Any Damage at VB?

[Tigger031266]

I was watching NBC and they showed some pretty bad damage and flooding at VB from the huricane. Is anyone at Vero that still has internet that can tell us if there was damage

 

[moredisneyplease]

Anyone??

 

[vicki_c]

The eye of the storm is just now hitting Ft. Pierce and Vero area, so I think it's too soon to ask that question. Check here:

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=MLB&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no

Last report I saw was that it would be hitting Melbourne (30 mins north of Vero) at 2 am.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I know this is late. But I was there on 8/19....we left around 1:30 pm just 30 min before the tornado warnings started coming in for VB (I was driving on I95 through the warning areas and that was bad enough). Here's some photos/video I took before I left :

The CM's had moved all activities indoors while the storm raged on outside :

 

[PinkTink63]

I know this is late. But I was there on 8/19....we left around 1:30 pm just 30 min before the tornado warnings started coming in for VB (I was driving on I95 through the warning areas and that was bad enough). Here's some photos/video I took before I left :

The CM's had moved all activities indoors while the storm raged on outside :

Wow! I guess we got out just in time! We left on 8/18 around 3:00pm. We were out in the ocean that morning and by noon the big black cloud was coming! No more had we got out of the water to get ready to leave and it started to pour. It only looked like it was going to get worse. Our flight left at 6:30pm out of Orlando and the flight attendants asked everyone to hurry and sit down, that we are trying to beat the storm coming in. I have to say that the flight started out a little rough!

 

[Tigger031266]

So did they close the resort and tell you to leave? Or did you just leave on your own. You would think that they would tell you to get out.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

So did they close the resort and tell you to leave? Or did you just leave on your own. You would think that they would tell you to get out.

Boy, that's a real tricky call to make. We were there in 06 when TS Ernesto came through. It was projected to be a pretty nasty storm, possibly hurricane. It turned out to be intense rain for the one day. The Inn building and all the villa buildings are completely concrete structures and have hurricane rated windows and doors and so these are probably some of the safest structures around.

The night before the storms was due to hit they were trying to get people in the villa buildings to move into the Inn. I believe they have backup generators for the Inn building. We chose not to and they didn't force us.

I don't know how they handled Frances & Jeanne in 2004. Those were major hurricanes that presented a direct hit from the ocean side. Perhaps someone can share that experience or maybe JimMIA can give us an idea of how these things are scripted to be handled

Paging JimMIA....

 

[Beth]

They closed for Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

As is often the case with these storms... Floyd didn't end up being as bad as expected, and the resort opened the next day.... though all reservations had been cancelled.

We called that morning, made a new reservation, and drove over. There ended up being, like, 45 people in the whole resort that night - it was surreal. There had been no significant damage, but their alarm system was a little screwed up, and we had a fire alarm during that night.

In 2004, our Labor Day reservation was cancelled thanks to Hurricane Frances - the resort closed then, also.

We re-booked a last-minute trip to WLV at the end of September, which then was shortened by Hurricane Jeanne. While the resort didn't close, they gave the guests the option to leave - which we chose - as we were concerned about our home...

What a crazy year that was....

 

[bobbiwoz]

We were at VB, OVIR, when Katrina was hitting Miami and the sliders did let in the rain, the wind was very intense. It was a scary time, but the next morning the sun was shining as if nothing had happened.

Bobbi

 

[manning]

Wow! Our flight left at 6:30pm out of Orlando and the flight attendants asked everyone to hurry and sit down, that we are trying to beat the storm coming in. I have to say that the flight started out a little rough!

I know the feeling. Some years back we went thru the same drill. At the time you could listen to the pilot talk to the tower. Everyone was told to hurry up and get seated and the pilot was working the tower. The direction the storm was coming from was black. We taxied (fast) out to the runway and didn't even stop, just swung onto the runway and off we went. Five minutes into the air the airport was closed. I think the pilot got them to delay those five minutes.

