just found this for up here (probably due to all the rivers and feeder creeks across the state)
-
A study from First Street Foundation found that Pennsylvania is at high risk for structural damage from flooding, both from natural and manmade disasters.
By Harrison Cann
March 9, 2022
From Johnstown to the remnants of Hurricane Ida, almost every town in the commonwealth has a flood story. In 1972, the remnants of Hurricane Agnes battered the Harrisburg area, causing more than $13 billion in damage in 2022 dollars and forcing Gov. Milton Shapp to evacuate the governor’s mansion. Just a few years later, Johnstown experienced the third most devastating flood in its history, resulting in 84 deaths and damages totaling $2 billion in 2022 dollars. Then, in 2004, the remnants of Hurricane Ivan swept through central Pennsylvania causing more than $300 million in damages.
While officials at all levels of government have worked to improve flood prevention, mitigation and recovery efforts in the decades since these disasters, a troubling new report indicates that they may still not be ready for what’s to come. A study conducted by the nonprofit research and technology group First Street Foundation analyzing the potential impact of increased flooding has found that the commonwealth trails only Florida for potential structural damage, and that three Pennsylvania cities are at serious risk of office, retail, and residential damage. The foundation’s 4th National Risk Assessment on Climbing Commercial Closures takes into account the potential structural damage, lost days of operation and downstream economic impacts based on current and future estimates of flood hazards.
The analysis, which measured the flood risks and impacts in metropolitan areas, found that Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg will face significant damage-related losses, and that Pennsylvania as a whole will see the second-highest aggregate total structural damage costs of $1.22 billion among all states this year. “As flooding severity and frequency changes along with a changing climate, increasing commercial flood risk understanding is especially important,” according to the study. “Understanding the flood risk to commercial markets is crucial to providing communities and policymakers the information needed to guide investment, mitigation, and adaptation.”
Flood Map: The dots represent the model's expectation of flood risk in a given area, with darker dots representing increasing depth, severity, and likelihood of flood. (First Street Foundation)
In the Pittsburgh region, about 36% of all office, retail and multi-unit residential properties are at risk of flooding this year. The region’s total estimated damages amount to nearly $450 million – the third-highest in the nation. Philadelphia, with an estimated $208 million in damages, and Harrisburg, with an estimated $148 million in damages, rank 11th and 15th in the nation, respectively.
(snip)
https://www.cityandstatepa.com/politics/2022/03/pennsylvania-could-be-second-most-flooded-state-2022-behind-florida-new-study-shows/364205/
Speaking of the troublesome I's, let me throw in Irma, which took our house's back porch off in 2017. Now it's built back better and probably will hold the whole house down with Ian. 
You know, the PA flooding seems like such a waste. It seems like our recent infrastructure plan could help innovate the moving of water. My oldest son in Newcastle, AU, has mentioned their cistern system, with diversionary flood drains toward them. Fresh water is so valuable now, one would think we'd have devised a way to send water pipelines from cisterns (or some other catch basin system) to drought areas out West, especially red states.
It's a good time to be somewhere else.
Best wishes.
I could have written your post almost word for word in your position, including concern for my tree. Chances are very good, of course, that your home will be just fine when you return, but fingers crossed anyway.
Please keep us posted when you can.
here I am, post-COVID exile, slammin' DeSantis and pushing Charlie Crist and Val badass Demings on social media every chance I get.
I hope DU'ers donate to them so us FL Democrats can join y'all in a winning lap!
Hopefully traffic wasn't bad and that you have accommodations at your destination.
I think DeSantis is worse than any hurricane.....
Will he be pulling one of his Texas stunts during all of this?
I've been in four major hurricanes in my life -- enough for one lifetime.
Made it to Dothan, Alabama. Pretty little town, where the wind won't get above 20 mph and the land is dry and green. It's a beautiful state, really, and so far, I've met very nice folks and no trumpculties. On the road I counted at least twenty electrical trucks, in groups of 3-5, speeding in the opposite direction toward Florida.
