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Sarasota, FL here:
Closing-up shop, boarding and sand-bagging everything up, and heading for a hotel (LOL) two miles east from my house (a total of six miles from the Gulf).
Here's hoping for good rolls on our Fort Saves to keep internet and electricity for as long as possible, and Ref Saves to avoid the really devastating wind and rain.
Those of us in the area can try to post here with updates of good news for as long as we're able.
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Thanks for the thread, WE Ray. Hope you and your loved ones are settling in, and that you all can ride out the storm safely. After the loss of life and massive devastation from Helene, I'm still (unrealistically) hoping Milton won't be as bad as projected.
My Dad and I are about 75-80 miles south of Sarasota in Lee County, so we're expecting to be hit by tropical storm to Cat 1 force winds and rain. We're not far from the Caloosahatchee River, so we're most concerned about the projected storm surge levels and possibly a tornado. My brother's home will sadly very likely be flooded again similar to how they were during Hurricane Ian two years ago; they moved everything they could as high as possible and thankfully evacuated south to a friend's house in inland Estero early Monday. Most everyone else I know either lived inland or were able to evacuate inland. Local officials all seem to be competently executing plans (and unlike others in Tallahassee, ignoring opportunities to politically grandstand) to keep people and infrastructure as safe as possible. Local shelters are all open with room available. Residents and visitors alike seem to be taking warnings very seriously and getting out of the way, as evidenced by slow-moving heavy traffic heading south I75 and heading east across Alligator Alley.
For all the Paizoians in Florida, hope you and yours stay safe. I'll try to pop in here again post-landfall as soon as I'm able.
Edit: We expect to lose power, cable/DSL Internet, and possibly cell service for some extended duration. For anyone interested in staying informed about Charlotte and Lee counties (south of Tampa & Sarasota/Hillsborough county), you can probably check in with the WINK (CBS) and WBBH (NBC) local news stations feeds on Youtube. Info from them will be much more accurate than trying to sift through all the deliberate misinformation being pumped out on Facebook and Xitter.
For anyone interested in staying informed about Charlotte and Lee counties (south of Tampa & Sarasota/Hillsborough county), you can probably check in with the WINK (CBS) and WBBH (NBC) local news stations feeds on Youtube. Info from them will be much more accurate than trying to sift through all the deliberate misinformation being pumped out on Facebook...
Appreciate it. Misinformation is nothing new, but still horrifically vile. During the '89 quake my brother was in North Carolina watching CNN and got, "Massive Quake in San Francisco! Both bridges are in the water! Estimated 60,000 dead!"
And of course he and everyone else who saw that tried to call at the same time so CNN managed to obliterate ALL incoming calls in the area during a time of crisis. Fortunately, we had the foresight to call HIM, and outgoing calls weren't blocked. But it's been 35 years and I'm still bitter at CNN for that reporting.
Wishing nothing but the best for you and yours.
Also TOZ, PM.
Holding you and yours in the Light. And yes, be leery of mis- and disinformation.
Uh, I am looking at the map showing alleged predicted route of the hurricane and Sarasota seems to be right in the middle...
Hold on and stay safe.
Batten down the hatches! Hoist the mizzenmast! Shiver the timbers!
Seriously, best of luck. It's not going to be an easy ride. Keep us all informed if you can!
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Milton officially made landfall as of 8:30PM Eastern at Siesta Key (Sarasota) as a mid-Cat 3. Storm surge will continue to rise with flooding through midnight.
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There's really too much for me to summarize, but...
Here in Lee County (Ft Myers, Cape Coral, Ft Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island) were still experiencing steady 50-65 mph winds from the Gulf 4 hours after Milton made landfall and moved inland. Property along the Gulf and on the Caloosahatchee River has seen various levels of flooding. Ft Myers Beach, Sanibel, and Captiva similarly had flooding. Downtown Fort Myers had over 5 feet of flooding, over the roads and into buildings. Reports are that most of McGregor Blvd along the river in Ft Myers has had at least some flooding, as well as western and lower- elevation parts of Cape Coral, Naples, Estero, and Marco Island. Thankfully storm surge along the Caloosahatchee and Charlotte Harbor was lower than projected.
