Monday, September 11, 2017

Hurricane Irma, Monday

In spite of of thinking we were prepared for the arrival of hurricane Irma, on Sunday before she arrived, we found a few more things to take care of.

Though the grill was tied to a tree, we decided to untie it and put it in the garage. That was a good move because the strongest winds came from that (NE) side of the house and there's no doubt the grill would have been blown into the lanai.

Also, Dan raised the exterior entryway light on it's hanging chain, using a zip tie to secure it near the ceiling. 

We added towels in the tracks of the sliders - in the eating area, and in the living room area. Turns out that was worthwhile as all the towels were wet this morning! You know there's a strong wind when the rain blew though the lanai to the sliders!

In the early afternoon on Sunday, we had rain. It looked pretty calm though.

By late afternoon, Irma was making her presence known.

The rain was blowing when these guys returned from a walk.



After watching the first episode of the new/third season of "Outlander," I went to bed. Slept from 11 pm until 1:30 am when the increasing velocity of the wind hitting the bedroom windows woke me. This is all I could see out the bedroom window, a view toward the street and houses behind us.

Dan was awake all night, alternately watching The Weather Channel, Orlando’s channel 13, and WESH-TV, the latter of which seemed to focus more on our area of the state. I settled in with him to watch a “red wall” of strong winds from the south drive northward to us.

At one point I recorded this on a wind velocity app that I download on Sunday. Gusts of near 55 mph were frequent for a while, though I cannot verify the accuracy of this reading.

In fact, we believe the wind gusts were higher! According to the news, gusts in the red areas were between 70-80 mph. Based on the way it felt at our house, we think winds reached 70 mph.

The worst of Irma rolled into our area between 3:30 and 4 am. I thought it was pretty scary, and only wish it had occurred during daylight hours. Perhaps it wouldn't have felt quite so eery.

Today the winds continue at between 30-40 mph, coming from the NE. That's also interesting about a hurricane... how the strongest winds come from the NE, and then after the hurricane passes, the winds come from the SW.

Our beautiful Bismarck palm in the front yard is looking quite bedraggled from all the wind. But that's our only "damage." We did not lose power, thanks to having underground lines. We also didn't lose shingles from the roof, nor have trees blow over, as some of our neighbors did.

Irma is like nothing like either of us has been through. And we don’t want to go through it again! I'm feeling extremely grateful for God's protection, and for having a structurally sound and well-built home. I'm also feeling sad for those who have lost power, and will need time to rebuild.

Thank you all for your concerns. Linda

17 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear that you guys are okay!

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  2. So good to read this post and know that all is well except maybe for the palm. Your excellent preparation and organization paid off. You and others were blessed. Hopefully all will return back to normal soon and we can find out if you sewed your binding during the storm or did you strum your ukulele.

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  3. So glad you guys are ok.
    I wouldn't even have thought about putting towels down. Used to blizzards and tornadoes.

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  4. Good to know you're ok and suffered very little damage.

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  5. Yay, you made it. So scary. I am so happy to know that all of you fared well and you did not lose electricity. I know those below ground utilities are the best. I forgot what it is like to not have them. I hope you did get some hand sewing done, but I know that howling pounding wind is horrible, and it does give you a head ache.

    I recall a few hurricanes that came through northern Virginia and they did rip the shingles off of our house in 1986, another time the neighbors garage door was blown in somehow. Our shingle incident the winds were measured at 75 which I thought was pretty frightening.
    We have had a few bad ones here. I am so glad that Irma is out of your life forever. Good riddance Irma!

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  6. Glad to hear you made it through safely.

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  7. Pleased you made it through safely, and that the hurricane lost strength before it reached you.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Margaret! Thank you for your comment which I cannot reply to you directly because your profile is as a "no-reply commenter." But thank you for your concern! Irma did lose strength, but not ferocity, as attested by the continued strong winds. We hope to never go through this again!

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    2. Here in Queensland Australia we are very familiar with cyclones so fully understand what you went through.

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  8. I am so glad to hear all is well with your family! Whew! Scary night, eh?

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  9. The prayers helped and I'm so glad you were spared any worse conditions. It sounds like you took the proper precautions and with your home built as it should be, it came through with flying colors. I wonder if Hogan heard the howling winds or did he sleep through them. lol

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  10. Wow weren't you lucky. Great the house stood up so well, thats a great relief. Good idea putting the towels in the ranch sliders. Another thing to remember, not that we'll have such a storm...I Hope!

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  11. Pretty traumatic, but glad you are ok!!

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  12. So glad everyone is okay and that your house survived. (Are the first two pictures of your husband removing or changing the front door light?)

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  13. SO happy to know that everything worked out so well for you Linda! Not a nice thing to experience, but great knowing that all the measures you put into place were worth it

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  14. I'm so glad the storm didn't significantly damage anything and that you are ok. I remember years ago being in Hawaii when a hurricane came through during the night. Didn't get any sleep due to the winds. Scary.

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  15. I never thought to check your blog during the storm! I'm not the shiniest penny in the roll!

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