Hurricane Wilma

[Charlotte]

#21823

Lisa and Jack,
my prayers are for you and for all people in that area!

Charlotte

[P.E.Parry]

#21824

Hello from Fort Lauderdale

Wilma went thru here with a vengance! Broward County (Fort Lauderdale) and Palm Beach County (Boca, West Palm Beach) were hit very hard. 6 million people over Florida were without power. Ours just came on about 3 hours ago and looking out the window it seems we are the only area to be so fortunate. Probably because service is all under ground so probably was the easiest to restore.

There is major devastation on every street. Our building was lucky and only suffered severe damage to autos parked on the outer deck (one auto was flipped over and demolished), all fences blown down, a concrete wall blown down and perhaps 8 windows blown out. The 16 story building to the north of us had major damage, every unit had at least three windows gone and yesterday I watched as they pumped water from them. Many of the buildings in this area had much more damage than our structure. Trees, trash, shutter pieces, sand and landscaping debris cover the streets and sidewalks. I can see lots of places from our windows that would normally be blocked from view as the trees were stripped of all leaves.

But we are safe! We feel lucky to have electricity back so quickly as some may have to wait up to four weeks. Many people are experiencing several hour waiting in line for ice and water, food and gasoline, especially for their generators. There are few businesses open to provide any goods and services due to lack of power. All schools are closed until Monday at the earliest. Life will get back to normal for the majority of us but it is always the poorest most needy that will suffer the most.

I see Lisa hasn't checked in from Boca yet. Hope everything is okay with them.

Phyllis

[Sandra]

#21825

Great to hear from from you, Phyllis, and that you are safe. Thanks for the report – sounds absolutely frightening !!

We look forward to hearing from others who were stormed out.

[Petals]

#21826

Glad to hear that you are safe and well Phyllis. Waiting for Lisa to post.
Do sincerely hope this will be the last upheaval for a long while to come!
Take care…..

[Printerslady]

#21827

Just saw on the news that they don't expect full power to be restored to those affected by Hurricane Wilma until NOVEMBER 22ND!! <img src='style_emoticons//ohmy.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’ohmy.gif’ /> About 90% of Boca Raton residents are still without power. So we may not hear from Lisa for a while. They are also under a “boil water” order. I just hope Lisa and Jack didn't suffer a lot of damage from this storm. <img src='style_emoticons//sad.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’sad.gif’ />

We still haven't heard from Elly, who was vacationing in Florida. In one of her posts earlier, she had mentioned that they wanted to go to Palm Beach. I know the airports are just reopening, and I hope she hasn't been stuck at one of them. Elly, do report in when you get a chance. Hope the Hurricane didn't ruin your vacation. <img src='style_emoticons//ohmy.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’ohmy.gif’ />

We also haven't heard from Pamela, who lives in Miami-Dade County, according to the map of SP collectors. Pamela, please check in and let us know how you fared.

If there are any other Floridians who can give us more current info on what is going on, please do so. I don't know how many members we have that might have been affected. Does anybody else know?

Catherine

[blackvelvette]

#21828

Hoping all our members in Florida are well and have managed to ride out the storm.

Lisa, Elly and Pamela we are looking forward to hearing from you as soon as you are able.

Phyllis, glad you are safe and well. <img src='style_emoticons//smile.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’smile.gif’ />

Pamela.

[Jack]

#21829

Hi all,

Checking in…. thanks to everyone.

Wow, we were hit with a catagory 3 hurricane in west Boca, we heard we were hit pretty bad wehere we are in south county. Still no power, not for 3 weeks more maybe- we aew under boil water and we had lots of damage in our area, gas is too hard to get- the wait for a max $20 of gas is about 5 hours- we have maybe 1 day of gas left <!–emo&<_<img src='style_emoticons//dry.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’dry.gif’ /> . I will post some pix when I get a chance.

Can't yet get email or phone service.

[Queenie]

#21830

Take Care Jack and tell Lisa we said Hi!
Our thoughts and prayers are with you! <img src='style_emoticons//smile.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’smile.gif’ />

[Printerslady]

#21831

Thanks for checking in Jack. It is a relief to hear from you. Sounds like rough times in Boca. They are working as fast as they can to try and restore power, if that is any comfort. 3.2 million homes and businesses lost power after the storm, affecting some 6 million people. <img src='style_emoticons//ohmy.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’ohmy.gif’ /> As of 10am this morning, FPL reports it has restored power to 1.1 million customers, leaving about 2/3 of those affected without power until sometime in November. The pictures they are showing on the news don't look good. Long lines for gas, food, ice.

How are the dogs? I'll bet it was pretty scary for all of you. Of course, we're all anxious to hear if you suffered any major damage, and keeping our fingers crossed that you didn't.

Take care and stay safe.
Catherine

[Jack]

#21832

There is a pic in the members section, this is just two of the six huge trees that we have down in our yard. Behind our property is the Everglades were the storm strengthened over the warm water there.

One tree came down during the first part of the storm then after the eye the winds changed direction and the other tree came down. We also lost some roof tiles which caused a leak on the ceiling upstairs, our gutters were ripped off the house, our fence was bent and is twisted and almost all our landscaping is damaged but thankfully we are all OK!

[Ann and Ken]

#21833

Hi,
Thank goodness all are well.. And the pups also??????

Ann

[Sandra]

#21834

<img src='style_emoticons//sad.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’sad.gif’ /> Sorry to hear the area was hit so hard, but good to read you are all OK.

Glad you found the time and means to 'check in'. It is always a relief to hear from those affected on the site.

Well take care and hope all is restored soon. <img src='style_emoticons//cool.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’cool.gif’ />

[kasi]

#21835

Pamela(esteelady)
called last nite. She got power back yesterday. Has trees down everywhere around her and her next door neighbors glass sliding doors came into her house. But they are ok and glad she finally has power and phones back. I'm sure she will check in soon, but wanted y'all to know she is ok. She said her dtr still doesn't have power yet.

Kasi

[Printerslady]

#21836

Thanks, Kasi, for the update on Pamela. I'm glad to hear she's okay. <img src='style_emoticons//smile.gif’ border=’0′ style=’vertical-align:middle’ alt=’smile.gif’ />

Catherine

[P.E.Parry]

#21837

So glad to hear from you Jack and Lisa

Gas lines should shorten considerably today as more service stations are back on line. Hope this means you can get gas for your generator without too much hassel.
But mostly I wish for you to get your normal power service back pronto.

Just be careful, most injuries occur after the storm. We love you two and don't want anything to happen to you.

It's going to be a long recovery but we can do it.

Phyllis

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