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Here we go again- hurricane Milton

Hope all the Big Birds got out this time…………….

IMG_3597.png
 
I've lived in East side of So Fla since 1955. Moved to west coast a decade back after my divorce.

The only people that do not evacuate and "think" they can predict or beat or outlast a hurricane have never been thru a real eye wall. That being said, I left Sunday at 4:30pm with a full tank and an aux tank of 30 gals of gas. My town was out of gas. I am today in Mid state Alabama. Georgia, Tenn, and the Carolinas are off limits because of the recent hurricane damage.

I believe in leaving before everyone else decides to evacuate. Traffic this time was rainy for me but normal, except for massive number of Semi's headed South.
My friend from Sarasota left Monday at 11:00am the Florida Panhandle, 339 miles, took 12 hrs with traffic on the interstate.

This looks to be a really bad one.

I visited my local machine shop in Ft Myers last Thursday to check on my 454 SBM build to ascertain how secure his shop is for the potential storm surge, being 10+ miles inland but only 5 miles from the river. he said they have never had any high-water issues. Did not consider a cat 5+.
Much talk about downgrading, with the positive aspects of decreasing winds when going down to a Cat 3.
Consider though winds can drop in minutes, but piled up water surge in the Gulf from a Cat 5 takes hours to drop, think just normal tide cycles.

My big decision now is, when to head back.
 
Maybe Saturday? I was going to say when the storm starts moving offshore Thursday since you’re so far away, but who knows what the roads will be like. 75 by Tampa will be a nightmare. So would going around Alligator alley. Maybe take 95 to SR 70 and take backroads from Okeechobee. They said that over 5 million people evacuated, most didn’t go as far as you did.
 
I live 30 mi south of ATL and there are no hotel rooms left on the south side of ATL. Atlanta Motor Speedway has camping for those with Rvs or with just tents. They have a huge camping area used for the races, with big shower houses/bathrooms. Tent camping is free and sites with hookups are only $35 a night.
Hope everyone stays safe down there.
 
wahya said:
Maybe Saturday? I was going to say when the storm starts moving offshore Thursday since you’re so far away, but who knows what the roads will be like. 75 by Tampa will be a nightmare. So would going around Alligator alley. Maybe take 95 to SR 70 and take backroads from Okeechobee. They said that over 5 million people evacuated, most didn’t go as far as you did.
Click to expand...
That is my thinking. I suspect based on my experience with Andrew in 92 on the Turnpike extension, I75 by Tampa will have numerous road blocking overhead large signs down, whereas the east coast I95/Turnpike will have lower wind speeds and less potential water surge. etc, so your idea of going around the Lake on the east side has a lot of merit, we'll see.

Coincidently, I have had a hotel reservation in Ocala on 10/10 Thurs for weeks for a now canceled outdoor auction. I have been toying with the idea staying there and sneaking in behind the storm late Thursday, and getting on the road heading south way before sunup and others get on the road.

I was in Orlando and had a similar strategy heading south in 2007 with Irma, no cars on the Turnpike, but had a frightening experience in the dark when I struck a felled overhead windshield height cable stretched across the turnpike. Got off and had lots of trees down and had to retrace a lot of my backroad routes, took 6? hours, even with no traffic. Even my own street was blocked.
 
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GTXDAN said:
I live 30 mi south of ATL and there are no hotel rooms left on the south side of ATL. Atlanta Motor Speedway has camping for those with Rvs or with just tents. They have a huge camping area used for the races, with big shower houses/bathrooms. Tent camping is free and sites with hookups are only $35 a night.
Hope everyone stays safe down there.
Click to expand...
What surprised me on my trip thru Georgia (I HAD to visit Summit in McDonough) on late Sunday night was all the rather vacant looking hotels as I crossed the Georgia line. I found out early Monday morning many of the interstate nearby hotels were damaged and not rentable with extensive roof damage etc from the recent hurricane.

Note, the visible wind damage decreased as I traveled north in Georgia.
And on the plus, I paid $2.36/gal near Atlanta.
 
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j-c-c-62 said:
That is my thinking. I suspect based on my experience with Andrew in 92 on the Turnpike extension, I75 by Tampa will have numerous road blocking overhead large signs down, whereas the east coast I95/Turnpike will have lower wind speeds and less potential water surge. etc, so your idea of going around the Lake on the east side has a lot of merit, we'll see.

Coincidently, I have had a hotel reservation in Ocala on 10/10 Thurs for weeks for a now canceled outdoor auction. I have been toying with the idea staying there and sneaking in behind the storm late Thursday, and getting on the road heading south way before sunup and others get on the road.

I was in Orlando and had a similar strategy heading south in 2007 with Irma, no cars on the Turnpike, but had a frightening experience in the dark when I struck a felled overhead windshield height cable stretched across the turnpike. Got off and had lots of trees down and had to retrace a lot of my backroad routes, took 6? hours, even with no traffic. Even my own street was blocked.
Click to expand...
Might want to check weather in Ocala. The storm is getting larger. Also, night time driving after powerful storm is risky. It will be hard to see downed trees, signs etc. Shoot, I remember back in 2004, I watched this guy drive right into a low hanging traffic signal. I went over to check on him and the signal went through his windshield and was sitting in his passenger seat (good thing he didn’t have a passenger. Oh, btw, apparently we now have a Waffle House closure index.
 
Milton will probably skim its energy from the warmer continental shelf waters closer to land and via its counter clockwise rotation, will supercharge into a 5 even at landfall. The wall could be hard as stone. Storm surge south and east of it should see significant swelling. The only shear firewall it may encounter may be cooler denser, deeper water out in the Gulf, but then again the Gulf is warmer than usual.
Yes, old Blue New York has had a few monumental Hurricanes, as rare as they my be, but the cooler coastal waters and mountainous skyscrapers bring it to a halt.
Flat terrains, warm seawater and low pressure is catnip for Hurricanes.

Be careful fellow Americans.
 
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They are saying the eye replacement cycle will weaken it...
...however, if it completes before landfall, it will actually enlarge and strengthen.

Also-

They keep revising the track to the South.
I suggested five updates ago that it wasn't going to make the movement to the North they kept expecting.
Finally, they changed that.

I went with my gut and finally boarded my South facing French doors and my 52x48 North window that's under the car port.

I'm about as inland as you can get, but they are saying 129 MPH winds possible here.

Now the tornado warnings are coming.
 
Out ahead of the storm near Lake O. Apparently same tornado that crossed I 75
 
wahya said:
Out ahead of the storm near Lake O. Apparently same tornado that crossed I 75
Click to expand...

Like you guys don't have enough to deal with, Tornadoes too...

Stay safe...
 
We made it through relatively unscathed - worst damage is a dent in the Ram's tailgate from flying debris. The rest is downed limbs and yard debris.

Power is out, but generator is working. We got lucky that a tornado cell jumped over our neighborhood. Lots of tornado damage just West and North of us. Gulf coast and areas North of us got the brunt of the storm, we only caught the southern edge.

Hope everyone affected is OK and safe.
 
Glad to hear that you and your family are safe,hope all is well for everyone else who was in the storm's path!
 
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