Hurricane Irma Report....

[YellowRose]

I have been in contact with friends in the Florida area and one of our Forum members, Joe Johnston in the Tampa area. Of about a half dozen friends who live in Florida, I have only heard from two so far, one of them being Joe. They are both okay and so is Joe's Tbird. I will post a pic of the action he took to protect his cars prior to the hurricane and what he had to say.

"Both garage doors are braced with a 2 x 4 and Thunderbirds rolled up tight. Don't know if its a good idea or not, but will add a bit of resistance to the wind bowing them in. Third bay will be blocked later this afternoon. About all we can do now is wait!"

He just emailed me this. In fact I now see him logged into the Forum!
"We are doing well and very thankful for NO DAMAGE!! Power went out 8pm last night and back before noon this morning. Some trees are down in our development but no significant damage to homes. No flooding either. Others in the county are not so fortunate. Everyone is checking on their neighbors and helping if needed. Our curfew was lifted early this afternoon, but we have no intention of going any where. Thanks for keeping me in mind. J"

As I hear from other Forum members and how they faired, I will let you know...

[YellowRose]

Hurricane Irma Report

Here is an update on Irma. It is no longer a Hurricane, but a Low now, as it moves further north into the eastern part of the USA. There are 40 deaths attributed to it now. Much of the area outside the USA that it went through as a Cat. 5 Hurricane has been extremely decimated. Luckily for Florida and areas north of it, it turned out to not be the worst Hurricane on record, as many thought it would be. It downsized fairly quickly from a Cat 5 to a Cat 2, then a 1. I see that it has been ranked as #7 in the amount of damage it caused. Areas of Florida that were thought would get the worse damage did not, like the Tampa and Miami area. The Florida Keys have sustained quite a bit of damage, and the Tallahassee area a lot of flooding from all that water dumped on it by the northeast quadrant of the Hurricane. As for my Florida non-Tbird owning friends, I have only heard from one of them out of about a half dozen. I am hoping it is only because they have no power. Of our fellow Tbird owners and Forum members, only Joe has reported in so far. I have no idea how the rest of them in that southeast part of our country have faired. I hope they will pop up here when they able to and let us know. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

[Dan Leavens]

Ray we have a couple of friends in Florida and they have just now returned home and are waiting for power. Florida Utility made an announcement that it may take weeks, to restore power due to the massive amount of downed lines. I caught on the news and to put this hurricane in perspective, the width of this storm was 300+ miles. Yes 300+ miles in width. Our thoughts are with the thousands that are affected.

I have no idea how the rest of them in that southeast part of our country have faired. I hope they will pop up here when they able to and let us know. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

[Joe Johnston]

As mentioned, we feel very thankful and fortunate. There are wide spread MAJOR power outages in some areas of the state and little or no cell phone service. 10+ days of outages are expected, and no postal service for days in some affected areas. If you are trying or expecting contact from friends, it may take a while depending where they live. Heard Jacksonville area has much higher storm surge and flooding than they expected, but other coastal areas had little. Just depends, and Mother Nature rules!!!