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BlueSky · Oct 24, 2005, 11:50 AM

Thanks Cubeoid! Presently I'm enduring sustained room temperature of 70º and wind speed of about 0 mph.

MSNBC just showed Al Roker in the wind being anchored down by some assistant clutching his legs, peering through his legs at the camera. Then Al got blown over, smacking his face. Heh.

starman · Oct 24, 2005, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

OKAY. IT IS HERE AGAIN AND *DEFINITELY* WORSE THIS TIME.

No lawn mowing right now.

Bah, bummer. That joke would have been classic. Be safe.

Gator Lager · Oct 24, 2005, 11:58 AM

I am tired of listening to those weather people.

look at that tree limb. it just snap right off of that tree and landed next to that fence, it could have killed billions..........

idiots get out of the way of the hurricane.

whoa big wind outside right now....

Cody Dawg · Oct 24, 2005, 12:03 PM

I am seriously thinking that the roof is going to come off of my house, guys.

Seriously. This is really bad.

Right now we are all huddled in the kitchen together because it has four interior walls inside our home.

It's really really bad here - worse than before by far.

Cody Dawg · Oct 24, 2005, 12:08 PM

Okay, now my house IS being dismantled piece by piece. It just ripped my hurricane shutter off of a back window. It is hanging on by two screws.

My entire house is shaking like there is an earthquake. UNBELIEVABLE. I honestly think my roof might come off. HUGE HUGE THINGS LANDING ON MY ROOF.

I'M FREAKED OUT.

Cubeoid · Oct 24, 2005, 12:09 PM

w00t!

deomacius · Oct 24, 2005, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Okay, now my house IS being dismantled piece by piece. It just ripped my hurricane shutter off of a back window. It is hanging on by two screws.

My entire house is shaking like there is an earthquake. UNBELIEVABLE. I honestly think my roof might come off. HUGE HUGE THINGS LANDING ON MY ROOF.

I'M FREAKED OUT.

How are the dog and kids holding up? Don't let them see that YOU are afraid. Got any games you guys could be playing?

starman · Oct 24, 2005, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by Cubeoid

w00t!

deomacius · Oct 24, 2005, 12:38 PM

I almost feel guilty knowing we are supposed to have yet another quiet weather day here on the west coast.

koin.com

Cody Dawg · Oct 24, 2005, 01:33 PM

Okay.

EVERY TREE IN MY YARD IS DOWN.

MY PATIO SCREEN ENCLOSURE IS GONE.

MY FENCES ARE GONE.

MY HUSBAND'S TRUCK IS ON THE SIDE.

And worst of all?

IT IS FREEZING COLD NOW.

Seriously, the temperature went from 81f this morning down to about 58f right now. It is REALLY cold and windy.

We also had a window shatter earlier, also.

No power of course, either, that hardly needs to be said.

My neighbors' roof is gone in the back, though. Ripped off of about 25% of his roof. My neighbor across the street has a pine tree down on his house. The entire area is completely trashed. Looks like a war zone. The back end of the storm was much worse than the front end and much worse than Frances and Jeanne last year.

Unbelievable.

BlueSky · 01:56 PM

nm, typo reaction.

Gator Lager · Oct 24, 2005, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Okay.

EVERY TREE IN MY YARD IS DOWN.

MY PATIO SCREEN ENCLOSURE IS GONE.

MY FENCES ARE GONE.

MY HUSBAND'S TRUCK IS ON THE SIDE.

And worst of all?

IT IS FREEZING COLD NOW.

Seriously, the temperature went from 81f this morning down to about 58f right now. It is REALLY cold and windy.

We also had a window shatter earlier, also.

No power of course, either, that hardly needs to be said.

My neighbors' roof is gone in the back, though. Ripped off of about 25% of his roof. My neighbor across the street has a pine tree down on his house. The entire area is completely trashed. Looks like a war zone. The back end of the storm was much worse than the front end and much worse than Frances and Jeanne last year.

Unbelievable.

sorry to hear what you've been through. I can relate, I lost everything last year to jeanne. but then again it was just stuff and I came through it. dig in and maintain

deomacius · Oct 24, 2005, 05:35 PM

Still waitin' to hear how everybody fared and to see pictures of the devastation.