Our power here kept flickering throughout last night but it stayed on. 200K customers (roughly 50%) in Lee County are currently without power, many reports of transformers blowing. 67% or more are without power in Charlotte County, and a million or so without in Sarasota & Tampa. In addition to the thousands of local FP&L and LCEC power restoration lineman, there are a few tens of thousands more from other states. They were camped in state before the storm, and they started power restoration efforts this morning after the sustained winds dropped. A cold front came in on Milton's heels, so high temps are in the mid 80s and humidity has dropped, so it's not bad for everyone working and cleaning up, especially those without power for air conditioning.
When the first outer bands of Milton came on shore, they spun up a dozen or so centers of atmospheric rotation across Lee, and there were at least 3-4 confirmed tornados with severe damage to several homes. Today I believe the official number was 34-36 confirmed tornados ahead and around Hurricane Milton, with four confirmed deaths from them so far. Tornadic rotation ahead of hurricanes is normal, and it's not uncommon during summer thunderstorms, but that only would spin up one, rarely two tornados; this many tornados is completely new behavior to see here.
All of this is happening in area where many people are still attempting to rebuild from the flooding and wind damage of Hurricane Ian two years ago, and the flooding from Hurricane Helene just two weeks ago. Most of the hardest hit people from Milton, Helene, and Ian are fixed-income retirees and poor/working class folk living in non-elevated homes built in the 1960s & 70s. While some wind damage mitigation can be retrofitted (hurricane clips, roofing meeting the new building codes, storm shutters), flood damage is significantly more expensive to mitigate. Elevating an old cinderblock home is rarely feasible, especially for those living in them; similarly, a full demolition & rebuild on pilings or higher foundation is prohibitively expensive. And home insurance for many is becoming a financial hardship.
Both of the housecats were a bit freaked out -- especially the one that showed up right after Hurricane Ian and probably rode out that hurricane by himself -- but them seem relaxed now. Our local grocery stores are reopening, gas is available, but there are too many people on the roads just out gawking at the damage. I can't shouldn't complain, but our home Internet went out at 3AM, and I'm burning though my budget cell plan's data and local cellular connectivity is frequently overloaded right now. Whine, whine, whine
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Whine all you want. It shows you're alive, for which we are all thankful. I have a childhood friend who lives in FL and he checked in to say they had no effects aside from rain.
Once again, glad you remain among us!
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Glad you are here and able to post Amby! What a nightmare, on so many levels.
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Glad to see you are ok.
What is the Waffle House alert?
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Whine all you want. It shows you're alive, for which we are all thankful. I have a childhood friend who lives in FL and he checked in to say they had no effects aside from rain.
Once again, glad you remain among us!
Whining Amby >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> No Amby
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Oh f#** the situation made me use math.
IT'S THAT SERIOUS
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Not to boast or salt the wounds of my fellow Floridians, but
Woo-hoo! An instant +4 bonus to my SAN checks! Now I'm going to soak my parched self into the cool waters pouring from The Series of Tubes until my brain is rehydrated and all prune-y again!
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Oh f++& the situation made me use math.
IT'S THAT SERIOUS
What, you mean this:
Whining Amby >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> No Amby
That's not math, those aren't "great than" signs. Those are little (Florida) gator mouths, scooting after Whining Amby because the whines are noisy -2 penalties to Stealth checks.
What is the Waffle House alert?
(Dang it, I haven't been to a Waffle House since my drunken late teens-early twenties. Now I have a powerful craving for hot fresh waffles & syrup and pork sausage.)
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Still very bad: Cellular service on the phones has been up since late Thursday but the area has had almost zero electricity with which to charge phones: Your car battery was the only way to keep your phone up. My area just got electricity back on Saturday evening -- there are still a great many without. No one has internet so we're all just charging our phones, hoping the air conditioning is cooling our oven-homes, and trying to find non-perishable food to eat. All perishable foods are bad. Tonight I am either going to have macaroni with no butter or meat -- or try to find an Uber-Eats delivery restaurant with non-spoiled food. Rumor is there are many in Sarasota. Wish me luck!
I hope things ease up quickly. I can't imagine how hard things are there now.
Oh f++& the situation made me use math.
IT'S THAT SERIOUS
What, you mean this:
Whining Amby >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> No AmbyThat's not math, those aren't "great than" signs. Those are little (Florida) gator mouths, scooting after Whining Amby because the whines are noisy -2 penalties to Stealth checks
OH THANK GOD