Hurricane Ian: sounds benign, could be nasty

[Sway]

Currently in Seminole County for work.

Flew out yesterday. At 8pm Sunday, Corp guidance was 'defer travel to Cuba/Caymans'. Just after we landed in Orlando, guidance was 'DO NOT fkING TRAVEL TO FLORIDA YOU IDIOTS'.

Er, bit late guys.

This morning, it was gonna be a Cat 1 by the time it hit land around Tampa. By this afternoon, it's gonna be Cat 4, major storm surge - oh, and likely to just sit over central Florida for a couple of days.

Right where we are.

5-10" of rain, is now forecast to be 20+".

Base is sandbagged up like a Somme trench. All closed for the next two days minimum. Colleague and I have setup camp at the hotel - one room for work/board games depending on power. Other for food. We've got everything from sandwich supplies (to be eaten first), through to beef jerky, copious amounts of crisps, and a bottle of bourbon.

Couple of board games from Walmart, and some cards.

I'm treating it all as a moderately amusing/interesting experience.

Tampa/St Petes though - that looks like it's gonna get fked. Proper fked. Big boss certain he's not gonna have a home by the end of the week type fked.

[mwstewart]

Stay safe!

[Tango13]

Just the one bottle of bourbon? Is it too late to buy some more alcohol just in case/just a case*

• Delete as applicable...

[ReverendCounter]

Personally I'm not sure you're hurricaning properly OP - get your prep on - water, batteries, torch, wet wipes etc?

[Ikemi]

A family member lives on the coast where the hurricane is likely to be strongest. She has prepared for the hurricane as best as possible, but we're all worried about her. We told her to head to her mother's place, which is further north and inland, so potentially a bit safer/slower wind speeds. Alas, no. Stay safe, OP ...

[Sway]

ReverendCounter said:

Personally I'm not sure you're hurricaning properly OP - get your prep on - water, batteries, torch, wet wipes etc?

This is 'murica.

Walmart had sold out of guns. They did still have a couple of 18" machetes.

More alcohol will be bought tomorrow. Publix seem confident they'll be open until 6pm tomorrow.

[jimmyjimjim]

As a friend posted :

[Sway]

Ikemi said:

A family member lives on the coast where the hurricane is likely to be strongest. She has prepared for the hurricane as best as possible, but we're all worried about her. We told her to head to her mother's place, which is further north and inland, so potentially a bit safer/slower wind speeds. Alas, no. Stay safe, OP ...

Thoughts are with you dude. My FD is similar. Right in the path, fairly close to shore. So small the projected rain would reach her waist, let alone any storm surge on top.

If there's anything I can do, genuinely, shout. I'm in Sanford, Seminole County, which is in theory about 90 minutes away from Tampa.

I have a small but (not even close to) mighty Buick Encore hire car. Last gen Mokka rebadged. However, its a hire car and I give zero fks about it. If I need to get a montage on, I'll get to Walmart to procure a mig welder and steel, and get the fk over there to be a miniature white version of BA Baracus.

[bongtom]

I thought all hurricanes were named after women?

[Sway]

bongtom said:

I thought all hurricanes were named after women?

Apparently that ended a long time ago.

Now, it's a six year cycle of pre-planned names for tropical storms/hurricanes (and a different cycle for cyclones in the Pacific) - with particularly damaging storm names then getting 'retired' (so there'll never be another "Katrina").

The alternate between male and female names now. If Ian doesn't get retired (fingers crossed he stays in circulation - but it's looking doubtful!) - then he'll be back in 2028.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/06...

[Heartworm]

Currently in Orlando at WDW, the main concern from the staff seems to be the risk of flooding,

[Sway]

Heartworm said:

Currently in Orlando at WDW, the main concern from the staff seems to be the risk of flooding,

Yeah, winds don't seem to be too crazy - from what I can gather (news, and input from colleagues over on the West Coast and local to Seminole) it's the storm surge hitting Tampa from exactly the worst angle possible. Then it 'stalling' over central Florida just dumping a biblical amount of rain onto already very wet ground.

I quite liked the seemingly normal method of protecting garden stuff from the wind - just dump it in the pool and it won't blow away!

[bongtom]

Wait till hurricane Dave hurricane Kevin come along.

[Biker 1]

I have friends in the Tampa bay area. Messaged me yesterday afternoon saying things were already getting rough. Hopefully I'll find out later today if they're ok!!!
They did mention that it's lucky they live in a big condo rather than a trailer....

[tim0409]

We left our friends villa in Marco Island last week and now feel bad that we were moaning about how humid it felt…our friends have returned from their reciprocal trip to Scotland and have spent the last few days literally battening down the hatches.

I hope it’s not as bad as predicted; the weather there at this time of year can be mental; last week we had the roof down enjoying the sun and the next minute it was biblical rain.

[CharlieCrocodile]

Are you going to start a blog like this chap?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interdictor_(blog)

It was very entertaining reading it as the events happened.

First entry
https://interdictor.livejournal.com/2005/08/27/

Edited by CharlieCrocodile on Wednesday 28th September 09:05

[Sheepshanks]

Sway said:

I quite liked the seemingly normal method of protecting garden stuff from the wind - just dump it in the pool and it won't blow away!

That's done to protect things (and people) the furniture might hit, rather than for protecting the furniure itself.

[mattyprice4004]

There's a good thread on the Netweather forums about this - it does seem like it could be a biggie.
Thoughts are with everyone out there, I love Florida but whenever I visit I do often find myself thinking what I'd do if a storm like this hit.

I imagine there's still a lot of tourists over there at the moment, I can't imagine what seeing a storm like this roll up to your hotel would be like!

[Tango13]

bongtom said:

I thought all hurricanes were named after women?

There's a joke about why hurricanes are named after women but the mods might not like me posting it...

[Diderot]

Stay safe chap.