Weather Alerts

[RVInit]

Lee County FL has issued a MANDATORY evac order for flood zones A and B to be completed by Tuesday afternoon.

(I am in zone D)

ETA: The Town of Fort Myers Beach was ordered by town official to evac by 3pm today, Monday. At 3pm, the water is being shut off.

Do you have a place to go if you have to evacuate?

[neonzx]

Lee County FL has issued a MANDATORY evac order for flood zones A and B to be completed by Tuesday afternoon.

(I am in zone D)

ETA: The Town of Fort Myers Beach was ordered by town official to evac by 3pm today, Monday. At 3pm, the water is being shut off.

Do you have a place to go if you have to evacuate?

Yep. Your place.

I think I will be fine. As long as it doesn't stall out on forward momentum with the eye near land. That is what asshole Ian did and beat the hell out of Cape Coral for hours. Irma was nasty but she kept moving.

[Rolodex]

Milton is nuts. My friend's grandson who lives in Tampa is back up here with her for the 2nd time. He came here for Helene.

I'm thinking all the Helene debris still by the roadsides in Milton's path. If surge hits those areas, holy moley what a mess. And if there's wind, that's alotta flying objects.

In the meantime, I'm super angry over all the shit people are posting about recovery in WNC.

[Volkonski]

Can't post screenshot from my phone. Traffic leaving Tampa area now much heavier.

Traffic video on The Weather Channel giving me flashbacks to the Hurricane Rita evacuation out of Houston. We were on the road for 24 hours then.

Reports in Florida of gasoline shortages.

[neonzx]

Reports in Florida of gasoline shortages.

Yes. And, of course, no toilet paper on the shelves. Bottled water is sold out at many stores, too.

[Foggy]

At least with hurricanes you get a few days warning, and if you have the resources you can pretty much stay safe, even if that means leaving the area. In California, we had wildfires that often moved very fast without much opportunity to evacuate, and earthquakes, which give you no notice whatsoever. One minute you're in a perfectly solid building, and 5 seconds later the building has turned into jello and begun oscillating drunkenly. Or you're driving on a freeway that starts rolling like the ocean.

'Course, I've still only seen one hurricane in my 20 years here, Isabelle in 2004. But I think I prefer hurricanes to wildfires and earthquakes. Gimme time to get out, and I am gonna get the hell out. I realize that isn't an option for many people in the path of Milton. But if ol' Wifehorn and I lived in the Sunshine State, we'd have been on the road day before yesterday, off to visit W4 in Maine.

[AndyinPA]

I'll take the occasional snow storms over any of them.

[Slim Cognito]

I was in zone B, right on the edge of A. I'm so glad I'm out of there but I'm still really stressed for the people staring this monstrosity down.

It's easy to tell people to evacuate but it's really a bitch to accomplish. You have two main drags north, one being the Tamiami Trail that goes through every town and it's every street light and I-75, or you can head east on alligator alley. Either way, you're still hope you're not driving into the storm.

Portia's winter home is in A, on one of the barrier islands.

[Foggy]

Oh yeah, snow. It used to snow here. Not for years.

Meanwhile ... this is from Weather Underground, Wednesday night is going to be bad in central Florida.

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milton_01.jpg (69.8 KiB) Viewed 510 times

[AndyinPA]

Oh yeah, snow. It used to snow here. Not for years.

Meanwhile ... this is from Weather Underground, Wednesday night is going to be bad in central Florida.
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milton_01.jp

Doesn't snow so much here anymore, either.

[Foggy]

Here are the Lee County evacuation zones.

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milton_evacuation_zones.jpg (62.27 KiB) Viewed 481 times

Maybe better graphic:

[Kendra]

I'm seeing Orlando on the map now. One of my coworkers had a trip to Disney planned with her grandkids, leaving Saturday I think. Hoping they cancel, I was going to have to do payroll on the 16th and I only do that about once a year and it scares me to death

[RTH10260]

Lee County FL has issued a MANDATORY evac order for flood zones A and B to be completed by Tuesday afternoon.

(I am in zone D)

ETA: The Town of Fort Myers Beach was ordered by town official to evac by 3pm today, Monday. At 3pm, the water is being shut off.

They just had started with the cleanup and clearing the roads from piles of sand and starting to move it back onto the beach ...

ps. I just had seen a news clip showing a young couple that had closed on their new home in Fort Myers Beach, had moved in and spent 1 night before evacuating due to Helene. The clip showed them in a now cleared home and the drywalls up to 4 feet torn down to dry the home.

