Just a quick update from Florida.

Hurricane Irma was a unique experience. I don’t think Hubby D or I would like to do it again.  The build up lasted over a week and the storm was nerve-racking.

This was the calm before the storm.

Many times during the day Sunday we could not see the golf course.

The storm winds and rain did not start arriving in our area until Saturday, Sept. 9 with the most severe storm starting Sunday night. However, the grocery store was out of water, bread and other essentials the previous Tuesday morning. The gas stations ran out of gas long before the storm hit.

One of my own preparations was to find our battery powered weather radio I purchased some time ago. It will also charge your electronic devices so I was looking forward to seeing if it really worked.  We gave one to BHB and she said it took a lot of cranking to create enough of a charge.

The roads were packed all week with people leaving the Miami area. I suppose it was a good thing that the build up was so long and so many were able to leave, but the week long stress was more than I would have liked. When I was growing up in Oklahoma we usually had only a few minutes to prepare before a tornado hit.  



Even before the heavier rains hit, our gutters were overwhelmed with rain water.

This video was taken early in the storm before the winds increased. Unfortunately if you are reading this in an email, you will have to go to my blog to view my videos.  https://brendahyde.blogspot.com

Sustained winds were 85 mph overnight Sunday when they were at their peak. The strong gusts lasted well into Monday.

The strong winds started on Sunday evening.

There was a time during the night Sunday (early Monday) when it sounded like the windows were being power washed by the strong rains.

This video was taken about 1AM, Monday when the rain was pelting our windows.

The lake behind our house came well out of its banks making the green for the 5th hole of the golf course a complete island.  



Our new palms lost several fronds.

We were lucky and the damage to our home from the storm was minimal. We were only out of power and water for about 12 hours although our water is still under a “boil alert." We have a small hole in our roof over the garage that will need to be fixed and we lost one of our majestic tall palms.



Luckily the palm is leaning towards an open grassy area.  I will have to have it cut down before it falls all the way.

But these problems are small.

We spent Monday morning cutting up tree limbs and gathering palm fronds. 


BHB stopped by to check on us. They lost some shingles and fencing. There are also trees down in her yard.

A really big SPECIAL thank you to all our friends for their concerns. The many, many phone calls, emails and texts were greatly appreciated. We had offers to evacuate to Tampa and Charlotte. Tampa would not have been a good thing and we actually offered them our home for their evacuation. And, unfortunately I think Charlotte is experiencing the remnants of Irma right now.

I have to admit it would have been fun to visit friends, but we are very happy we stayed so we could start the clean up process quickly.

All in all, we came out great. However we are going to get estimates on hurricane shutters. It was just too terribly stressful.

Cheers,
Brenda