Hurricane MIlton

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

In High Springs - no damage - power off for 9 hours.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Totally going to race over to the Atlantic side and fall off a boat this weekend.

I want to get wet, last time I dove was the day before Helene. Manatee finally opened on Saturday, but closed again for Milton. So it is looking like it might be another week or so.

Though since I couldn't board up my dive locker, I packed most of the things, including my dive gear. So theoretically I can get out on a moments notice as everything is ready.

I pulled an all nighter and stayed up, but we never lost Duke Energy Power or Spectrum internet.

I actually finally got some sleep last night. In the few days before the storm as I worried about getting things sorted out I got declining sleep to the point that the night before I got less than two hours.

After the eye passed and now the winds were on the safe side of the house, I finally slept like a baby until the lights woke me up, and then went back to sleep for another five hours.

 

[tekkydiver]

I haven't done anything. My wife bought some water. I'm on the south edge of the cone on the east coast, so I'm only worried about power loss.

I hope the tornadoes on the east side will change a lot of thinking about storm preparations

 

[tekkydiver]

People are trying to 'Return' the cases of water they hoarded back to the store

Unopened I hope

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Here in Bonita Springs we had tornadoes all around us as a nasty outer band hit hard yesterday morning. Then it calmed down for about 3-4 hours as Milton approached well north of us. But man the onshore winds from the backside were brutal. Due to the shear it was dry air with no rain but we had 40-50 mph sustained winds with 85 mph gusts from about landfall through to around 1 am this morning. Surge was around 5’ in many areas and impacted those close to the coast, bays & rivers.

No damage to our condo. We lost power a few times but not for long. We did lose cell service and internet for most of today. Both came back around 4 pm.

EDIT: We lost power early this morning (Fri 10/11) ... sometime between 1-3 am. It was off all morning but came back on at 11:20 am and has been on uninterrupted since. It was a pretty broad outage impacting just about all 3300+ doors in our community plus many communities and businesses north of us in Estero. FPL must have had to take down part of the grid to make some repairs I am guessing?

 

[Rilelen]

About four inches of rain, very little wind here in Gainesville. Blue Grotto and Devil’s Den are open today already, and Fanning too, which I hope means other spots should be reopening soon - we were able to get into Manatee when it was open (briefly) Sunday but things have been bleak for the caves otherwise.

Suwannee is high again after all this rain, and Fanning is brown, so may take some time for the springs to bounce back once trees are cleared and places reopen.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Suwannee is high again after all this rain, and Fanning is brown, so may take some time for the springs to bounce back once trees are cleared and places reopen.

I haven't been paying attention, but looking at it now the forecast don't look too bad. It seems only the Santa Fe is high and downstream of the Suwannee, all the upstream stations seemed to have crested with only fairly small rises. And the Santa Fe is forecast for 3ft above normal.

So I'm not sure any flooding will last long.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Manatee is open again. I messaged a buddy, I need some bubble therapy next week.

 

[MrChen]

I hope the tornadoes on the east side will change a lot of thinking about storm preparations

I'm not sure what you can do to prepare for the tornadoes, a record setting weather event that we've never experienced before.

Ultimately, I did put shutters up once our area was in the hurricane warning zone. By the next day the warning was lifted, but better to be safe than sorry.

For the record, I live in the area where we took the eyes of Frances and Jeanne in 2004. Was it Wilma the next year? I can't recall, it was so long ago. I lived without power for a month and am more prepared today without preparing than I was back then.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I lived without power for a month and am more prepared today without preparing than I was back then.

Every year I get more and more prepared. With enough time I might turn hurricanes into minor inconveniences.