[sugar magnolia]

The lower the mb goes (911mb right now) the higher my anxiety goes. PTSD from weather events is a real thing, even 20 years later. My friend from Asheville is headed down here to stay for a couple of weeks/months until they get water and power back at their house. They're currently saying 2 months for restoration of water because the treatment plant was destroyed. My other friends in Tampa (Davis Island) are evacuating to the 10th floor apartment of a friend in downtown Tampa, just a few miles from their own Helene-damaged and flooded home. It's easy to say "get out early" and assume that only the poors and stupids don't, but they're both lawyers and have plenty of money and smarts, but their cars were flooded in the last 100-year hurricane 2 weeks ago. They, and probably hundreds just like them, literally have no choice about leaving.

[RVInit]

Lee County FL has issued a MANDATORY evac order for flood zones A and B to be completed by Tuesday afternoon.

(I am in zone D)

ETA: The Town of Fort Myers Beach was ordered by town official to evac by 3pm today, Monday. At 3pm, the water is being shut off.

Do you have a place to go if you have to evacuate?

Yep. Your place.

I think I will be fine. As long as it doesn't stall out on forward momentum with the eye near land. That is what asshole Ian did and beat the hell out of Cape Coral for hours. Irma was nasty but she kept moving.

Our house is a bit messy with mom's stuff and my stuff as well, but if you find yourself in need of a place, you are welcome. Just ignore the clutter and all the sewing machines and tools all over the place.

[pipistrelle]

I'll take the occasional snow storms over any of them.

[Rolodex]

Can't post screenshot from my phone. Traffic leaving Tampa area now much heavier.

Traffic video on The Weather Channel giving me flashbacks to the Hurricane Rita evacuation out of Houston. We were on the road for 24 hours then.

Reports in Florida of gasoline shortages.

I remember that. My sister-in-law in Houston spent like 12 hours trying to get out. People ran out of gas trying to evacuate. She had a Prius at the time which may have helped. I think Ike was that same year (and I think one of those flooded the basement of the big public hospital, Ben Taub, which had all their generators so that was a disaster). Then Harvey wrecked another family member's home in Dickinson. My sister in Houston lives in a high area, and I figure after Harvey didn't get her, she'd be fine. Of course there was the big freeze when power went out.

If you have a WaPo sub, there's a great article recently about Galveston and vulnerability to storms. I can send you a gift link if you don't .. but people say you have to enter an email so it's your call.

[Foggy]

I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything about poor or stupid people, and I apologize if I left that impression. I said,

I realize that (leaving) isn't an option for many people in the path of Milton.

I know that even if you have resources, you can be overwhelmed. The trick is to have resources and resourcefulness, and even then a little bit of luck is always welcome.

And you DO get more warning time before a big hurricane. This one is still two days away, and everybody knows it's coming.

I never once got any warning before an earthquake. My parents swore that during one quake, they raced into my room to save me, and my baby crib was sloshing around the floor, and I was singing "Rock-a-bye Baby" at the top of my lungs.

That's how you ride an earthquake.

[Volkonski]

Milton now at 180 MPH. Forecast is now for 185 MPH.

[Whatever4]

But if ol' Wifehorn and I lived in the Sunshine State, we'd have been on the road day before yesterday, off to visit W4 in Maine.

Come on up, the leaves are turning!

We don’t get big earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes are petering out by the time they get up this far, mudslides, etc. We do get Nor’easters, but that just involves hunkering down for a few days. OTH, winters are 6 months long. Watching what’s happening in the Southeast is frightening.

[neonzx]

Cellular emergency alert.

IMG_COM_202410071713006440.jpg (82.85 KiB) Viewed 330 times

[MN-Skeptic]

My sister just posted on Facebook that she's supposed to fly to Gainesville on Friday so as to give a speech on Saturday. I wonder if that will happen.

[northland10]

I'll take the occasional snow storms over any of them.

Yep.. I can deal with snow. Being close to Tornado Alley is not a great thing, but even those are spread out more than hurricanes.

[Volkonski]

Milton's intensity has remained at 180 MPH for several hours so perhaps it is done intensifying.

Note that its pressure has dropped below 900 mb to 897 mb.

[Frater I*I]

To all my Fogboz fambliy...[yous folks have infected my vocabulary...], get out if you can, and hunker down if you can't... good luck you yous.