The Godfather · Oct 24, 2005, 08:08 PM

My city, er... my whole county was spared from devastation. I am so glad; the power wasn't even interrupted.

It was nice enough to drive to work in the morning.

I hope everyone affected find their ways to repair everything.

Cody Dawg · Oct 25, 2005, 06:22 AM

WE HAVE NO POWER...MAYBE FOR 4 WEEKS.

LINK.

Okay, so if you look on the graphic in the link above, if you look at the line the hurricane followed, it exited out over the Atlantic ocean exactly where we live. (Gives you an idea where we are.)

There is no power and they said it might be four WEEKS.

Palm Beach County, where I live, has lost power to 98% of all homes and businesses.

It is FREEZING COLD. It was 49f last night. The county has no power. No food. No gas. We are sharing a generator with my neighbor and it is running our refrigerator, a lamp, and my PowerBook. Took a walk around the neighborhood last night and houses are completely down on one street. Maybe a tornado? Their houses are just shells and that's it.

So, now I don't know what we do except sit and wait.

We thought about leaving but my husband runs a large company here so he's trying to keep control of the businesses and offices here and it would be hard to do that two hours away - which is how far we'd have to go to get to a county with electricity.

It's supposed to be colder tonight, too.

Well, I'll tune in later, folks.

"Brrrrrrrr..."

starman · Oct 25, 2005, 08:26 AM

CD,
Despite the power issue, it looks like you got relatively lucky. I'm sure they'll get the power up sooner than four weeks. How often do you have to refill the generator's gas tank?

Mike

Dork. · 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

It is FREEZING COLD. It was 49f last night. The county has no power. No food. No gas. We are sharing a generator with my neighbor and it is running our refrigerator, a lamp, and my PowerBook.

Are you just plugging in the refrigerator and lamp directly into the generator?

If you find a neighbor who's an electrician, you might be able to get one of your houses' circuit boxes connected directly to the generator. You'll need to turn off most of your circuits, of course, to get the load down to a level that your generator can power. Depending on the type of heat you have, and whether the fuel source is still there, you might be able to get your furnace hooked up to the generator and get some heat. Often, all the furnace needs to run is power to the fan.

But don't try to do it yourself unless you (or a electrician friend) Know What You Are Doing. Be aware that this is very much against local electric codes, but the electricity isn't running, so what does it matter as long as you put things back after the power comes back? Also, if you do this, make absolutely sure that you disconnect your home from the main power grid! Back-feeding power into the grid is very dangerous. You know that transformer that converts the high-voltage power to your 120/240V power? It works both ways, and would give some poor electric utility worker a shock (quite literally) if they were working on a line that you energized by accident! you could very well kill someone if this isn't done right...

Also, after everything gets back to normal, you might want to consider getting a generator yourself, and installing a special emergency circuit box next to your circuit panel to hook it up to. They're available in any home electrical store, but you'll probably need an electrician to install it due to local codes. You connect certain key circuits to the emergency box, and when there is a power outage, you just hook up the generator directly to the box and flick a switch. The circuits that you have moved will get power from the generator, and the box takes care of disconnecting the targeted circuits from the main line. This has the added benefit that the other circuits in your house stay connected to the main line, so when the power comes back you'll know when the rest of the house comes back!

I have this setup in my house because our power tends to go out for no reason every few months, and it cost about $1k to get the 5kW gasoline generator, the box, and an electrician to install it. If you have natural gas you can get a generator that hooks up to the natural gas line, is beefy enough to power the whole house, automatically goes on if the power goes out, and switches the whole house over automatically. Those will probably run you about $3k and up.

p.s. 49F is hardly freezing. It's 17 degrees above freezing, in fact!

andi*pandi · Oct 25, 2005, 10:37 AM

wow! glad my folks are more north.

MindFad · Oct 25, 2005, 10:48 AM

Wow, I have never seen Miami so destroyed like this before after a storm. This is worse than Andrew, without question. We got hit harder than we did by Andrew, anyway, in terms of destruction (Homestead was a different story back then). Absolutely every street is filled with damage. 3.2 million people without power, and they won't have an assessment as to when power will be back up until today. It's gonna suck.

Anyway, I'm safe and alive. Saw some amazing **** during the storm. I spent most of the morning during the storm out on my friend's front porch protected form the wind. I have some aftermath cellphone pics, too, but I'm on dial-up and a dying iBook, so I'll have to save that for later.

