I live on the border between Fort Pierce and Vero Beach!!!!

Batton Down the Hatches!!!!!

I put all my shutters down for Charlie because the THOUGHT we would get some wind from him, he missed us completely. Well it's our turn now. Down they are going to go again. But this time it's hitting our shore.

Scary stuff, they are predicting a cat. 4 by the time it hits land. Lets hope it turns and stays out at sea!!!

Sent

Can you leave the state?

I highly recommend it!

I think you need a vacation anyhow!

Let us know!!!

Thinking about you!!!

Dont you be out training for a race that day!! With the wind at your back you could run your best time ever but I wouldn't recommend it!

Seriously, good luck and be safe! (i.e. leave town)

There is no "ridin' this one out".

Make it SEVERAL days in advance so you don't get stuck in traffic.... please!

No need playing around with this one.

It's going to be bad. People will die.

We lost 2 folks in the Richmond, Virginia area last night just from the left overs of Gaston... which no one was taking seriously because it was downgraded to a "tropical depression".

They had 11 inches of rain in some spots and lots of flooding.. NOT GOOD!

Take this one seriously... please!!!

I kinda have to laugh...

My "little one" just called today after working at Sanibel Island in FL after the last hurricane... doing clean up on roads and public areas on a chain saw crew. They worked 16 days straight... and only 3 people were left on the crew by the time he got back to his home base. The others got poison ivy so bad they couldn't work... and one went home.

Anyhow.. the funny part...

When I answered the phone today..

He never said hello.. how are you.. or whatever.

He started the conversation with...

"I haven't even been here even a month, mom, and we've been hit by THREE hurricanes! What the heck is going on?

And now look.... FRANCES is coming... right at us.... again!! I got home just in time to put my stuff back up on blocks, repack, and get out!"

HA!

I guess between the mosquitoes, hurricanes, the blasing sun and heat, the alligators, snakes, and swamps... he has about had his fill of Florida!

I don't think the welcome wagon has found him yet.. but if he stays there.. it may just blow past him in one of the storms!

Sent.. please check on your neighbors too.. especially the elderly. Try to get them to go too.

And check in as much as possible.

I will be waiting to hear from you!

I AGREE WITH TC!!! GET OUT!!!

NOW...

Some who survived Charley say... GO NOW...

TC,

May your little one STAY SAFE!!!

If I could e-mail you on this one I would!

my dear friend just moved from fl. but i know how bad they were when she was there, so please do as already suggested, and leave early.

please give yourself plenty of time to get where you will be safe.

as i am sure you know, it seems most people wait til the last min. to see just how bad it is going to be, but this one really does sound bad, so please do not wait.

be safe, and check in when you can, just let us know you are alright.

Living in hurricane-prone areas is a pain in the you-know-what! Been there, done that too!

Tropical Storms are OFTEN as bad as a hurricane.....flooding is deadly.

You can always cancel the reservations if you don't need them.

Suggestions for anyone in the southeast-
Hints I learned from Hugo (mid Sept 1999):

Put containers of water in all the spaces of your freezer. (Leave a little space in the container for expansion.)

This keeps your frozen food cold MUCH longer.
An added bonus is that you have cool water to drink as the ice melts.

We're 100 miles from the beach, but we had about 90 mi an hour winds. The eye of Hugo came over our neighborhood!!! We were without power for several days. At this time of year, water from the faucet is almost lukewarm.
With no Air Conditioning, it was hot & muggy. Cold water would have been a treat; ice absolutely wonderful.

As Tincup said, don't take any chances with this storm. It really looks like it's going to take a big toll on Florida & the Southeast.

The ground is wet from recent rains, so more rain along with high winds will easily blow trees over taking out the power lines.

Im not sure what we are doing yet. We are going to watch the forecast a little more.

I have never been in a hurricane.

I dont think they know yet where it is Exactly going to hit.

Scary stuff,

Jordan

We ARE in a flood zone. We are a mile and a half from the ocean.

Jordan

Don't let curiosity get the best of you! If you are a mile and a half from the beach my advice to you is...

