Hurricane Matthew comes to the SE USA

[Fire-medic]

We're getting ready for the arrival of Matthew, expected to make landfall in FL early Friday a.m. It looks like it's going to make landfall w/the strongest winds in the Palm Beach Co. area, and that the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area may get lesser winds. That's OK w/me!

We have new impact windows and existing shutters, so we're hoping things don't get too-bad. A new roof, too.

By Saturday Oct 8 it should be past us and affecting things further up the coast of FL. I was working overtime on fire-rescue when Hurricane Andrew came thru in 1992, that was really bad, but no loss of a roof or anything, so we were lucky. After that one, I saw failed concrete tie beams, roofs on residential and commercial structures just "gone," to-where I don't know; high rise buildings missing hundreds of panes of glass, looking like something in Syria or Iran after years of civil war. Category 4 or 5 storms are bad!

Anyone in the projected area of this one, please take your precautions now, secure your homes, and have plenty of non-perishable food and water. Pics below of Andrew, you see mobile homes don't fare well. Look at that freighter!

 

[tothemax93]

I was thinking about you Medic. The hurricane is all over our news up here. Batten down your hatches.

 

[dannymax]

Good luck FM! Glad to hear you have upgraded windows.

COPRUNNER is in Jupiter....pretty much in a direct path with Matthew's projected landfall. Talked with him yesterday morning.....things aren't too good there, gasoline is unavailable, store shelves are empty.......!
He's busy battening down, he'll be as prepared as humanly possible you can count on that! unk:

Just mentally picturing rows & rows of giant chrome spikes arrayed around his house to catch any flying debris.........:biglaugh:

 

[D-Max2012]

Good luck brother.. Be safe..

 

[ga_max]

Keep Safe

 

[Fire-medic]

Yes, Tim in Jupiter/Palm Beach Co. FL is going to get hammered. The storm should be worst from there to the north along the Atlantic coast. You never realize how much you rely on easy access to water, gas, electric, and such until you have to do w/o them.

 

[Redbone]

I did roofing in the aftermath of Andrew and the level of devastation was unreal. Stay safe FM and CR! It looks to be a big one!
After doing the roofing work I thought this is not a place I would like to call home, visit when not in a apocalyptic storm path, that would be O.K.. After seeing 8" I-beams twisted like a pretzel and wood chunks sticking out of masonry walls I thought no way. I'm good with having 3-4 feet of snow on the ground to ski on!

 

[SpecOps13]

Good Luck with this one Brother. We're on the West Coast of Florida but with this storm who knows. Where the hell do you run to with a storm tracking like this one is. Be safe and God Bless You.

Dave

 

[Dragmaxster]

Stay safe my friend.

 

[caseyjones955]

Im with Redbone on this one, pretty happy to be in the midwest, now more than ever.

Stay safe and be careful, I was watching coverage of this and Im hoping for the best outcome for you and our other bros in the that area.

 

[Fire-medic]

I had a childhood friend who ran a roofing co in the Tampa Bay area, he was in south FL for over a year after Andrew hit. Building trades form all over the country came to here for work.

The south Miami-Dade Co area was like the Wild West for months after the storm. There was lawlessness, and nocturnal crime including burglaries as scavengers searched for anything of value, including stealing building materials on job sites, prostitution, and drugs. Many people walked around open-carry in the area. Once the sun went down, there was no light except for whatever individuals generated themselves, the power co & phone co had months of work ahead of them to restore the power transmission system. To 'make-do,' they were stringing temporary telcom lines off whatever trees remained standing. That was before everyone had their noses buried in smartphone screens as they walked along.

Many people who lost their homes abandoned the area, insurance checks in hand, and moved north to buy homes in Broward Co. which is metro Ft. Lauderdale. There was a huge building boom, and re-sales of existing homes.

