Hurricane Irma

[GarrAargHrumph]

The roads south of Orlando are apparently super jammed, and it's a real issue. My sister tells me that the Greyhound bus out of Orlando was delayed by a good 4-5 hours, as it was stuck in traffic south of the city. The radio tells me that 95 is jammed, and the other major roads are also filling.

You can use Waze and also the Gas Buddy app to find gas stations in Florida that have gas. I don't know how it works on Waze, but on Gas Buddy, you can check stations near you to see if they have electricity and gas. Gas Buddy rolled this feature out just nowish, and it's available to people in FL, GA, SC and NC at the moment.

The governor of FL is working on the fuel availablity situation. For example, he's asked GA and AL to waive the trucking rules there, so tankers can get in to Florida more quickly. Tankers trucks are being escorted by FL state police. They're going the entirety of FL, including Miami and the Keys.

 

[kittyjake5]

Praying for Florida and everyone in Irma's path. Stay safe Fsuniverse folks.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

In NYC after Sandy, a major issue was lack of water in the highrises. Without power, the water couldn't reach up. Make sure you fill your tub and etc. Put a bucket next to the tub. The water in the tub will allow you to flush the toilet manually, using the bucket. Says the girl from New England who knows this stuff from blizzards.

Have a "go bag", and put it by the door. The go bag contains only essentials - your key documents (passport, wallet, etc.), phone chargers and similar, a couple of changes of clothing, some food and water. It's your emergency kit if you're forced out with no notice, which is why you put it by the door. It's possible you won't have time. You also want to put good walking shoes near the door, as again, you may not have time.

 

[Simone411]

@olympic, wishing you the best of luck. Keeping you and all FSUers in my prayers. <3

 

[olympic]

@olympic, wishing you the best of luck. Keeping you and all FSUers in my prayers. <3

Thank you. I am remaining calm but feel a small sense of panic that wells up every now and then.

We didn't leave because when it was easier to leave a couple of days ago, Irma was predicted to go over the Keys and into the Gulf of Mexico. Also, my employer didn't close business until EOB yesterday.

 

[Spiralgraph]

Stay safe, Olympic. I've got my fingers crossed for you and all FSU'ers in harm's way.

 

[BlueRidge]

Will be thinking of you, @olympic hope things are okay

 

[tony]

My employer has not closed a single day in 25 years. Last night, with the evacuation notice, they decided to close from today until Tuesday. I got a return flight to Florida pretty easily, but most of the departing flights everyone was seeing listed, in reality, weren't actually available. You would only find out after filling in all of your seat and payment info, and then the airline would have a pop up message saying N/A and you'd have to restart the entire search.

In the middle of the night, I was reloading the airline sites like it was IceCalc in 1999 and finally around 6AM I found a flight out of Fort Lauderdale later today. Traffic from Miami Beach to FLL doesnt seem all that bad yet, but I'm definitely keeping an eye on how early I need to leave.

Altogether, my round trip cost me about $450 combined. For as absolute last minute as I did it, I'll take that.

 

[TOADS]

Storm surge watch has been issues for coastal Florida from Jupiter on the east coast to Bonita Springs on the west coast for possible storm surges of 5-10 feet.

 

[Lacey]

Tony, the old lady in me thinks I would get to airport sooner than later, like right now. You can always sit around reading mags and watching tv. It would be horrible to say the traffic won.

 

[TOADS]

Tony, the old lady in me thinks I would get to airport sooner than later, like right now. You can always sit around reading mags and watching tv. It would be horrible to say the traffic won.

I sooooo agree!

 

[tony]

Tony, the old lady in me thinks I would get to airport sooner than later, like right now. You can always sit around reading mags and watching tv. It would be horrible to say the traffic won.

The old man in me has the same way of thinking. I have a few things left to do at home but I keep refreshing Google Maps to see if traffic starts to build up. As it stands now, it's still only a 35 minute drive. But I'll be on top of it and leave not long from now.

 

[susan6]

I hope traffic heading north and west doesn't get too crazy. I think FSU (the other one, Florida State Univ) is crazy to not cancel its football game this Saturday. That would free up the hotels in Tallahassee (don't even bother looking, they're all reserved months in advance by people coming to see the game) and it would free up the roads through/around the area for people who are evacuating coastal regions.

It's a STUPID game, too. I had to google "ULM Warhawks" to see what school it is. This will be a blowout even with our 4th string quarterback. There is NO reason to hold this game. Yeah, if we're playing Alabama, you're not going to cancel that and Taylor Swift is going to drop a new single in the middle of it. But University of Louisiana-Monroe? Let the Louisianians stay home, and leave the roads and hotels available for Floridians getting the heck out of Dodge.

 

[NinjaTurtles]

The old man in me has the same way of thinking. I have a few things left to do at home but I keep refreshing Google Maps to see if traffic starts to build up. As it stands now, it's still only a 35 minute drive. But I'll be on top of it and leave not long from now.

Waze has really good traffic information as well.

 

[tony]

Flight just got pushed back an hour. Not a good sign considering pretty much everything else is being canceled.

 

[Prancer]

Good luck to Tony Wheeler and olympic. I'm amazed you're both so calm.

My niece and her husband saw the photos of Barbuda and Guadeloupe and decided that maybe they should evacuate after all. But.....

your employer hasn't yet closed the office

Her husband's employer is demanding that everyone stay and work today. She's packed the car and finished preparing the house so they can leave as soon as he is free, but I am afraid that traffic might be their undoing at this point.

