Our Florida Members

[Stbentoak]

Good to hear from you and that you are ok. When we went through this, while everyone waited in line for hours locally for food and fuel, we drove out of town an hour or so away and took on all of our supplies without waiting.

I'll never own a car again as a primary vehicle, would you agree? When my sister-in-law was killed in Hurricane Frances, my F150 took us over fallen trees and debris for 40 miles to get to the hospital during the storm. Back then, the cell towers were destroyed but our landlines still worked as they had battery backups that have since been done away with.

They are setting up those portable cell tower repeaters in your area by the hundreds until the big ones can be put back up. Forty thousand linemen are in the area to rebuild, impressive.

Well first of all I have always had a three-quarter ton pick up for 20+ years. Although it’s not down in Florida with me. But I have also had Grand Cherokees or the lIke for the past 20 also. In times like these it pays to have a reasonably formidable vehicle. I pulled some trees with my Denali today that I cut with a tow strap that were 12 inches in diameter 30 feet long palms. Not a problem. Also as I said before I have also always had diesels, for this very fuel availability reason. A. I don’t really need it as I can go a long time on a tank, and B…I can get it while others stand in line for hours and then get told we are all out. I move right up to the front of the line fill up and move on. When you see the frustration going on down here over the fuel ….that picture becomes crystal clear. My biggest fear down here, scrapping a tire on debris. Just a few days ago here all the roads we are driving on were under 3 feet of water and unbelievable amount of garbage floated everywhere and depositEd itself on the roads and adjacent berms…

 

[swathdiver]

Also as I said before I have also always had diesels, for this very fuel availability reason. A. I don’t really need it as I can go a long time on a tank, and B…I can get it while others stand in line for hours and then get told we are all out. I move right up to the front of the line fill up and move on. When you see the frustration going on down here over the fuel ….that picture becomes crystal clear.

I was always against Ethanol until the 2017 Hurricane Season. Emily or Irma was approaching and I had to drive down to Lake Worth to help my folks get the house ready. I was down to about 1/2 a tank so when I left I pulled into the nearest station which happened to be a Racetrac. There was a long line but I saw a lone BMW filling up at a pump so I pulled in behind it and when she left, saw that it was a yellow handled pump. It was then that I realized that my truck was FlexFuel too so I filled her up and left the long lines behind.

Debris on the road like you said is another reason why we like LT tires and not the P-Metrics.

 

[Stbentoak]

These Alenzas make me nervous down here. Most tire places aren't even open down here so if you have damage you are in big trouble. As soon as things normalize we will be looking into the Michelin Defenders right away. I went out and looked for diesel this morning at 4:30 a.m. found a Speedway that was open and was out of there in 2 minutes. They had no gas. They are already putting pictures on TV of people in gas lines before 6:00 a.m. this morning.

 

[swathdiver]

These Alenzas make me nervous down here. Most tire places aren't even open down here so if you have damage you are in big trouble. As soon as things normalize we will be looking into the Michelin Defenders right away. I went out and looked for diesel this morning at 4:30 a.m. found a Speedway that was open and was out of there in 2 minutes. They had no gas. They are already putting pictures on TV of people in gas lines before 6:00 a.m. this morning.

Defenders are great. We took our trucks out into the mud last night and my Defenders hung with my kids with their KO2s and Nitto Trail Grapplers. No flats or tread or sidewall damage. For context, we didn't do enough crazy stuff to require removal of our air dams for added clearance and they weren't damaged. Well, I haven't looked outside in daylight yet!

 

[pauly1119]

We did good in Martin County Fl. Crazy because the storm came pretty close but just some blown over trees and screen damage to the pool enclosure. We are very lucky, praying for the west coast and all the poor people that flooded.

 

[S33k3r]

I know how it feels to be devastated by a hurricane. I lost pretty much EVERYTHING I owned in 2005 in Hurricane Katrina. I was an active member of some forums, and several forums members reached out and helped me. The biggest help was a member who sent my son a Playstation and a few games, since I mentioned that he had lost all his toys and video games. We were staying with my In-Laws in North Louisiana at the time, and my son's face lit up like it was Christmas morning when that package arrived with video games and a few Hot Wheels cars. A few others sent checks and money orders, or Walmart Gift cards. All of that helped out tremendously, because I was able to buy some clothes, towels, toiletries, beddings, and many other necessities that we needed to literally start over.

My in-laws live on the coast of Mississippi. Several of them had foundations left only; one group had to use their axe to escape their attic. Restaurants we visited might have had a sign post left -- and nothing else. Same for businesses along the coast. One of the nastiest things that happened was water came up the drainage canals and flooded houses near them.

 

[Banks22]

We survived. We were very very lucky. I’m about 5 miles as the crow flies from Fort Myers Beach.

My parents have a new build house (2017) in Cape Coral on a canal and they really lucked out. Screen damage on pool enclosure, palm trees down, a couple roof tiles came off and dads boat got a little scratched in the lift from the wind mowing it but all in all not bad. They went down after things settled (we live Michigan) and had it all cleaned up in a couple of days. But literally less than a mile from them as they drove around the block there was a lot of damage, boats sunk in the canal, pool enclosure and debris blown into the canal, broken power polls and trees, crazy.

 

[Stbentoak]

My parents have a new build house (2017) in Cape Coral on a canal and they really lucked out. Screen damage on pool enclosure, palm trees down, a couple roof tiles came off and dads boat got a little scratched in the lift from the wind mowing it but all in all not bad. They went down after things settled (we live Michigan) and had it all cleaned up in a couple of days. But literally less than a mile from them as they drove around the block there was a lot of damage, boats sunk in the canal, pool enclosure and debris blown into the canal, broken power polls and trees, crazy.

Yep, same here, Surge got up to w/in 2" of coming over the thresholds of our doors but by the grace of God it didn't. Lost screens and Tiles off our roof, but every subdivision south of us took on water in homes and scrapped all their vehicles out. Every dollar I spent in impact windows and roll down shutters paid itself back in spades. Lots of debris and vegetation that is starting to rot now, but we are still very fortunate. If you have a concrete block home and a good flat tile roof, they are actually pretty tough. Just shows the value of Miami-Dade building codes as older structures were badly damaged or wiped out...
Not giving up on this area..the weather has been absolutely fantastic lately, and it and us will all be back over time. There's a reason why many, many people want to be here...

 

[MassHoe04]

My brother has two houses in North Naples. Wind damage to outdoor gazebo, stuff on the patios and landscaping/trees. Other than a few tiles missing on one of the roofs and a few inches of surge flooding in the garage, they made out with minimal damage. Surge water damages walls an a new mattress in the garage, but did not get into the living space inside. He was very lucky!!! He said only three houses down the street from him, the surge flooding was much worse. You could see water went through the entire houses down the block from him and ALL of their soaked belongings (furniture, appliances, everything...) was sitting on the tree belt when he arrived.

He did not experience anything near the severity, in terms of loss or damage, that others nearby saw.

I am grateful he was as fortunate as he was and feel bad for those who were not so lucky.