Hurricane Ian

irish_buffalo

Well-known member
I have friends in Fort Myers and on Sanibel Island and they say the area is completely wiped out. They sent a picture of their condo complex and water from storm surge is up to the second floor (the condo is inland by a mile).
 
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As they are saying, this appears to be the real deal. I understand the brunt of the storm spared Tampa, hitting the area to the south of it.

A brother lives in Ocala (Orlando area) so he will probably get some heavy wind and rain. Ian will come our way Friday; football games moved up one day.
 
The pics of flooding/wind are pretty wild. Seems like a lot of people in Florida did not take this one seriously and did not evacuate. Hopefully loss of life is not too high. Property damage from what I've seen will be huge.
 
My uncle and aunt on my dad's side live across the bay from St. Petersburg (Sun City). They headed to my cousin's house in Atlanta at lunchtime on Sun. before any evacuation orders were issued. They rode out the last big storm to pass through the area which was nothing compared to this one, and they decided they'd never do that again. I'll be curious to hear what they find when they return.
 
MIL is a snowbird with a place inland in Fort Myers. Don’t think her place is in a flood plain, but don’t know how it fared yet. Her boyfriend is a few miles down the road from her and lives there full time. He stayed at his home yesterday. His daughter was actually going to evacuate from Tampa to him when the original path was looking to hit more north. Last we talked to him, he seemed to be doing ok, then he lost power around 5pm and we haven’t heard back from him since so hopefully he’s still good.
 
Unfortunately this is going to be really bad, I can understand why people don't want to leave their homes, but you don't get a second chance if you guess wrong always better to be safe than sorry. Again, I know that is easier said than done.
 
My uncle and aunt on my dad's side live across the bay from St. Petersburg (Sun City). They headed to my cousin's house in Atlanta at lunchtime on Sun. before any evacuation orders were issued. They rode out the last big storm to pass through the area which was nothing compared to this one, and they decided they'd never do that again. I'll be curious to hear what they find when they return.
Please keep up up to date.
 
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I have family in Bonita Springs, and water came in too fast and unexpectedly for them to get out safely. All predictions were impacting places further north, and they were never warned to leave. Complete first floor was a total loss, 2 cars gone, and his boat and jet ski floated away. Guy across the canal was not as lucky, as he sits lower and the water went all the way to the roof. They still don't know what happened to him. They are now totally off the grid down there. Scary stuff for sure.
 
Heard from MIL's boyfriend. He's doing ok, says he took some damage, but not sure how much yet. He said rumors are floating around that it might be as long as 4 weeks before power is restored.

He sold his previous place and moved more inland - he's probably lucky as his old place is probably under water at this point. He was in a major flood plain at his old place.
 
They are now totally off the grid down there

Not cheap at $200 but a portable antenna connected to a mesh-network is the perfect disaster-preparedness device for people in hurricane areas. It has gained widespread popularity in Puerto Rico after Maria came through.

 
Bridge to Sanibel wiped out. Sanibel and Captiva are just decimated. Friend has a place in the island and it is gone. Pretty surreal to see a beautiful place where I have spent a lot of time just destroyed.

Ft. Myers Beach is gone as well. They have been working on the main thoroughfare for what seems like the last 15 years and now that is gone lol (anyone who has been there knows what I am talking about).
 
One thing I do not like is the “predictions” leading up to this storm hitting the mainland. The entire day and night before all of the meteorologists kept talking about Tampa being ground zero and I think it sent a message to some people in SW FL to let their guard down.
 
Ft. Myers Beach is gone as well. They have been working on the main thoroughfare for what seems like the last 15 years and now that is gone lol (anyone who has been there knows what I am talking about).

Yeah, I know - spent numerous spring breaks taking our boys to Ft. Myers beach (that traffic always sucked!) and there is absolutely nothing left to the whole thing. :(
 
One thing I do not like is the “predictions” leading up to this storm hitting the mainland. The entire day and night before all of the meteorologists kept talking about Tampa being ground zero and I think it sent a message to some people in SW FL to let their guard down.
But I am not sure how you fix that. Short of just completely evacuating the entire west coast of the state.
 
I have family in Bonita Springs, and water came in too fast and unexpectedly for them to get out safely. All predictions were impacting places further north, and they were never warned to leave. Complete first floor was a total loss, 2 cars gone, and his boat and jet ski floated away. Guy across the canal was not as lucky, as he sits lower and the water went all the way to the roof. They still don't know what happened to him. They are now totally off the grid down there. Scary stuff for sure.
That’s freaking terrible, feel for those people
 
One thing I do not like is the “predictions” leading up to this storm hitting the mainland. The entire day and night before all of the meteorologists kept talking about Tampa being ground zero and I think it sent a message to some people in SW FL to let their guard down.

I believe it was 36 hours prior to landfall that the path shifted to the south. They always wobble and pinpointing exactly where landfall will occur is never a sure thing.
 
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