 

[JACKie SPARROW]

I just got back from Vero. My family and I were there from Sun. 8-17 thru Fri. afternoon 8-22. We drove from WI and were tracking Fay before we left. As we came off of I-95 last Sunday, we noticed that there were plastic bags over many of the nozzles at gas stations Many stations were out of reg. unleaded. and even mid-grade. We did find one and filled up in case we had to evacuate which gave us piece of mind.

Sunday was beautiful and we enjoyed the beach. As we watched the weather and saw what could be headed our way we decided to prepare. Monday morning we went to Wal-mart and bought x-tra water, additional batteries for out flashlights, candles and a lighter. By Mon. eve, it started to rain and the wind picked up. I took my kids down to the beach to see the storm. The wind and waves were becomming stronger. I took a pic of the kids and wrote "GO AWAY FAY" in the sand.

Tuesday came and so did Fay. Torrential downpours for the majority of the day, along with strong gusts of wind and a tornado warning. I was in a 2 BR in building 14. One of the trees right outside of the rooms snapped off and workers were out with a chain saw cutting it up. We had a few leaks in
the 2nd BR. Engineering came to look at it and told us to put the garbage can under it. They were all out of buckets because there were over 30 reported leaks. Fortunately, our leaks were along the walls and corners so the water really didn't bother us. We never lost power, but other units did. We received a message on our phone that VB was experiencing outages and Disney was working to get everything back to normal and that they appologize for the inconvenience.

Tuesday afternoon brought a tornado warning. I was completely shocked at the lack of response and action. It seemed that this didn't bother anyone at all Cast members knocked on our door to hand out flashlights and I mentioned the warning that was to hit in a matter of minutes and she said she heard the same thing from another guest and went on her way. There were no sirens or any warnings on the local news-just on the weather channel.

DH went to the lobby and said there were a lot of towels on the floor by the doors to prevent any more water from coming in. We were told that the beach cottages got hit pretty hard. DH also talked to a guy who stayed in a beach cottage and said that water was coming in by the door and soaked the majority of the upstairs carpet. I know they won't replace the carpet because a CM told me that they will pull it up, dry it with a huge fan and put it back down.

We continued to wait for Fay to leave. Wed. we took the kids to see WALL-E at the Indian River Mall and did some shopping. By Thurs. I was sick of the storm and started to do laundry and pack for our departure on Friday. The rain finally stopped Thurs. eve and we went to Squid Lips for dinner. They had the windows open so we were able to enjoy the view of the water and the sun setting in the sky-Fay was GONE Later we took a walk down by the beach. The storm pushed a lot of sand up against the dune, leaving very little beach area. There was a ton of smelly seaweed EVERYWHERE, along with several jellyfish. Fortunately high tide carried the seaweed back to the ocean. Many of the turtle nests were destroyed-we found a lot of broken eggs on the beach. The bottom of the ramp by the beach was burried and we had to jump down a bit.

We had a nice time at VB but were bummed that we lost 3 days at the beach-Oh well, we are already planning on going back in 2 years.

If I think of anything else I'll post it

 

[DisDaydreamer]

we noticed that there were plastic bags over many of the nozzles at gas stations Many stations were out of reg. unleaded. and even mid-grade. We did find one and filled up in case we had to evacuate which gave us piece of mind.

Ah... yes. I remember that happening with us in 06. I went out the day after we arrived and filled up (I'm anal when it comes to preparing for the unexpected) DW thought it was, well... anal. Well let me tell you who was sitting tall when we drove around the day before the storm and there were lines of cars down the street waiting for gas at the few stations that still had gas. It was a most enjoyable drive.

 

[wdw1972]

Tuesday afternoon brought a tornado warning. I was completely shocked at the lack of response and action. It seemed that this didn't bother anyone at all Cast members knocked on our door to hand out flashlights and I mentioned the warning that was to hit in a matter of minutes and she said she heard the same thing from another guest and went on her way. There were no sirens or any warnings on the local news-just on the weather channel.