One of my acquaintances who is a HVAC master license-holder, was representing in FL for out-of-state companies who sent crews to work here. He was the person whose name was on the building permits, and he became wealthy as all he did was supervise work crews. This is a guy who was a USAF vet, he was a ground crew member in the early 1960's for reconaissance aircraft overseas. He wasn't afraid of hard work, and keeping his mouth shut. He had thousands of permits open at the same time. He was working on the roof of a hotel in Miami Dade Co on Miami Beach about a year ago, he took a mis-step, and fell to his death, very tragic. He was 71, like I said, he wasn't afraid of work. His employee had just told him, "Joe, get off the roof, I'll take care of this, I know what to do," and when he turned towards his boss, there he went off the roof. Very sad. The employee was himself a master HVAC license-holder, but he enjoyed working for the guy, who had taken him in as an apprentice, and saw him groe his skills to where the apprentice got his own license after about 8 years. The guy who died was a life-long biker, he had a Vincent Black SHadow he's owned since he was living in southern CA after he came back from military service, he kept it at a vacation home he owned in AZ. He said he was 'never beaten' street racing it back then, and everyone wanted a crack at him. His son was a fire-rescue officer here in south FL, I didn't know him personally, but I got ahold of him after I heard of his death and expressed my condolences. I didn't even hear of the accident as being him, until the guy he trained called us to check on closing-out a permit for a new installation we had the co doing for a big re-modeling project at our home, and he told me Joe had died. I recall hearing about it on the news, and reading about it but there was no name mentioned.

Anyway, the rains are starting, and by this time Friday, the area of Miami should be past the worst of the storm, but places to the north will be getting the brunt of the storm's damage. That's CopRunner's neighborhood. Cocoa Beach, Titusville, Patrick AF Base, and points nrth to jacksonville look to be in for a bad time, tey are all on the Atlantic Ocean coast and the storm models estimate that's where the storm is likely going to stay as it travels to GA, SC, and NC.

I did roofing in the aftermath of Andrew and the level of devastation was unreal. Stay safe FM and CR! It looks to be a big one!
After doing the roofing work I thought this is not a place I would like to call home, visit when not in a apocalyptic storm path, that would be O.K.. After seeing 8" I-beams twisted like a pretzel and wood chunks sticking out of masonry walls I thought no way. I'm good with having 3-4 feet of snow on the ground to ski on!

 

[Kronx]

Spent most of my life on the Gulf Coast -- Gulfport/Biloxi area. Been through a few hurricanes. Even stuck it out through Katrina. I hope for the best outcome for you down there.

With hurricanes I just remember the sustained winds were high(80+mph) but shit held together... it was when you'd get those 10-20 seconds gusts you get that go into the 120+mph that shit went flying everywhere.

Thoughts and prayers with you guys.

 

[Redbone]

I had a time share in Jupiter at the Jupiter Reef Club back in the late 80's for a couple of years. It was the 1st week of June and we watched the loggerheads (if I remember correctly) coming ashore to lay their eggs, we had to be with a conservation officer (again, not sure if official or maybe someone from a local conservation group). It was an very cool experience for sure, only wish I could have been there when the little boogers made their dash for the open ocean!
Stay safe any and all that will be affected by this very large and destructive storm.

 

[Fire-medic]

We lucked-out in Miami-Dade Co because the storm passed by us well-offshore, I've seen more rain and wind from a storm front not a hurricane. Wherever it hits land will be in for it though as it's staying a Category 4 hurricane. Stay inside, stay safe, stay away from downed power lines.

 

[Redbone]

That's good news! Lets hope and pray for the rest of the coast north of you weathers the storm with some good luck too!

 

[CaptainKyle]

We lucked-out in Miami-Dade Co because the storm passed by us well-offshore, I've seen more rain and wind from a storm front not a hurricane. Wherever it hits land will be in for it though as it's staying a Category 4 hurricane. Stay inside, stay safe, stay away from downed power lines.

Glad it passed by you & hopefully the rest of my Florida friends are fine. I am supposed to Ride down to Orlando Monday Morning hope its not a Cluster.

 

[Traumahawk]

Glad that it missed you. Hopefully others in Florida will get lucky as well.

 

[sdt354]

Good to hear you're ok, Fm. Best to ya Tim. I hope Jupiter doesn't get wrecked.I'm sure you did everything right that needed to be done. I just fired up my own Gen set. just in case we get hammered here on the Cape. It's not supposed to happen, but there's still some Boy Scout in me.