** Adding Hurricane Milton to the list too! Stay safe out there and check in when you can!

I've been watching the radars and reports of the widespread area of impact of Hurricane Helene and wanted you all in the path to know I am sending prayers (yes I believe in the power of prayer) and also positive thoughts for those that don't believe. My heart goes out to all of you!

Please let us know that you are ok if in the path or if you evacuated.

Ana

I am so glad you posted this, Ana. I was just reading about the hurricane and share your concerns.

Stay safe, everyone.

Prayers heading up for everyone in the storms path.

Thanks for posting this, Ana. I was just reading an update and this one looks like it could get ugly. Positive thoughts to everyone in its path.

I was reading about it also and am right there with you Ana! Sending prayers and positive thoughts too!

I'm also sending prayers and positive thoughts to those in the path of Helene. So far we will stay on the outskirts with gusty squalls and a tornado watch. This is going to be a very large and dangerous storm.

Prayers and positive thoughts for everyone effected by Helene.

I came here to post the same thing. I just read in the Washington Post that the storm surges could hit 20 feet in some coastal places. Horrifying. I hope you're safe, Connie, and any other Boomers in Helene's path.

My goodness !! Sending my very best to all who might be affected !!

Stay safe 🤞🤞🤞

Prayers and positive thoughts for everyone effected by Helene, stay safe.

Hope you are okay Connie and all are safe from the hurricane. My prayers are with all those in the path of the storm...very scary.

Gerry

We are OK here. Prayers for all who were and still are in the storm's path. It was and still is a devastating storm. Sending lots of hugs.

All is good here and glad you are OK Connie...keeping everyone effected by Helene in my thoughts and prayers.

So glad to hear from you soot and Connie. Thank goodness you are both OK.

Did you loose power Connie. Ours went out at 10:30pm. We had just gone to bed. Earlier I ran the wires to all areas figuring we might loose power. We had to get up to fill the genny and connect all. My weather station logged a 74 mph gust 10:08 pm. We got lucky with this one. Helene's tropical storm force winds, 45+ mph sustained, reached out 400 miles east of center covering the entire Florida peninsula. Have never seen anything like it. Our power came back on 2pm today. Was surprised about that but very happy. Now to watch all the damage Helene caused. So far 33 deaths. The damage is gonna be catastrophic. Prayers go out

Orion, Connie, Soot, glad you are all safe! Wondering how family (GB member, not personal) is doing in Georgia.

Orion, thank you for checking in! Good to know that all is well with you. The damages are so horrendous and the loss of life more so.

Glad to see that our friends here seem to have survived the worst of it.

It's good to see and hear from you Orion...especially getting your power back.

Orion, we never lost our power, it did go off and back on a few times. I'm glad yours is back on . Yes, we did get lucky with this one.

Are we gonna get lucky with this next storm coming our way Connie. It is gonna depend on that low pressure dropping down and the shear within it. The Weather Channel and our locals are now calling for a tropical storm possibly a Cat 1 hitting the peninsula by Wednesday. We know these storms can spin up very quickly. In the beginning they had Helene hitting the "Big Bend" as a cat 1 or 2 and it hit as a 4

I believe you said you have a generator. Have you started it lately. Generators have a tendency not to start if they have been sitting awhile. Old gas, 6 months if left in, sitting in these clog the carburetor and have to be changed out or removed so they can be cleaned. Its rare but sometimes the spark plug needs to be replaced. I always run the gas out of it before stowing and start it up every 4 months or so

Sunday 2pm - Hurricane Milton, 80mph, is is heading towards Tampa. As of now it will make landfall Wed as a cat 3, 125+ mph sustained winds. Milton's path takes it through Orlando. Our locals and the Weather Channel are now stating a cat 4 possible by the time it makes landfall

Not looking good for us this time. Yes we run the gas out and start the generator. Time to take the Halloween decorations down, I knew I should have waited to put them up. Stay safe.

Connie, we'll be keeping you, Orion and everyone in Milton's path in our thoughts and prayers.

I figured you maintained the genny Connie. You are not new to these storms. It took one time for mine to not start when needed years back. Any deviation of that track could move Milton away from us

The Weather Channel is talking a cat 4 with possible cat 5 weakening back to a cat 4 before it makes landfall

Mother Nature has not been too bad in the area where I live but is getting worse and scarier. I do not know how you can ever feel comfortable with hurricanes all around you. I'd be living in constant fear. And that goes for all of those living in various paths, tornadoes, earthquakes, wild fires, etc. I hope you all stay safe!