GET OUT!!!

You may think I am being an alarmist, but my friend in Punta Gorda could give you a few pointers!

I know they are saying anywhere from Miami to GA, but currently it looks like it is favoring Miami with no evidence of a front to move it back out!

Rosemary,
Yes! This is a Frances with an "e"!

All of you in the potential regions my best to you!

BE SAFE!

Back to you with one more comment:

Don't rely on the forecast!

REMEMBER: Charley suddenly TURNED and caught the people of Punta Gorda and the surrounding area off guard.

They virtually had NO warning... the areas where it did the most damage were without power when one station began to say Charley had turned so they GOT no warning.

In times like these you must LISTEN TO YOUR INTUITION... Your GUT LEVEL!!!

Whew! Now I have said it...

Hope this helps. Not trying to scare you, but BE WISE!!!

OK- just found this link that predicts it will make landfall just south of Melbourne, but as I said they have been known to turn.
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=54787

Love and Peace,
Magdalena

But then again I am such an optimist I could be falling off a building and say "at least the view is beautiful" At least that is how it is looking right now, but plans are fluid trying to coordinate with so many people..

AND YES DON'T TRY TO STAY if you are on the EAST COAST OF FL ANYWHERE!!! please don't be foolish it is SOO much better to have left and hadn't needed to then to have stayed and wished you had.

Marietta Econolodge

For those who know, is that near the Big Chicken????

Kudos to the person who can put up a link to The Big Chicken. I don't have time.

Gotta go.

This has been one of my concerns that Frances may hit FL and not lose force and shoot across into the Gulf and then hit again in the Panhandle... Ghost seems to think so too!

Please check out his comment as his link:

MELBOURNE TO MIAMI LOOK OUT
Posted By: Ghost
Date: Thursday, 2 September 2004, 11:23 a.m.

``Melbourne to Miami is the target hit -- and as big as this thing is, it won't matter where you are in between. Bermuda High is now rebuilding which continues to drive Frances at FLORIDA. Unless something changes Florida may get hit 2 times; south and panhandle. We've been hearing Bahamas are losing buildings, the Bahamas are being flattened, wiped out. SHE IS A MONSTER. Continue to pray for a NE turn. ``
Click here to see map;
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=54825

My parents are in Vero Beach and I am so worried about them!!

My feisty, still working, 80 year old dad is always up at dawn, puttering around the house, doing some construction/fix-it project or another.

BUT. What is my dear old Dad doing right now?? He went to play bridge!! Arg! That's SO Dad!

I just talked to my beloved stepmom who is beside herself, trying to batten down the hatches on her own. All stores out of supplies...but you probably already know that.

I was able to extract assurances that they are DEFINATELY going to evacuate, taking our uncle with them. (He just got out of the hospital Sunday... dying; late stage lung cancer)

What a mess!!

I'm so upset.

Can't wait for my Dad to get home so I can yell at him and tell him how much I love him.

Glued to the news,
andie

My parents are in Vero Beach and I am so worried about them!!

My feisty, still working, 80 year old dad is always up at dawn, puttering around the house, doing some construction/fix-it project or another.

BUT. What is my dear old Dad doing right now?? He went to play bridge!! Arg! That's SO Dad!

I just talked to my beloved stepmom who is beside herself, trying to batten down the hatches on her own. All stores out of supplies...but you probably already know that.

I was able to extract assurances that they are DEFINATELY going to evacuate, taking our uncle with them. (He just got out of the hospital Sunday... dying; late stage lung cancer)

What a mess!!

I'm so upset.

Can't wait for my Dad to get home so I can yell at him and tell him how much I love him.

Glued to the news,
andie

You wrote " My soberity date is Sept 4th!!! I am celebrating 18 years of soberiety"

THAT IS GREAT NEW!!! Good for you!!

Now get out!!

This storm reminds me to much of Andrew. We are watching closly too.

Everyone in Florida please take care and be safe it is not worth saying.

Best of Luck

I wanted to drop in and say hello.

