SW Coast Florida

[Sanibel]

Lost internet all morning. We have finally gotten the rain bands after being dry all night with minor showers.

I went out and walked to the beach. Not too bad with 40mph gusts in warm wind. Rain bands finally arrived in last 15 minutes bringing constant gusts now and slightly stronger winds. This is a good tropical storm for us. You have to brace occasionally, but not too bad. I'm surprised we still have power, but they probably cleared all the lines of trees after Charley.

Since Frances is now about 130 miles NNE of us, this will probably be our closest pass. The storm will probably start tapping the Gulf before its strongest bands have made landfall. Should maintain this current intensity all the way across.

A tree that was leaning on another in our yard was blown back up straight by the north winds last night!

Should be the last report from here unless it gets worse. I think we dodged this one...

[Sanibel]

Forgot to add we have the lowest pressure I've ever personally seen here at 993 millibars.

(Charley was probably lower but I evacuated)

[CFL]

Sanibel, I'm assuming from your name that you are from Sanibel Island. What kind of damage did you have from Charley?

[cape_escape]

Her in Cape Coral, I just got back phone and internet service. Not too bad really. My sister just called from Dunedin . She lives on Edgewater in a highrise on the inner coastal water way on the fourth floor and said that the carports are blowing away, high wind gusts on the windows and quite a bit of rain.

[Sanibel]

We fared pretty well. Sustained 125mph + gusts. Had some siding blown-off some dormers and 1/4 of the lanai blown away. Our roof vent to the attic had the cover blown back and we had two large trees blow down lengthwise over the driveway. They took two days to chainsaw out. Our porch fans folded up like retracted flower petals. One blew off and pushed our kitchen window out of its frame through the shutter! Power out 1 week. We were lucky, our lines and poles were protected by the lee side of the condos. The lines they came in on went through wetlands preserves without any high trees to fall on them. Most people took 2 weeks to restore. Otherwise we did better than expected for 14 miles from a category 4 eyewall! If not for his fast forward speed we would have fared worse. Surge ended at our road in front. I saw the debris line. Sand wash pattern on garage floor but no damage to things inside.

Our neighbor on one side had their sheet metal from their roof blown-off. It is still upside-down in their front yard. Their inside was trashed by water damage. The other neighbor was unscratched.

Major tree and vegetation damage here. Condos are continuously piling wrecked furniture, roofs, air conditioners, and carpets on roadside. Clean-up hasn't really started. They have gotten on top of the piles of tree materials. They burned them in special burning pits constructed of concrete blocks made into a 12 by 6 yard pit. An industrial blower is rigged to feed blown air into the pit.

I would say housing damage is strong category 2 and vegetation borderline category 4 with the Australian Pines that predominate taking a 30-50% mortality. Views are changed. The green tunnel main road is now open and sunny with huge piles of 3 foot-thick pines on all sides. Some houses that were behind groves of trees are now out in the open. Perspectives have changed. There are still piles of shattered concrete poles and transformers, insulators and cables smashed and strewn like the day after the storm. Damage increases as you head up island. Usseppa Island in eyewall has 35% structures condemned. Must be razed and rebuilt.

Really strange tracking storms from this landscape...


One thing that shocked me when I got back were houses that had giant 3 foot-thick pines leveled on all four sides sitting in the middle untouched...

[Sanibel]

Heavy rainband just raked us with gusts. 24 hours now. We just got some of the outer core stuff as she pivots and exits away from us. Must have pulled energy off the Gulf...

[Sanibel]

Had the heaviest rain yet from a 10 minute trailer band.


Found out our roof vent was finished off last night by Frances and the hole was open to the sky. It blew the towels out and the large tub we placed under the hole had 3.5 inches of water in it (a lot). The dormers that had their siding blown-off by Charley leaked a little by the floor molding. Small inch-wide water stain in ceiling 3 feet long.

Our neighbor whose tin was blown clear off by Charley had their makeshift tarp shredded by Frances...

Need to block hole now with tropical flow being dragged up by Frances. Had brainstorm. Could call sign company and ask for laminated magnet sign material to stick over hole and onto tin-roof...

[Rainband]

Lost internet all morning. We have finally gotten the rain bands after being dry all night with minor showers.

I visited you

[inotherwords]

Here up near Venice we had our worst conditions between midnight and noon today. As expected and predicted here, we didn't get a lot of rain, maybe 3 to 5 inches, but I've seen more from everyday storms we have here every year. The wind was the bigger thing. I have a lot of plants torn and blown completely over, lots of medium sized oak branches litter the ground, and three small trees are on their sides. Otherwise the house is fine, no problems here nor at the 2-story house I own next door.

I lost cable for 2 days, but kept power all except for a few minutes this morning.

[Sanibel]

Spent several hours today sizing and installing plywood pieces into an 8 by 32 inch roof vent hole that Charley blasted the cover off of. I cut some plywood pieces roughly the size of the hole and screwed some cross members in to hold them.

I had to fit them flush so the rain runs over them. The key was fitting the cross members so they jammed snug between the roof plywood and tin-roof sheet metal. Once I fit these pieces in I then took "Great Stuff" injectable foam and sprayed it into the gaps. I hope this seals the hole and keeps the run-off from running UNDER the tin-roof from the lip of the hole.

Maybe now we won't find 3.5 inches of water in the catch tub we put up there...

[cape_escape]

Spent several hours today sizing and installing plywood pieces into an 8 by 32 inch roof vent hole that Charley blasted the cover off of. I cut some plywood pieces roughly the size of the hole and screwed some cross members in to hold them.

I had to fit them flush so the rain runs over them. The key was fitting the cross members so they jammed snug between the roof plywood and tin-roof sheet metal. Once I fit these pieces in I then took "Great Stuff" injectable foam and sprayed it into the gaps. I hope this seals the hole and keeps the run-off from running UNDER the tin-roof from the lip of the hole.

Maybe now we won't find 3.5 inches of water in the catch tub we put up there...

Hopefully, Ivan will stay far far away too!