 

[Jenny]

I'm shocked that employers are making such demands. This could be life or death - if you're not going to help your employees at least don't hinder them from helping themselves.

From the reports I'm seeing, the Miami airport is mayhem right now (in my experience it's a crazy airport on a normal day), so if I had a flight, even if it's hours away or tomorrow, I'd be there now ensuring that my seat is secured, and that I'm right there and ready to react should they start cancelling/shuffling flights and passengers around, as apparently is already happening. I'd also be exploring/making continual backup plans because this is only going to get much, much worse.

Good luck to all.

 

[Lara]

Agreed with Jenny. I can't begin to imagine the level of patience required for a situation like this. And it's horrible that employees have hindered earlier escape times.

I hope your flight leaves Tony, and (((olympic)))

 

[tony]

My flight is delayed by just enough time that I'm going to miss my connection by a few minutes in Dallas tonight and there are no later flights. I actually got through to an AA representative immediately and she said I'm probably going to get stuck in Dallas until who knows when. ALL flights out of Florida are completely booked up and the only option I have now is to sit in the airport and hope something else comes up.

 

[Catherine M]

Her husband's employer is demanding that everyone stay and work today. She's packed the car and finished preparing the house so they can leave as soon as he is free, but I am afraid that traffic might be their undoing at this point.

That's a shame that an employer would be so uncaring to their employees during this time.

The only people that should be working today should have been in healthcare, first responders and the guys running the gas stations.

 

[Prancer]

I'm shocked that employers are making such demands. This could be life or death - if you're not going to help your employees at least don't hinder them from helping themselves.

ITA. The employer actually wanted them to work through tomorrow and only gave up on that a couple of hours ago.

My niece works for a restaurant on a marina and her boss closed Tuesday morning so all the employees would have time to prepare their homes and get out of dodge; he gave them all a hurricane bonus to help them out. Quite a difference there.

 

[icie]

I saw a report that hotel/motels are allowing people to bring their pets.

 

[TOADS]

I'm shocked that employers are making such demands. This could be life or death - if you're not going to help your employees at least don't hinder them from helping themselves.

There is a special roped off section in hell for these type of bosses. It is between the sections for people who abuse animals and those who abuse kids. Sounds like this section is filling up....

 

[Jenny]

I saw a report that hotel/motels are allowing people to bring their pets.

If they're still open that is. Many will close because they can't guarantee the safety of their guests, and need to let their staff off to take care of themselves and their families.

 

[Fridge_Break]

I'm hoping the home improvement stores are able to give their employees ample time to evacuate if needed/wanted. I worked for Lowes when I lived in Gainesville and during that period we had a few tropical storms roll through (Debby and.. Lee? I think?) While it wasn't anywhere near enough to need to evacuate or close any businesses down, I remember the store being slammed up until the very last minute with people getting what they needed. They've shown lines out the door on the news, I just hope that there aren't too many people procrastinating and causing a delay for the workers of these stores to get to safety.

 

[Jenny]

Honestly I wonder how anyone living in Florida can be unprepared. It's a constant danger, so why are so many people scrambling at the last minute? Shouldn't everyone have the basic supplies they need to board up and secure their homes, emergency supplies like batteries and flashlights etc, and especially during hurricane season, keep a supply of water, extra gas, food etc on hand?

 

[Simone411]

I just received an alert from my Weather Channel app. 650,000 ordered to flee Miami-Dade. It said it's the largest evacuation there has ever been.

Praying for these people that they find some way to get out of there. That is soooo many people. May God be with them. <3

 

[Catherine M]

Honestly I wonder how anyone living in Florida can be unprepared. It's a constant danger, so why are so many people scrambling at the last minute? Shouldn't everyone have the basic supplies they need to board up and secure their homes, emergency supplies like batteries and flashlights etc, and especially during hurricane season, keep a supply of water, extra gas, food etc on hand?

You'd be surprised how many people just wing it every season as you don't think a storm is coming your way. And by the time it does, hundreds of thousands of other folks are in the same boat. I do have some plans in place but since I usually evacuate (who wants to live in south Louisiana without AC in August/September, not me), I don't keep up with supplies at all.

 

[PRlady]

Honestly I wonder how anyone living in Florida can be unprepared. It's a constant danger, so why are so many people scrambling at the last minute? Shouldn't everyone have the basic supplies they need to board up and secure their homes, emergency supplies like batteries and flashlights etc, and especially during hurricane season, keep a supply of water, extra gas, food etc on hand?

Not everyone can afford it. Some are newbies who don't know yet what they're up against. Some just are grasshoppers instead of ants.

I'm a newbie in a country where all the new apartments have to have safe rooms. Bomb shelters, basically. I live in an older building and we don't have one; there's a terrible room in the basement we're supposed to go to, I think. Do we have a kit with emergency supplies? Nope.

Wars usually provide some notice and I guess I'll learn for myself but I'm pretty clueless right now.

 

[BittyBug]

My emergency kit was compiled during the start of the Iraq war, when I was convinced we were going to be under a chemical attack. So I have a bin with lots of burn salves, a crank radio and other odd things, and a few way past their expiration date cans of tuns and bags of what is sure to be rancid granola.

Harvey prompted me to start collecting links to disaster planning checklists in the hopes of getting my act together:

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