I'm a little worried. O.T.

[stateside]

We have a Nasty looking storm heading our way a week after the devastation in Houston. The models are showing this one hitting the bottom of the state and coming up Florida. If that happens it will be a less powerful storm (for us) than if it turns after it passes Florida and rips up the coast.

There is no water left in the supermarkets at this point as everyone gears up. I will have to stay through it as I have my parents if they are evacuated with their pets.

We will know better on Thursday if it will be a threat to us and if so Saturday will be the impact day I believe.

[samhubball]

Hope you and yours are all fine Mr stateside

[westcountryvillain]

Hope it disperses before it gets to your area Statesey

[MissWinnie]

I've been reading about Irma ... I'm not sure exactly where you live, Statesey, but I'll be keeping everything crossed for the less powerful storm for you and all your loved ones.

Stay safe, Dad. x

[bongosdad]

Made by nasa apparently

[WOODLANDSWOLF]

Fingers crossed for you and yours mate. Been there with hurricane Ike so know what's involved. But you are in the best country in the world for resilience and helping others so hey, bring it on, right!

[stateside]

Latest info shows it just missing Puerto Rico, but the winds are going to be devastating to it. Then hitting Cuba. God be with those people on those two islands. It will either hit the bottom of Florida 8 pm Sunday ( my guess was way off) or just miss to the West hopefully. Somebody in Florida will be hit with the eye, but the further north it goes before hitting hopefully the weaker the storm will get.

Thanks for all your well wishes. I'll keep you posted.

[yubbywelch]

Surely this is the wrong thread

[stateside]

I'm sure you are right that you are wrong.

[picasso]

Good luck with that Statesy. Batten down the hatches. There could be an even bigger storm in Brum on Saturday if we lose to Brentford.

[stateside]

Thanks P.

Good news for my home is the 2 pm (7pm your time) is showing all the estimates going up the east coast. The storm is still wider than the state but if it holds it will be a little less forceful for us.

My sister and niece are on the east though so the family is not out of this.

[ozfan]

Made by nasa apparently


What are you on about?

Stateside she's a large system right now. Gradual weakening is the forecast for the next few days but still a decent blow when she hits land.

[stateside]

Yeah, the more land she hits will weaken her and as she heads north the water will begin to cool and will weaken her as well. At the moment we are expecting 30-40 mph gusts on Sunday 7:30 am, 40-45 Sunday 7:30 pm and 50 mph Monday 8:30. Not too bad, but the possibility of higher winds hitting and tornadoes means we aren't out of the woods. Also, the hurricane can still turn any way.

[dazzyowen]

Bloody nightmare statsie.. glad your ok and hope that continues for you and your fam etc..

Sad reading about the 2 yr old killed in Caribbean

[stateside]

So tough in those islands. A lot of poverty and insubstantial living conditions.

[stateside]

Last two updates have the storm moving back west both times and we are under a hurricane watch as of the last 15 minutes. We have no plywood at our store, people are buying $36 sheets of fence panels. My store does about $100,000 a day on average weekdays is already at $92,000 with 7-8 more hours before we close (closing early today) and has averaged about $200,000 a day. We are almost out of everything.

[stateside]

Every update has taken the hurricane further west. They still think it will go north. This now means we are in the path. As it stands we will be hit with a cat 3.

[MissWinnie]

You take good care, Dad xx

Hope your family and loved ones are all safe.

[stateside]

Thanks. It is still over Cuba. Its speed dropped from 15 mph to 9mph so it is crawling towards us. It will look like it is losing power, but as soon as it gets back into the Gulf and hits those warm waters it will intensify. They now say we will most likely get the full force, but I don't think they know what they're doing.

[bongosdad]

try and get some footage stateside

[MissWinnie]

Thanks. It is still over Cuba. Its speed dropped from 15 mph to 9mph so it is crawling towards us. It will look like it is losing power, but as soon as it gets back into the Gulf and hits those warm waters it will intensify. They now say we will most likely get the full force, but I don't think they know what they're doing.


Ok. Have caught up with it now. It must be so hard to accurately predict ...

Have been looking at pics of people at Florida Keys taking pics of giant waves/selfies in front of said giant waves. I can't believe that people risk their lives just to get something on camera.

[Exiledvillan]

Hope you n yours are safely locked away Statesie, Sky news said this thing is Tampa bound, tho I'm sure you had guessed that at this stage. Chin up and baton down mate.

[MissWinnie]

I only remembered you were based in Tampa, Statesey, when I was looking at a map of Florida ...

I see there's a 6 pm curfew in Tampa, with the storm expected to hit at 9 pm your time, so as Exiled says, I hope you and yours are now safely locked away.