I'll return home when I know there is electricity and the roads aren't jammed.
If you can, fellow Floridians, please share what you experienced, or heard about, since you're at the tip of Ian's spear. 
You are tough as nails, because to withstand hours of roaring wind, rain and loud bangs of wreckage will change you.
THANK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FOR YOUR CARE AND SUPPORT! 
Tis coming, 2 million people on the road from Tampa metro?, won't be a hotel left in GA
Starting to ramp up...
I was in Zone D, which didn't call for evacs, but with a house on a lake, and 5" - 10"+ of sky rain and even more in runoff, I knew ducks would probably be swimming in my sloped yard.
That's a scary spinning bucket of water you posted, thanks.
Another question, why would they head to GA when that's the path Ian takes?!
They should be going outside the hurricane cone because, as malaise says, Ian is a whirlpool of cascading water.
When you're trying to drive out of a hurricane path, the greater danger is water.
By Tuesday, alternative routes will get folks out of the state faster than 75 and 95.
Glad you made it safely!
by "authorities" to evacuate and when they do, today and tomorrow, they'll be running into planetary downpour as they go where they're directed. 
And will make getting to safety all the more stressful and crazy.
Because it's so true.
That said, I've also seen a lot of Georgia plates here. I think they don't want the heavy rains and wind, either.
Good thinking to evacuate. There is an individual on youtube.. the channel Tropical Tidbits, whom I like a lot and think his technical updates on hurricanes are really great. No fuss just the facts as they unfold; every half day or so. Levi Cohen on twitter. 
My Mom used to live in Ft. Myers before she had enough and moved inland. She had her "hurricane kit" ready at all times.
Get the heck out of town. Lets hope its not another year than brings storm after storm like 2004. Get on some high ground and hunker down. You can replace things, but you are irreplaceable, my dear ancianita. 
I'm in slammin' Alabama. High and dry in Dothan. Hangin' out and checking the locals.
Awww, you warm my heart, Serge.
but never stayed there. You'll be safe there. It'll be rainy, so don't get wet. Being made from sugar you'd melt, and we wouldn't want that!
OK, I've spread the fertilizer thick enough around here. 😉 Stay safe my friend.
rail on about the environmental endangerment that floods of climate change are for us humans. And how authoritarians like DeSantis twist disaster and pandemics into dramas and blame games and outright defamation of those who want power to the people.
Journalism never goes after this anti-democratic playbook because it's owned, too. Only live action real civic journalists can force honesty into journalism that loves to report the slow roll wreckage but never who/what caused it.
and they'll just progress below speed limits and get caught up in constant downpours. Orlando might not be flooded but by the time they get there they'll have slogged through interstate rivers of water, anyway.
If you've got a car and didn't head out of state, there's only higher ground to get to but really no escape from Ian.
Let us know if you can! Be safe is the BEST thing to do. 
At least that's what I think the chart and comments indicate.
https://downdetector.com/status/fpl/bradenton/
MY town's electricity is still on! YAY!
Stay safe
Well done sis
ABC Action Weather just showed this 5 pm map.
https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6ca9491/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1280x720+0+0/resize/1280x720!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe1%2Fd7%2F7613acb14edca9edc39ef2a870fc%2Ftrack-storm1.jpg
My neighbor down the street from me said:
"The 5 p.m. track is in. The storm will continue NE with the strongest winds in Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, Hardee and Polk counties with a gradual weakening trend to a Cat 1 by 2 a.m.
WOOHOO!!!!!
Please take note of the wind speeds and also take note of the cone!
We are exactly on the left, outer edge of the cone, if not entirely out of the cone. Also take note the path has changed to our favor.
I will say this, with relative certainty, this evening we will experience a moderation of wind and reach a plateau, then it will begin to subside.
From that point, it's merely a matter of when we decide to crack open the champagne!"
So, with the electricity still on, and if the Florida Dept of Transportation says roads are passable, I think I can head back sooner than expected. Feeling relief. 
And optimistic. 
home.