Of course not - this isn't Arkansas, it's Florida. Tornado warnings are common with some of these storms, but rarely do any serious damage. Most of the time it's water spouts. Besides, what would you have them do? Just stay in your room rather than walking around outside and you're fine. They brought lanterns in case a tornado formed and knocked our power - by knocking over a tree that took down a power line, or hitting a transformer for example.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Our flight left at 6:30pm out of Orlando and the flight attendants asked everyone to hurry and sit down, that we are trying to beat the storm coming in. I have to say that the flight started out a little rough!

Pinktink....we were due to fly out on 8/19 and I sensed there would be trouble so I called Southwest and tried to get a flight out on 8/18 but they said they could not accomodate us. Then, we found out on 8/19 in the morning, that our 6 pm flight was cancelled ! To answer you Tigger, we left on our own. There were no Inn rooms or studios available. I didn't have enough DVC points or cash available for anything large so I didn't even inquire about that. We were able to get a room at POP so that is where we high-tailed it out to. On the drive there (between 1:45 pm and 3 pm), there were MANY tornado warnings on the radio warning drivers to get out of their vehicles and lay face down in a ditch should we see a funnel cloud. The wind was crazy and they were talking about 50-70 mph wind gusts on the radio in the area. Tornado touched down by dd's school (we had just dropped her off as a freshman at FL Tech). This was the Barefoot Bay community you may have heard about on the news---it's about 15 min from dd's campus. Very scary drive to WDW. But things did get better the closer we got.
And Jackie...thanks for the update on what happened after we left. I did see all the towels all over the lobby floor and witnessed the water being wind-blown right under the back lobby doors. Noone was asked to leave. I think it might have been more dangerous for people to be asked to move at the height of the storm vs staying put. Believe me, had I known about the tornado warnings before we drove off, I would have just hung out in the lobby until that passed.

 

[JimMIA]

I don't know how they handled Frances & Jeanne in 2004. Those were major hurricanes that presented a direct hit from the ocean side.

Not at Vero they weren't. Francis had 68 MPH sustained winds (tropical storm strength) and Jeanne had only 52 at Ft. Pierce (there is no NHC archive wind value for VB).

We Floridians tend to be a bit jaded about storms. You see Diane's post above about Katrina. We were in the eye-wall of Katrina, and I didn't even put shutters up. But then...I had no idea we would actually BE in the eye-wall!

Perhaps someone can share that experience or maybe JimMIA can give us an idea of how these things are scripted to be handled

Paging JimMIA....

Not sure what you are asking, Rob.

In Florida, our basic strategy is "hunker down and ride it out." We cringe when we hear people like New Orleans and Houston trying to "evacuate."

Evacuate? Really? Where? How? Why? Have you thought this through????

Evacuation is one of those beautiful, grandiose concepts that sounds a whole lot better when spoken than it looks when actually implemented. Evacuation is ugly, dangerous, and fraught with problems unless you do it WAY in advance of the storm.

As far as evacuations go, tho, we have two types - recommended and mandatory.

Recommended means you are notified that you should evacuate, and officials take your next-of-kin notification info if you refuse. (That usually does it, but we can't make anyone leave under this type of evacuation order.)

Under mandatory evacuation, you can basically go easy or go hard. Your choice. Spend a night in a shelter, or spend the night in jail.

And...as logic would suggest...we also have two classes of people for those orders -- tourists and residents. We recommend and order tourists to leave earlier than residents. Often, in fact, we order tourists to evacuate and tell they residents they're fine to stay. That's why you will often see tourists ordered out of the Florida Keys 3-4 days prior to landfall. Why? Because we understand evacuations in the real world!

Leaving residents in place is not as crazy as it sounds; our building codes require that our residences withstand certain storm strengths and that we have hurricane shutters.

So if a Disney resort suggests that you move to another building, or that you remain indoors, they're not nuts. Nor are they just trying to preserve the revenue for the room-night you are going to spend hunkered down. They know you are safer hunkered down than you would be on the road with nowhere to stay.

Not sure that answered your question...

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Not sure that answered your question...

Thanks, Jim. You pretty much covered my vague question. We don't ever have any evacuations in the Shenandoah Valley and so have never experienced the call to evacuate and I wasn't sure what, if any, rule-of-thumb community leaders use to decide when it is appropriate.

