Florida Conchers - Check in Post Wilma

[Marvel]

Hey guys!! I'm at the office today- we're on generator power & have connectivity. Just a brief post to thank you all for your kind thoughts & warm wishes. Got a lot to do so I can't stay on the site. I lost my front door early in the storm, followed by a window. but did not get nearly as much damage as a result as one might expect- the wind wasn't blowing directly in. Got my furniture covered & it appears to be OK. We had water restored yesterday evening & we've got gas for our hot water so I was able to take a hot shower. Word is that it may take up to 4 weeks for power to be restored but that's worst case scenario. My neighbor has a generator & our biggest concern is getting gas for it. So, all in all we're doing pretty well. I'm not going to be able to stay on the site, nor am I am able to take any time to post or read or answer PMs right now. I hope you'll all understand. I'll be checking in, hopefully daily. Please keep the folks on the Yucatan Peninsula in your prayers- they had it far worse than we did.

 

[PapaBob]

Howarde, thanks for starting this thread. Lynne and I weathered the storm with our daughter and son in law. They have a generator, but we are not running it full time to conserve fuel. Our house came through without any damage except for a couple of busted dock dolphins. Friend Jerry's boat suffered only minor damage. I took some pictures of the Marina One disaster Tom wrote about above. I will try to post some in the next few days if I can.

I have no power at home or at the office building in Delray where I work. The office building is locked down for security and will not open until power is restored downtown. I am taking a forced vacation from work.

Our church sustained severe roof and water damage so I spent part of Tuesday helping there. Yesterday I played baseball with the Grandkids. Friends Gina and Dave have power (wouldn't you know they live off Powerline Rd) and have graciously lent me use of their computer.

I share Marvel's concern for all of our friends in Cozumel. We will probably chalk this experience up as a major PITA but they really got hurt in Mexico.

Nice to know the Conchs seem to have come through ok.

---Bob

 

[HowardE]

Just an update from Ft Lauderdale downtown... Still no power, but the water is back! I spoke to Splashdown divers (up in Boynton), and the BOAT IS FINE, and they got power at the shop! She's running a dive on saturday... I think we might try to get up there... If we have enough gas. It would be nice to forget about things for a while.

 

[CBulla]

Saw Cbulla, Kbulla, Xbulla, and Ibulla last night. They're doing well, except no electricity yet. I think Colin's chainsawed just about everything in his neighborhood by now .

Lets just say there is a LOT of mahoganny cut up, some pine, carrotwood, and an avacado tree that's been severely trimmed... and thats just in my neighborhood. 2.5 days of clean up in my condo association, 8 trailer loads at 6x10x4 feet high taken to the collection area.

At a clients today I took out almost 1500# of tree debris. Tomorrow at another clients its going to be Oak and palm fronds.

No power... cable/VoIP... but I did get great text messages from Darrel and Maxine (Scubafishee out of MI) today... Thank you soo much for the lil smile midday!

Jeff - that bigger generator made a HUGE difference in running the fridge and freezer!! Thank you sooo very much!!!!

 

[aabond]

We've had power in our house because of our generator hooked up directly to our generator but no internet until earlier tonight when the actual power came on along with the telephone. We had very little damage besides a couple of roof tiles and downed trees.( you gotta love those hurricane proof windows).

I can't wait to go diving and see how the visibility is, perhaps at LBTS if anyone is up for it this weekend. Actually, I don't really care where i go diving.

Hope everyone fared well during the hurricane, although i did see alot of damage just south of atlantic by the beach. In particular, I saw this 2005 vette smashed by a crown vic that was sitting on top of it by a condo.

Pardon the rum, but there's not much else to do.

 

[rab]

Well, before you start thinking, "Hey, Rob's in Ohio. WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?!" My wife and I arrived in Ft.Lauderdale on Sunday driving her parents' car down to their condo on Galt Ocean. 27th floor. Lost power Monday at 10:42am and Wednesday morning it still wasn't back on -- one building to the north got power back Tuesday evening. No water either. Did I mention 27th floor? Of course, FLL was closed so our reservations for a flight Tuesday got moved to a flight on Wednesday. Still no flights from FLL so we got a flight out of Orlando, but had to take a taxi to N.Miami to rent a car (thankfully full of gas!) to drive up to Orlando (changing the reservation en-route to the last one out 'cause traffic sucked), got to the airport 40min before the flight was to leave, dropped off the car (now with <1/2 tank), but had to go to the rental counter (since the computer had no record of the rental since the N.Miami office didn't have any power either). 3hr layover in BWI, then into Columbus, get our car, drive to Cincinnati, retrieve the kids from the friends they were staying with and got into our house at about 1am Thursday morning. 16hrs door-to-door.

Other than the lack of any generator power in the high-rise (i.e., no elevator, did I mention 27th floor?), there was little damage. Many units on the south side had water coming in around the windows. A few broken windows on the south and east sides. Some cars in the above-ground lot that had been moved around and a couple that appeared to have broken windows (whether by wind only or by flying debris I don't know).

We found that the Winn Dixie (between Galt Ocean and N.Ocean) was about to open on Tuesday morning before 9am and was able to buy more water and fruit. Hiked that up the stairs and distributed a bit to the neighbors (elderly woman, her husband, and her mother). Helped haul buckets of water up to the 14th floor by rope from the pool (MUCH easier than walking water up!). Went shopping Tuesday afternoon with a list from the neighbors (no way that they could get down the stairs much less back up). If it weren't for the kids back in Cincinnati, we'd have probably stayed to help get supplies up to those who are essentially trapped on those upper floors (the building is 29 stories), but we were very glad to have been able to leave when we did.

I hope everyone gets their power back sooner than was being suggested (3-4wks).

-Rob

 

[SFLDiver]

Back online after a few day's worth of powerless living,
well, except for a generous neighbor who let us plug in the fridge.
For all the fuss over gas, I am planning on non-perishable foods for next year.
Coleman stoves and laterns are the way to go.

Pool screen is toast. Most of it came to rest in the pool.
Poinciana tree dropped it's biggest branch on my pool pump,
but the fencing stopped it's fall.
Hot tub is unscathed, back up and running.
Aquarium had the stench of death after the 2nd day,
so it is now cleaned out and awaiting a new gen.
Roof lost about 8-10 tiles from the peak of the storm.
One impaled the front lawn.

Got smart and piled branches in the cul de sac instead of my swale,
as it took about 3 weeks to pick it up last year and killed my grass.
Gotta get a pic of Mom next to our pile.

Been eating community lunches at the neighbors'.
Power restored thursday at 4:20pm,
and we still went ahead with the spagetti dinner we had planned next door.

 

[HowardE]

After almost 5 days of no power... It's starting to get old quickly... What makes it worse is that people are driving around now, looking for gas, etc...
At most intersections, either the power is out, or the traffic light is just completely obliterated. People are supposed to make it a 4-way stop. Except people in Florida, (where you can get your driver's license from a gumball machine) don't know how to deal with 4-way stops. People think "well... I've waited long enough" so they just GO. It's the "ready or not... here I come" driving method. I think they should put the rules for 4-way stops on the news, instead of showing us more people waiting in line for gas. We already know people are waiting for gas, that's not news.

 

[kensuguro]

have power since wednesday, doral area seemed to have been lucky. gas situation is getting better around here, down to around 30 minutes wait as of Friday. Publix and WinnDixie around here have recovering stock. General fastfood places are open. If you're starving, come on down.

 

[showboat]

I still have the humming of the Ol sparky generator, neighbors just love me when I keep it running most of night to keep fridge and house lit up, but I am gone working alll day making money..... cant wait for the real power again to run central AC