MILTON UPDATES: Wed 11pm - 105 mph sustained - Cat 2 moving NE at 15 mph made landfall in Sarasota as a Cat 3 - 120mph sustained at 9:30pm

*Milton Storm Surge

Live Hurricane coverage 24/7 until Hurricane Milton no longer affects Florida. This is the best hurricane coverage you will ever see. They have been covering/learning hurricanes for years. Once those feeder bands start crossing Florida they take us inside- winds, wind gusts, rainfall amounts, possible tornadoes, times to your area and more taking views sometimes to street level depending. Feeder bands can bring some of the strongest winds, strongest gusts and rain/downpours within a hurricane. They also go county to county telling us what to expect giving sustains, gusts and rainfall as Milton moves through. Irma hit us in 2017 - Video

Orlando Fox News 35 Live - Back to normal scheduling

The Weather Channel is covering as well. They have their people all over the area including Tampa and Orlando


Weather Channel Radar - Click "Now", zoom out and hit play

Zoom Earth - Scroll zoom and click hold to move around

Hurricane Wind Scale

Hurricane Hunters

Very worrisome indeed. Thanks for the links! I hope it does not prove to be as bad as predicted.

Orion, I moved to Fl. in 63, shortly after I was introduced to my first hurricane. I was not a happy camper. I'm a lot more prepared now. Stay safe.

I moved to Florida in 2002 Connie. I have always liked a good storm and could not wait to be in my first hurricane. It so happens 3 crossed through central Florida in 2004 - Charlie, Francis and Jeanne. I was done with hurricanes after that. Here we go again. Stay safe

Orion, I remember Charlie, Francis, and Jeanne well. That's when we bought our first generator. Stay safe.

This is awful -- another disaster so soon after Helene. What a tragedy for so many people. Stay safe, Boomers.

Floridians are well practiced with these storms especially along the gulf coast hagatha. If there is any loss of life hopefully it will be minimal. I don't say that lightly, any loss of life is always a terrible thing, very sad. The damage is another thing. There will be widespread damage no matter where this hurricane lands, something this state does not need more of. Nov 30th is the end of hurricane season. It can't come soon enough

Connie, I think I can say that we both will be loosing power over this one. Do you run a line to your computer? I'm sure everyone here would like to know you are ok while Milton passes through. We are gonna run lines throughout the house tomorrow. We will at least have them ready to go when the power goes other than that we are ready

Just want to say you are all in my thoughts.

And I fervently hope you all stay safe !!

🤞🤞🤞

Orion, we still have to figure out how to run the lines best. We have 2 freezers and 2 fridges all on different ends of the house, both freezers full. If we loose power we will loose our internet. We have everything else pretty much under control. Stay safe

I have to run 2-100' cords into the home with a surge protector on each end. I take one of the 100' cords and add another cord to it with a surge protector on its end so it reaches upstairs where we have a fridge and 2 fans in our bedroom. Downstairs off the other 100' cord, which reaches our kitchen, we plug in our main fridge and will plug in the microwave, coffee pot, electric cooker and chargers as needed. From that same cord/surge protector I run a cord to the living room with a surge protector on its end to handle the TV, internet, computer, lights and surround sound. We have a Generac 6500 that handles all very well. Surge protectors are very important not only to protect all but allows us to split into all area of the home. It works, you have time - Lowes or Home Depot. Power could be out for days

You definitely want to protect those refrigerators and freezers. We lost $300 in food one year. Can your generator handle more if you wanted it too?

I guess this all assumes you still have a home left standing to even be able to run all these cords! At least you guys are far enough inland you might be safe.

Not sure if it will, I will have to ask the boys. I know we have several 50 ft. cords and surge protectors. I checked and ours is a 5500. Be safe.

How true Drac. So far so good our home has remained standing and hope it still is after this one passes. Having spent a week or two in the past hoteling it with animals because of power loss was nothing short of miserable. Getting a generator and and running cords allowing us to stay in our home with most of the comforts was the only way to go. I swore I would never hotel it again like that. So far that generator has saved us from 2 hotel stays. Well worth the investment and time running cords

Satelite Image of Milton as a Cat 5

A 5500 should have 2-20amp duplex outlets each having 2 plug-ins Connie. Have your boys check that and make sure they do not overload each receptacle with too much draw. For example my 2 refrigerators draw 4 amps each. Having 2-30 amp outlets myself and splitting them between the 2 outlets I still have 26 amps left on each outlet to plug in and operate more items

Oh, my. At 5:00 pm sustained winds reached 190 mph with one of the lowest atmospheric pressures ever recorded..

Thanks Orion, I will let the boys know what you told me. Stay safe

Alright Connie, you all take care

Prayers for everyone heading up.

Sending prayers from me too! Please check in, we do worry about all of you!

My prayers are with you Connie and orion and all in the path of this destructive storm! Stay safe.