Thanks again. Looks like miss Fay is going to provide us some much needed rain over the next couple days. We have had 1/2" over the last 30 days.

 

[JimMIA]

There are two short-answer situations where people are encouraged to evacuate:

1. One is if they would be either endangered or cut off from essential services by flooding. Examples would be barrier islands, very low areas, and the Florida Keys.
2. The other is if they have medical considerations such that they could not be self-sufficient (and that includes being without electricity) for several days. This is the fallacy in most elderly people's hurricane plans. They are confident their condo will withstand a hurricane -- and it will. Problem is, they won't withstand being without their meds, O2, or other medical services they depend on.

Other than those two, we pretty much hunker down because it's a LOT safer than getting in a car too late with nowhere to go.

 

[JimMIA]

The biggest problem with evacuations is that they must be done WAY ahead of the storm.

For example, if you're busing elderly people away from Miami Beach, you have to do that before winds reach 39 MPH, because everything comes off the streets (including police and fire) at that point. Buses don't do well in wind.

Also, storm tides may rise past acceptable levels 24 hours prior to the storm. A lot of that depends not on the storm, but on the tides. If you're taking people off barrier islands, there will come a point where the causeways are simply not safe, and NOBODY comes out after that point. Ready or not, you're staying put.

And finally, there is some troubling math with evacuations. Roadways have capacities. Only a certain number of vehicles can move past a certain point in a certain period of time. I've worked on those numbers for the Florida Keys, and they are scary. There comes a time -- and it happens much sooner than you think -- where nothing will move. A two-hour drive becomes a 12-hour ooze.

That's what we saw with people trying to get out of Houston with Katrina -- one big parking lot full of cars that can't move and don't float. Ugly. They were very lucky that Katrina swerved to the right and hit MS and AL instead of hitting them.

 

[Straughn]

I was there 8/16-8/20. JACKie SPARROW's description above is accurate. However, I was in Villa 15 and had a partial power loss on Tuesday. No A/C and only partial lighting. My TV worked, (thank god), my refrigerator worked, my coffee pot worked and I had full power in the bathroom. By Wednesday morning things were a tad humid in my studio.

Sunday was the only decent day of the four I was there. When I left on Wednesday to go to WDW, the lady at the front desk said not to drive north on I-95 toward Melbourne because it was really bad in that direction. She sent me south to Hwy 60 and across to the Florida turnpike. It only took me a little over two hours, with a lunch stop, to get to WDW, and the rain was no existent or very light. I am so grateful she suggested that route.

 

[Mahusky]

I was there also from 8/16 - 8/23. I was one of the lucky one in Villa 12... we never lost power!

Im not sure if I would concur about the concern for the Tornado warning, I watched with a close eye and it was pretty clear that it was going to miss the resort area on the other side of the intercoastal. Im sure the CM's saw that as well and did want to raise concern.

Also, the TV channels were being a bit dramatic, Sebastian hit with 28 inch plus rain and is flooded on US1. I had people calling me to ask if there were truly alligators in the streets! Now Im not suggesting that there wern't areas effected by the entire event and that people down there were not facing extreme hardship. However, I drove on Thursday AM (8/21) down to Sebastian on US1 and I barely saw any standing water let alone flooding. I then drove West on 512 through Fellsmere all the way to Rt 60 and saw much of the same.

I think the worst of it all was the beach! There wasn't much of it left. 3 - 8 ft cliffs with the south side of the resort taking it much worse. The old piers from the old walkway were exposed on day 2 of Fay (to be covered again several days later). On Sat the 23rd at high tide... tide was up to the cliffs meaning all beach chairs had water under them. Dont fret however the beach is as beautiful as ever. Now a great Skim boarding beach! As a previous poster stated the turtles took it hard!!! Any nest not close to the original dune is gone. I saw many many eggs and a few baby turtles that didnt make it.

Im sure the beach will be repaired to its pre Fay beauty once all the nest have hatched. FWIW they ran Turtle Troop on Fri 8/22.