UPDATE: As of 11 a.m. Friday, we are under a hurricane watch, with hurricane warnings just to our south. A hurricane watch means hurricane winds are possible. A warning means they're expected.
The National Weather Service issues a hurricane warning "36 hours in advance of the anticipated onset of tropical-storm-force winds to allow for important preparation," according to its website. It issues a hurricane watch 48 hours of when it anticipates tropical-storm-force winds in an area.
I have posted warnings about this storm on the HOA's Facebook page, which you can see even if you don't follow it at Facebook.com/StCharlesPlaceHOA. I will continue to post updates there as time and cell service allow.
Click the image to enlarge it.
Hurricane Irma has come close enough that forecasters feel confident that we'll get a good smacking from it. Hurricane watches are in effect for Florida's west coast as far north as Manatee County as of 8 a.m. today. Meteorologists don't know for certain exactly where Irma will strike until it makes its turn north sometime Saturday.
We are still within the cone of possibility for a direct hit.
Even if it goes up the center of the peninsula, as the current track suggests, this storm is so massive and so powerful – 150 mph sustained winds as of this morning – that we will get tropical storm if not hurricane winds and torrential rain.
I will evacuate. We've had to sue KB Home, the company that built our homes, because of construction defects. According to the engineer who examined our buildings, we live in structures not only not built to current code standards, they weren't even designed to code. He warned that our buildings would not survive a strong wind event. Like the one we're about to get.
It's getting late, but there's still time to get out. I have collected vital documents, family photos, valuables, clothes, medicine, and toiletries, and will ride out the storm at my parents' house in Pasco County.
Here are some good resources to track the storm: If you still need to make a disaster kit: If the power goes out, our lift station will stop running. This is the thing that pumps all the community's sewage out to the county's sewage lines. If electricity stays off for any length of time, eventually our toilets won't flush.
Please leave nothing on your front porch or back patio that could become a projectile in a strong storm. Even a doormat could fly away, block a storm drain and cause flooding. We do seem to have a good drainage system. As long as our drains stay clear, we should not have flooding.
The community pool will close today, as the management company prepares it for the storm. It will drain some water from the pool, and any pool furniture that won't fit in the cabana's storage space will go into the pool, where it won't become a hazard.
After the storm, the property manager (whose contact phone number is on the right-hand column of this page) will assess any damage we have. It does have a plan, but you'll need to be patient. Excelsior Community Management is based less than a mile from us, and its employees live locally too. They might might their own crises that occupy them. They also have other communities they must tend to.
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