Gerry

Right now our power is still on. No for much longer though. As of 11:30 we had 126 tornado warnings in this storm. We are getting 7" of rain an hour for 4 more hours and then it will be recalculated. We have 50mph sustained with 80+ mph gusts. The worst is yet to come. By 3/5am the eye will be close Orlando either running just south of or actually passing over Orlando. I have always wanted to experience an eye. I might get that chance tonight

I've been watching some of it Orion, and wondering if you could possible be trying to sleep. Keep us posted. Hoping you and Connie stay safe!

Thoughts and prayers for the people affected.

We're good, some limbs and lots of leaves down. We one of the few who still have power, not sure how long that will last. Your thoughts and prayers worked.

Sending thoughts and prayers to people in Florida.

Stay safe, everyone. I have been following both the tornadoes and the hurricane closely and praying for all of you there.

So good to know you're okay, Connie!

Glad to see you are ok Connie. What a storm that was. We didn't loose power either. I'm having a hard time believing that but am glad. They flickered here and there but that's about it. Last I looked 3 million have no power. Like you no damage but debris all over. By 2am we were beat but did not want to go to sleep because of all those tornado warnings. We snoozed on the couch and finally went to bed around 5. The highest gust I recorded was 110mph. We sustained 70mph for awhile. We missed the eye but caught that north end as it went by. How were the winds for you being further north? Rough night?

You do not want to go to sleep oldbroad not knowing what could happen. You hear these roars outside wondering if a tornado is about to hit when they are nothing more then strong gusts. They do send out alerts if what could be a tornado is spotted in your area. There were a good number on the ground throughout the night, some deaths involved. I'm telling you between the winds, the rain and tornadoes....what a night

Reports on the after math - Fox 35 News Live - Back to normal scheduling

Thank you for the thoughts and prayers, they worked!

Good bye Milton!

Glad to hear you and Connie are OK Orion!

Glad to hear all your generator prepping turned out to be unnecessary, Orion! I know I wouldn't have been able to sleep. Is there some scientific reason why these kind of storms so often seem to happen at night?

So good to hear the both of you made it thru the storm safely Connie and Orion!

Gerry

Orion, yes I'm north of you. We are between Orlando and Sanford. I'm not sure how high the winds were, but it was a ROUGH night. We are lucky to still have power, a lot of our friends here are not as lucky. We loaned our generator to a friend who lost power. We are opening the Eagles early, so those without power will have a place to come.

That is really nice opening up the Eagles and you letting someone use your genny Connie. We both know what it is like losing power. I'll bet they were very thankful. Very kind of you

I was thinking Silver Springs Connie. That is why I asked how the winds were you being further north. I'm 7 miles west of downtown Orlando. We were both about 35 miles from its path. Right before landfall they had the eye 60 miles in diameter. That put the eye wall 30 miles out from center if it maintained that diameter when it came by. That would have put us both close to what was left of an eye wall at that time. At the time it was going by us is was a Cat 1- 90mph. Rough night like you say. Why we did not lose power is a mystery

***

There is no scientific reason why hurricanes cross over land at night it's just timing oldbroad. The next one, hopefully not this year, could cross land during the day

Forecasting had Milton crossing over the state at night. It's so much easier running cords during the day then at night using a flashlight. Had this been a daytime event we would have waited for the power to go out. If the power had gone out like we expected it to we had everything ready to go, just plug into the placed surges using a flashlight and we are up. Between the two of us it doesn't take too much time running the cords or wrapping back up

Hurricanes are not the only reason our power has gone out and we have had to bring out the generator. Atlantic and Gulf fronts meet in the middle of the state. When they clash it creates these strong storms. There was a time you could set your watch by them, 4pm. It is called the "Rainy Season", May to Oct. Our power seemed to always be going out. Duke Energy ran new lines under ground to these new distribution boxes throughout the neighborhood and worked the area around us this summer. Maybe that is why we did not lose power this time around. I don't know

We took Mocha and Teddy out for a walk Thursday oldbroad to survey the damage and saw many fences down, shingles blown off roofs and debris all over the place

So Far 17 deaths reported. One man was cleaning up debris Thursday and stepped on a hot line and it killed him. Unbelievable and so sad


Landfall in Florida


EDIT: We went from an estimated 3 million without power to 2 million without power now. We have linemen from all over the country here to help restore, some from California. They are moving right along

I'm so glad to hear you're both okay. What a horrible way to spend the night.

Orion-

My friend in Orlando got pretty lucky in that they only lost a few fence panels and a tree. They also were on high enough ground to not get any water in the house.

Prayers heading up for everyone who was affected by the storm.

Glad your friend didn't have a lot of damage.

A friend of mine had a 35' palm tree fall along the side of his home just missing it. Tree service said it weighed 10,000 lbs. Had it hit his home......

There are 23 deaths reported now