Several nice people have invited us to stay with them and i wanted to say thanks again.

I do have friends who are about 5 miles west who we could always go stay with if it seems like we really should leave.

Otherwise, we are here to stay.

I will check in after the storm and let you know how it went.

I live in Aventura, Florida which is very north miami. Im in Dade county but almost in Broward.

Take care,

Jordan

Things are fine down here. A little windy, but nothing major. We never lost power.

One of my best friends lives in Melbourne. She invited me up there to stay with her because we thought it was going to hit here.

Now, im worried about her! Its so hard to predict what a storm may do. Im very glad we
stayed. I see people walking around outside.

I hope everyone else is ok. Please check in when you can.

Jordan

Thanks for checking in! I finally calmed down when I read last night that Frances was stalling and the west wind shears were sucking the power out of her!

Still there may be torrential rains for most of the state.

Keep us posted!

Love and Peace,

I was hoping to see my first sponsor in GA as I had mentioned but when I got there I found out he had passed two years ago. It was like losing a father. So no amount of dammage to some rental house will matter in compareson.

We are planning on heading back tommorow if Ivan stays away. Kind of foolish to go home to no power and no phone just to have to flee again.

Thanks for all the warm wishes.

I was so sick. this barometric pressure is killing all my friends also that are not well.

SO much harder alone & no fam. or my ole friends that recently died or moved.

I did get offers want to thank those who did. Means alot.

My biggest worry was being alone,if power out long time. We got pounded for days. Even today. SOme sorta left behind rain bans.

It wears out even the healthy. Constant pounded from wind. No sleep, alot of work. Even have to fill washer with water, got to stores last mintutes being so sick from company. Stores still packed people,alot of empty shelves & no gas at many stations or only real expensive. Not in this gals budget.

Anyway survived, power went out, luckily only few hrs. Phones knocked out.

It was the storm that just would not leave,

Charley in & out in 1 1/2 hr. This was days.
I have been through all type storms, middle tornados blizzards up noth with no power for wk. 2 little ones with dirty diapers. YUK...

So I hung in there, hunkered down, paying price bod wise for all moving & bad fall from weakness,

Still feel lucky, many here had just got power back on. Million still out.

This has never happened,back to back Hur.& so long.
Now we have another headed for Gulf. Our trees,ground,structures are really weakened. This is very powerful well defined storm, Ivan

I pray for all you floridians. The strong can get out get what they need. Sick & elderly were eating garbage,litterally. Not able to get to trucks with H2O,food.

Most Fl. citrus crop been affected.

Also lots horse country here. Many people could not move them all.

Thank you all for your thoughts & offers.

2 so soon,besides for logevity of Frances.
People nerves are rattled. The constant wind pounding alone.

Telephone lineset up for stress related got the most phone calls for days non stop.

Right now big huge dark cloud ready to pop.sigh..

We are saturated & tired, even though many of us feel lucky in long run.

For those alone as myself, they told you to keep in touch with fam.& friends. Even if just on phone, We are not aloud on streets when this is going on. Remember that or those who can reach out to ones stuck. It is scary alone. They will truly appreciate.

I know when someone called it meant alot. I thank you again. Really needed that. This was 1st time I came home from store. My gut said this is not good. It is huge & this horrid fear after 12 yrs. here, never felt that, went all through me. I am up high alot of wind, gets eerie. Real eerie. This is from a cliff diver,rock climer, total dare devil.
So reach out to the Floridians. Not sure how much more we can take if this hits the Gulf.

Sorry I rambled, but been thinking about how so many alone & sick are still isolated from 1st hurricane...We also get alot of tornado`s inside storm. Constant warnings on that 2.

I just thank God I didn't try to ride it out I could only immagine the fear my kids would have felt in the dark while this storm relentlessly pounded away.

No we had fun in Atl and now only have to clean up a bit and hope my landlord will get off his fanny and get a contractor to our house and fix the celings and roof.

Thanks to everyone who kept us in your prayers. I am so glad and relieved to read that noone on this board suffered great loss in this storm.