Those in Charley's path....were you prepared?

[missyc]

I live in Sarasota and have had more anxiety today than I did yesterday waiting for the storm. We were (at some points) sitting right in Charley's path to take a direct hit. However it obviously changed suddenly and hit land to our south. It barely even rained here.
I can now say that we were nowhere near prepared. Thursday evening me and my sister went looking for some supplies. Stores were pretty much out of everything. We were all (12 of us, 5 being children) meeting at my parents home and they had bought plenty of food, water, etc. Thursday night I didn't sleep until about 5:30am as I got nervous watching the news as Charley got closer. This is when the first reports that he could reach Cat 4 very easily by the time he passed our coastline to head on up near Tampa. There was also the likely chance of landfall in Sarasota. We were all starting to worry about whether or not we should have left town, or at least boarded our windows. Too late now, Home depot didn't open Friday morning. We had assumed that being a few miles inland and Charley being a Cat 2 or MAYBE 3, we should be ok. Early afternoon my sister and I emptied some closets in case we needed to get in. This is when Charley's path changed, and we were spared. What a blessing! I truly feel for those south of us. I realized today what could have very easily happened to my family.
My sister works at the hospital and was a nervous wreck all day. They were bringing patients in by the busload. Literally. They were using school buses. There was also a steady stream of choppers bringing people in one after the other all day. Co-workers lost homes,etc. This, along with pictures on the news, really brought things close to home.

So....back to my question. Looking back, were you prepared? Will you stay next time? Will you do anything different?

 

[Luv2Roam]

Prepared, somewhat. We did not have a generator, or boards/tape over the windows. I was prepared food and water wise for being without electricity.
DH and I truly lucked out. No damage whatsoever. Our power has not gone out. It flickered a few times during the hurricane and we held our breath.
I walked around the neighborhood yesterday. There were some larger palm and other trees laying on the ground. The ground is so wet and the strong winds hitting, just laid them over.
Some branches had to be chainsawed. But looks like most can be uprighted and staked.
Our house is only three years old. So I felt fairly safe and secure. Had something happened, it probably would have been a tornado that nothing would stop damage anyway.

DH works for the transportation company who ships for Home Depot. And the distribution center his team works from is the largest HD dist center in the U.S.
They have worked around the clock, LONG hours since Thursday, trying to stay with the demand for generators, chain saws, etc.
He has been going in early, and leaving VERRRRRRY late.
He said HD has been giving out numbers to line standers for supplies. Some guy had stood in line, bought a generator. Someone else stole it from that man in the parking lot!!
There are thousands of people without electricity and they have no idea when it will be back on.

We really lucked out!!!

 

[lizdotcom99]

They were among the lucky few that had NO damage what so ever to their moblie home, while many ohters in their park did not get so lucky....but they weren't prepared as far as food and water were concerned. I am hoping they can get some help from a shelter as they were told power would not be restored for at least 10 days!! My mom also used all her cell minutes on her minutes to go cell phone, so I now have NO WAY to contact her until she gets the phone card I am sending. Argh!!!! Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks!!
Liz

 

[bsnyder]

We were totally prepared to protect our lives. Protecting our property is a little bit harder. Our home in Tampa is in the purple area, which means we are in the first evacuation zone (A). This is because of the danger of storm surge....our home is just a few blocks from Tampa Bay.

If Tampa had taken the direct hit, the storm surge was projected to be 15 feet. There's not a lot you can do to protect your home from that amount of water. I did spend Thursday evening putting a lot of things upstairs but obviously there's no way to move the entire contents of the downstairs. The very last thing I did, before we left, was unplug all the computer components, and put them in plastic bags in an upstairs closet.

I took all our important papers with us when we evacuated. Birth certificates, passports, etc. and especially our homeowners and flood insurance policy information.

Our evacuation place is a commercial building. It's fairly close to our house (so we can get to it fairly easily) but it's not in any evacuation zone, so storm surge is not an issue. There are no trees around it at all (which is one of the things that I'm fearful of about staying at our house in a storm, we have so many tall trees around) And it's built like a fortress. I knew it was solid and well built (built in the early 1920's and they just don't make buildings like that anymore) but I didn't realize until we actually put our plan into place this week that it has a basement bomb shelter, and a walk-in bank vault! Added protection!

As far as food and supplies, we were laughing (nervous laughter) when we got there, at how much stuff we had. We were with two other families, and even though we had tried to divide up the stuff to bring, and not duplicate unecessarily, we all went overboard. We had enough supplies to survive there for about 2 weeks!

 

[JimB.]

To be perfectly honest, I did not prepare that much. We were on the "back side" of Florida in relation to this storm, so I figured it was not going to be as strong if it hit as it was in the south.

My DW & kids put some wood up on the back of our house where all the windows are, but other that that, we did very little.

It's not complacency, but where we are, I didn't think it was that risky. Fortunately the storm went to the south and we only got winds up to about 60 mph. Total damage for our entire county is estimated to be less the $750K.

 

[Luv2Roam]

In the Orlando area we were expecting to be on the outskirts of the hurricane, in the southeast portion. Most were expecting high winds, 35 - 40 mph maybe, heavy rain. Nothing as severe.
Of course for many it was too late by the time they heard Charley was headed direct for them. Probably many were still at work.