KeriVit · Oct 25, 2005, 10:56 AM

Where's Ice?

wdlove · Oct 25, 2005, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

WE HAVE NO POWER...MAYBE FOR 4 WEEKS.

LINK.

Okay, so if you look on the graphic in the link above, if you look at the line the hurricane followed, it exited out over the Atlantic ocean exactly where we live. (Gives you an idea where we are.)

There is no power and they said it might be four WEEKS.

Palm Beach County, where I live, has lost power to 98% of all homes and businesses.

It is FREEZING COLD. It was 49f last night. The county has no power. No food. No gas. We are sharing a generator with my neighbor and it is running our refrigerator, a lamp, and my PowerBook. Took a walk around the neighborhood last night and houses are completely down on one street. Maybe a tornado? Their houses are just shells and that's it.

So, now I don't know what we do except sit and wait.

We thought about leaving but my husband runs a large company here so he's trying to keep control of the businesses and offices here and it would be hard to do that two hours away - which is how far we'd have to go to get to a county with electricity.

It's supposed to be colder tonight, too.

Well, I'll tune in later, folks.

"Brrrrrrrr..."

Hi Cody,

I will look forward to you updates. I'm here if you need anything. I send you my warmth your way. Hope to have contact soon.

Gator Lager · Oct 25, 2005, 12:01 PM

Hey Cody Dawg, get some solar lights, like these
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3536678
charge them, then bring them into your home. enough light to navigate throughout your home at night. they beat candles and no batteries.

rozwado1 · Oct 25, 2005, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by Dork.

Are you just plugging in the refrigerator and lamp directly into the generator?

If you find a neighbor who's an electrician, you might be able to get one of your houses' circuit boxes connected directly to the generator. You'll need to turn off most of your circuits, of course, to get the load down to a level that your generator can power. Depending on the type of heat you have, and whether the fuel source is still there, you might be able to get your furnace hooked up to the generator and get some heat. Often, all the furnace needs to run is power to the fan.

But don't try to do it yourself unless you (or a electrician friend) Know What You Are Doing. Be aware that this is very much against local electric codes, but the electricity isn't running, so what does it matter as long as you put things back after the power comes back? Also, if you do this, make absolutely sure that you disconnect your home from the main power grid! Back-feeding power into the grid is very dangerous. You know that transformer that converts the high-voltage power to your 120/240V power? It works both ways, and would give some poor electric utility worker a shock (quite literally) if they were working on a line that you energized by accident! you could very well kill someone if this isn't done right...

Also, after everything gets back to normal, you might want to consider getting a generator yourself, and installing a special emergency circuit box next to your circuit panel to hook it up to. They're available in any home electrical store, but you'll probably need an electrician to install it due to local codes. You connect certain key circuits to the emergency box, and when there is a power outage, you just hook up the generator directly to the box and flick a switch. The circuits that you have moved will get power from the generator, and the box takes care of disconnecting the targeted circuits from the main line. This has the added benefit that the other circuits in your house stay connected to the main line, so when the power comes back you'll know when the rest of the house comes back!

I have this setup in my house because our power tends to go out for no reason every few months, and it cost about $1k to get the 5kW gasoline generator, the box, and an electrician to install it. If you have natural gas you can get a generator that hooks up to the natural gas line, is beefy enough to power the whole house, automatically goes on if the power goes out, and switches the whole house over automatically. Those will probably run you about $3k and up.

Wow. Way too complex.

Step 1: Buy a heavy-duty 3-prong grounded cord.
Step 2: Cut it.
Step 3: Hook positive and negative to your supply line on your home circuit, connect ground to ground. Plug the "plug" end into generator.
Step 4: Turn off everything except what the generator can handle.
Step 5: Fire that bitch up.

For generators, go to Colorado Standby. Best prices in FL, even though they're in CO. Need an electrician to hookup. We just did a 12kW Kohler installed for $5500.

11011001 · Oct 25, 2005, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by rozwado1

Wow. Way too complex.

Step 1: Buy a heavy-duty 3-prong grounded cord.
Step 2: Cut it.
Step 3: Hook positive and negative to your supply line on your home circuit, connect ground to ground. Plug the "plug" end into generator.
Step 4: Turn off everything except what the generator can handle.
Step 5: Fire that bitch up.

