Hurricane Dorian Check-in Thread

[Deltaphoenix]

I thought maybe it would be neat to start a thread check-in & provide updates on Dorian as it marches to Florida. I live in Gainesville (Alachua County), Florida which is in North Central Florida. Hurricanes typically knock down trees and cause flooding if they get close enough. Power outages happen

I was supposed to go Daytona Beach this weekend - it's my youngest child's first birthday on Saturday. My parent's live close to the beach and I had a nearby hotel on the beach for the weekend. I just got notice from the hotel that they are shutting down Saturday at 11am so there is no point in going.

I just heard the Gasoline is starting to sell out and I am sure water and other supplies are flying off the shelves. In just over an hour I am going to take off from work and jump into the madness a bit. I will report back later.

Hoping everyone impacted stays safe and really hoping Dorian makes a crazy loop back into the ocean and this is a non-event. Anyone else in Florida?

[StephenR]

Stay safe!

My stepmother lives in Sebastian, I need to check in with her. She has a son in Bradenton but it is a long drive to get there and at 91 she no longer can make the drive. No guarantee either that the storm won't be worse on the west coast of the state.

[David Houck]

I've been watching path updates.  Looks pretty bad.  Might be a good time for folks in Florida to head north until it blows over.

[rv_bass]

Prepare early and be safe!

[edwardofhuncote]

You guys hunker down... might be a tough one. Don't take any unnecessary chances.

[garyhead]

I was a Merchant Seaman for 20+ years and had my share of Hurricanes, Typhoons & Cyclones!  We used to sit by the Short Wave Radios at Coffee Breaks and chuckle at the announcers comment "the storm has gone safely out to sea"

Here's a Typhoon story.  We were trapped in Kobe, Japan (Osaka Bay) when a Typhoon came in and we couldn't make it out to sea in time.  Around Midnight, the winds got so severe the Captain ordered me to start the Main Engine as the Anchor began to drag.....We were soon at Full Speed (25,000HP!) with the anchor STILL dragging (our ship was 1000' long...a Container Ship)......by 5AM were were able to slow the engine down a bit.  By breakfast we stopped the engine and were 6 Miles from where we started.  Ok, Osaka Bay is big.....but we were dragging anchor along with about 150 other vessels....it was a miracle no one collided.
Hurricane?  How about Floyd.  We successfully maneuvered ourselves around Floyd by hugging the coast of Cuba.  By 7PM we congratulated ourselves on our seamanship.  By 9PM, the captain called out the engine department.  We were receiving a distress call from a vessel behind us a few miles.  Sooooo...we turned Around and headed Into Floyd to effect a rescue!  by Midnight we encountered the 60' Fishing vessel....no engine, no rudder....no electrical power.  Our lookouts spotted the flashlights from the fishermen.  All 7 crew were safely brought aboard (no small feat in inself as the seas were 40' by then)......they were Dominicans but we dropped them off in Panama as that was our next port of call.....Sorry if this hijacked the thread.....
Will be thinking of you all up here in Washington state this weekend.......stay safe.......and put your Alembic Gear in Zip Lock Bags!  The basses will float.......

[David Houck]

 

[moongerm]

Stay safe and healthy Florida A Clubbers.

[Deltaphoenix]

Update: Yesterday evening I took my wife’s Minivan out to gas it up. Lots of stations in town ran out of gas, all that had gas had long lines. I ended up driving to a country gas station and waiting in line for 30 minutes which wasn’t so bad. I saw one gas station that had been was getting a delivery as zi was heading back into town.

The next stop was the grocery store. I was lucky enough to grab some bottled water, the grocery store must have received a shipment that evening and I snagged one of the last cases on the pallet. The store was busy but not crazy. In my experience as a native Floridian (my family has been here for over 200 years), people become talkative when Hurricanes are coming so I ended up having several nice exchanges with folks in the store.

I have today off from work since I was supposed to be driving to Daytona so I am going to run some errands, get gas in my car and ensure that out flashlights are fine working order, that we have candles and other supplies. I am not going to track the storm too much and I am going to try and play a little bit of bass.

[soflbass]

Palm beach county here. The latest 11 p.m. forecast was a sigh of relief. Gasoline and food disappear quickly when people start to panic. Ready to hunker down for a long while if necessary. Hopefully this thing continues on the current path off the coast.

[David Houck]

Now, the latest (11:00 am EDT) path forecast shows a significant course change, and has it looping up toward Wilmington, NC.

[edwardofhuncote]

Well... I'm glad our friends to the South will be spared the worst, but my folks at this moment are vacationing on the North Carolina coast. Bad timing, to say the least. 

[the_home]

So now it's us in Florida who are passing good wishes and 'be safe' admonitions to our brothers and sisters in the Carolinas and points north. This one is proving to be unpredictable.