I took Friday off, even though I had the basics. I was glad to have that extra morning to rush around and get last minute errands and supplies.
I went out just after 8 a.m. and the traffic and stores were normal. Walgreen's even had plenty of water, on sale too.
I ran out again at 11 to buy lunch and the scene had changed drastically. Everything was packed and backed up. People seemed to have a panic look in their eyes.
In addition to normal traffic, people were fleeing the west coast. So highways were badly clogged, from what others had told me.
I did not want to take the chance of leaving work at noon or 1:00 and be stuck on a highway due to traffic or an accident. It just was not worth the risk to me.
Taking Friday off really helped my stress level a lot.

I think some here were not as prepared as they should have been, because they were not expecting the storm to pass directly overhead.

 

[Poohbear123]

Windows of our house already secured....been that way about 2 years after Andrew. They have Stainless Steel plates over the bottom half, and the awning comes down to meet those. So, I can not look out the back windows of my house at all, but, at least I don't have to worry about boarding up the house with every Hurricane. My front window, which used to be the garage, is a bay window, and has accordian shutters across it. We used to have wood panels, but, he spent the xtra $$ to get the shutters. As far as anything else, we ALWAYS have batteries, flashlights, Water, etc. on hand. WE learned a HARD lesson with Andrew, and now, everyone else will too, with Charlie.

 

[Feralpeg]

I will admit that I really didn't know how to prepare. Since we are new in Florida, I was watching my neighbors. I had bought food, water, batteries and such, but wasn't sure what to do about the house. No one in Orlando boards up their windows. I guess that is because this hardly ever happens to Orlando. I was very worried about the windows blowing out. I shut the doors to all the rooms and just hoped for the best. We were so lucky because we had no damage. If Charley had shifted just the slightest, it would have been another story.

I may be weird, but I think I will inquire as to the cost of hurricane shutters. We may be the only people in Orlando with them, but it will give me peace of mind. It is at times like this that I wish I were married. It would be great to have someone else to tell me what to do. Being alone the another night with Kendall depending on me to do the right thing to keep her safe was very scary.

 

[tink2dw]

I have been told that the best prep for any disaster is to get a

large outdoor type "plastic garbage can" with a lid and fill it
*with blankets,
jackets
radio and batteries
good shoes,sox
Fashlight,batterys,never candles
Food, peanut butter,tuna,can opener
first aid kit
any medinices you take daily*

and

Water a gallon per person per day

And** repeat for each car trunk

Dh works for a hospital and they sell a backpack with most of these items, including water pouchs.

 

[lindamg]

missy,

I live just south of you in Venice, and your post is exactly what I have been thinking and how I have been feeling this weekend. I was NOT prepared for what happened, I don't think anyone was. I WAS prepared for a category 2 storm. We might have had a broken window, but everything else was put away, tree limbs were cut, water stored, lots of supplies . . . . we thought we were ready. Then that horrifying realization that it was heading towards us and it was going to be a category 4. I just sat there watching tv knowing it was too late to do anything. I realized if that happened, there was a chance we wouldn't make it through it. I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling. I can't even imagine how it felt to live in Port Charlotte. I teach in North Port and many of my friends and colleauges live in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. The ones we have been able to find are telling horrifying stories. There are still several we have not been able to locate, mostly right in Punta Gorda.

My husband moved down from New Jersey two years ago. He laughed at my preparations, although he did do whatever I asked him to get ready. He's always laughed at my stash of bottled water, which I just keep year round, since we're on an electric pump. I've never thought about plywood or shutters because we rent and it hasn't seemed worth the money. We both agree that we will be getting plywood cut for these windows for however long we live here. This whole thing really shook my tough cookie of a husband. He is ready to do whatever we need to be better prepared next time.

I've always said, when the big one heads our way, I'm getting in my car and just driving. I don't know what to say anymore. People who did that landed in Arcadia. I guess I always felt there was a way to deal with a hurricane if it hit. Now I think there are some times when, no matter what you do, it will not make a difference. It doesn't mean don't prepare, it means learning to live with the reality of how precarious life really is.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I have a little crafty project going on. (Wish I could finish it, but it is POURING RAIN AGAIN. Do I live in FL or Seattle? )

Wow. Was I faced with a line of people at the cash register. Everyone was in good humor, and probably from relief. They were all buying generators and fans.
One guy said he lived in Orlando and called all over to find a generator. Only our local Ace Hardware store had any. He said they were told to prepare to be without electric for 10 days.

 

[arminnie]

I've lived in Houston and New Orleans so I know about hurricanes, but to be honest I NEVER thought about Orlando getting hit so bad because it is inland.

My first hurricane experience was in New Orleans in 1964 - we were kept in the dormitory and fed box lunches but it missed us. Next year we were not so lucky - that was Betsy. But it sure is different when it is your life's possessions and home versus some clothes and books. In the olden days when I was in college we didn't even have things like tvs or stereos in our rooms.

Just before I moved to Arkansas they had some terrible ice storms and people were without power for up to two weeks. I've also been through a tornado and a major earthquake. I guess it's always something.