I'm sure we are the last of your priorities at the moment, but let us know how things are when you can. xxx

[stateside]

Everything is great. We were a few miles maybe 20 from the eye. The winds were absolutely crazy. I don't know if it was a cat 2, cat 1 or tropical storm, but it was nuts.

No power right now. So preserving the phone. Thanks for your well wishes.

[MissWinnie]

Thank you for getting in touch, Statesey. I was thinking of you and your family last night x

I'm so glad you are okay, albeit without power. Gosh, you were scarily close to the eye ...

I hope you get your power back on soon. I was reading that over 6 million (accounts) in Florida are currently without power ...

You take care, Dad.

Winnie x

[stateside]

Power is back on. Just as the frozen food was about to go soft. What a surreal night! The power went out just before dark, we had flashlights at the ready, but none of us was ready to eat. As it went dark I got hungry and someone had just posted "I want bacon!!" Me too. Wait. I had cooked up a load of bacon that morning and I love cold bacon sandwiches. So I grabbed my head light flashlight so I could be hands free (great investment) and this may sound stupid now, but it was still in the box. I had to fumble around with a regular flashlight in the dark trying to load it. I should have joined the Boy Scouts when I was a kid.

So everyone had cold bacon sandwiches. The British with ketchup or HP sauce the Americans with mayo and cheese and lettuce, the hybrid Ameri/Brit had it American style with ketchup. Every one loved them.

We broke out the candles after the sandwiches and again we weren't prepared but we were able to get enough light. Then my with remembered the lantern sitting below the TV we spend our lives watching was a battery operated light!

So we are sitting in the dim room watching the winds swirling outside joking about every thing we can think of my daughter and I replaying that Will these winds skit with Rowan Atkinson and Peter Cook. Then as it went quiet, we were wanting news on the storm, but the weather radio was getting boring so we went around the house searching until we found my Short Wave Radio that I used to listen to Villa on. It worked!
So we found some local stations and listened to what was going on around us until again we got a little bored with the same stuff. 3 days of reporters standing in ankle deep water saying there is a limb down gets a little old unless it is the reporters limb.

The only station actually playing music was a 50's 60's station playing some songs I recall and others really obscure. Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Sinatra Jr, Shirley Bassey among others. We loved it.

The wind got stronger and the trees outside bent in ways I have never seen them bend. We were grateful it was a cat 1 or 2 not a cat 4 or 5 hitting us.

My phone was down low and I switched it off figuring I would use my battery back up the following morning. We were told it may be 3 days without power. My charger has about 2 charges in it. I figured we had seen the worst of it. I was wrong. We still had the eye that went over Tampa which was 13 miles from us. My wife thinks the wall of the eye came within 20 miles of us. The next hour of squalls were just amazing. Throughout the night we were pretty relaxed. It was a night to remember. From the flute sounds that I thought was from the people across the way but turned out to be wind going through the pipes to the flashing blue lights that looked like lightning but were transformers going out around the city.

[MissWinnie]

Wow. Sounds like a night you'll be able to tell the grandchildren about.

I bet you'll always associate those Sinatra, Fitzgerald, and Shirley Bassey songs with that night, forever :)

Glad you've got the power back on. I can imagine your relief that it was a category 1 or 2 in the end ..

My dad, the bacon sarnie hero. :)

[bongosdad]

You should put a vest on like Bruce Willis and go and save everyone. Glad your safe

[MissWinnie]

PS I meant to say, they say people often get caught out when the eye passes over, folks think it's all over, venture out and then ...

Thanks for sharing a memorable night.

[stateside]

I'm not in a position to save anyone Bongo. I did something to my shoulder. Hoping it isn't my rotator cuff.

Yes Winnie. The hurricane was so big it was clearing out bays to feed itself. Tampa Bay was drained out. There is lots of footage of people walking out onto where the Bay usually is with their unwitting pets. Luckily they were all fine and no tsunami effect was in play. One guy in the Florida Keys decided to stay in his bar. The reporter must have convinced him to leave and luckily he did as it was totally destroyed.

[dazzyowen]

Glad your safe statsie, sounds like a right ordeal you've been through.

[stateside]

Wow, autumn in Florida is different this year. We actually have leaves all over the ground. They are still attached to the branches! Just saying.

[bongosdad]

You should write a book stateside. Tony and the Hurricane!

[ozfan]

Call that wind? Why when I was young it was so windy it blew us right back to yesterday.

[stateside]

It's Windsday Piglet said Pooh. Nonsense, it's nothing but a mild spring zephyr replied Owl.

[stateside]

The poor island just south of Florida were hit again. Just devastating.