For generators, go to Colorado Standby. Best prices in FL, even though they're in CO. Need an electrician to hookup. We just did a 12kW Kohler installed for $5500.

Step 0: Disconnect house from main grid. [as per Dork]

The Godfather · Oct 25, 2005, 07:29 PM

Step 1: Use extension cords instead of pushing power into your electric panel.

historylme · Oct 25, 2005, 07:45 PM

Yeah, where's Ice?

JoshuaZ · Oct 25, 2005, 08:29 PM

Crazy, I can`t wait to see some pictures. Sounds like you guys got slaped around a bit.

Hopefully FEMA will be a bit more pro-active this time around.

IceEnclosure · 01:34 AM

History, KeriVit, thanks for the concern..

I'm alive, at a friends. My power's been out for 5 days. Dunno when it's coming back.

I have about 50 pics plus video from DURING and after the storm. I was in my buddy's 14th floor condo with a full view of some pretty neat action.

For those of you keeping score, I got it pretty freakin' bad over here. Cody - oh so bad, eh? Drama Queen... posting throughout the storm, never losing power? pfft.

Broward County Reprezent.

I got the Dirty Side® of the storm. Mindfad pretty much did too.

It was definitely crazy. Really crazy.

120mph in Pompano (10 miles north of me) and 109mph (2 miles south of me at Ft. Laud Int'l Airport)

98% of traffic lights are out in Broward County. Gas lines are up to 2 miles long.

My neighborhood is pretty much ****ed.

I hope I get power back soon. Pics/Videos to follow.

Curfews are cutting into my drinking time, I'm pissed.

Oh, and I'm sad, bitter, and depressed.

Peace.

EDIT: my kneejerk post, Cody has no power and a truck on its side. and her fence is dead. Sorry.

historylme · Oct 30, 2005, 12:05 AM

That's sucks! It's cutting into your drinking and partying. That affects us... it means no more photos!

Good God!!1

But hey, good to hear you didn't die out there.

IceEnclosure · Oct 30, 2005, 01:37 AM

Cody will be proud of me, I saved a couple of Peacock today from certain death (trying to run around in the middle of US-1 near Broward Blvd).. one had already been hit by a car and was laying in the middle of the road. I helped a wildlife chick get them outta dodge. And as I said, pics to follow.

The Godfather · Oct 30, 2005, 03:42 PM

It's all about the wildlife chicks.

KeriVit · Oct 31, 2005, 07:58 PM

Glad you're ok Ice, looking forward to the pics.

Briareus · Nov 1, 2005, 12:57 AM

Delray Beach (in the eye on the south side) checking in. Surprising given the amount of downed, snapped, or bent power poles, we got power/phone/internet back Sunday night. A collective cheer went up through the neighborhood.

We were lucky - no structural damage except a couple torn screen panels. The unusually cold weather after the storm passed was refreshing - no power in 90 degree humidity would have sucked much worse.

Three days of cleanup yielded 25 large bags of tree debris. We had a full tank of gas so the fuel situation was not an issue, and our neighbors offered access to their generator to keep a fridge and our cell phones alive.

Ran out of wine & charcoal on Saturday - while out foraging for supplies, it was a thrill to find that Tony Roma's in Boynton Beach was open and had a fully stocked menu: slab-o-ribs, a couple Sam Adams, and a giant salad. Mmm, perishables

We're still under a boil order with some fluctuating water pressure. The grocery stores are still sparse, still several areas without power, and I take notice of working traffic signals (seen about 10 in south Palm Beach County so far). The debris piles will be around for months.

I get to venture South into Ft. Lauderdale over the next 2 nights for some gig at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. I know it's a mess down there, too. Hopefully at least the bars will be open.

My thoughts are with those who are dealing with a rougher recovery than me.

IceEnclosure · Nov 1, 2005, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by Briareus

Hopefully at least the bars will be open.

I suggest Fat Cats. Lots of good beers for a little joint.

Glad you're well.

AppleJockey · May 1, 2006, 12:47 AM

So are yu guys ready for this year.
we have less than 6 weeks till hurricane season.
this time around I will be stocked up.
We get anything over a 3 Im hauling @$$