VOLNATION: HURRICANE IAN

#127
#127
volfanngatorland said:
Hope all on VN down there are doing well. They probably won’t be posting for a while as power, Internet, and phones services have been down since last night. My parents and many friends are still down there and the damage is beyond belief. Much worse than even Charley was back in ‘04.

Sanibel and Ft Myers Beach are decimated. Almost unrecognizable in many areas. Sanibel Causeway will have to be rebuilt. So sad to see and so many people suffering today.
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My family has been in Hendry County, the adjacent county to Lee (Ft. Myers), since roughly 1900; this one hurts. Growing up, if you wanted to do anything, you had to go to Ft. Myers. Our doctors, dentist, movie theater, shopping, HS rivals were all there; we spent as much time in Ft. Myers as home. So much so that I just told everyone at UTK that’s where I was from cause it’s the only place they might’ve heard of. I left FL 15 years ago and have finally succumbed to the notion that I’ll never live there again (at least as long as I’m married to my current wife 😂) but it’ll always be home, I’ll never stop saying that’s where I’m from when someone asks and a piece of my heart will always break every time it’s beaten up. But we keep coming back for more and will again.
 
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#130
#130
volmanbill said:
Didn’t lose power in Land O Lakes. Really dodged a bullet.

As luck would have it, today is moving / closing day. It’s a beautiful 67 degrees and low humdity. Nicest weather since spring.
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The couple of days following a massive storm are so nice. Slider to the pool is wide open and so are all the windows. Good luck with the move
 
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#132
#132
I live in Seminole County (about 30 miles NE of Disney, if that helps). As of this morning, power had been out 30 hours and so I went to the office where we have it. Water is a trickle. No cell service, which means no internet either.

We got over 16 inches of rain in 24 hours, and I'd say the vast majority of that was in a period of about five hours early Thursday morning. There are three ways into my development and two of the three are over bridges, which go over creeks. They are completely submerged now, with stranded cars still about 2/3 under water as of today. So, the water in those creeks is up about 15 feet, and has overwhelmed the bridges.

There are a number of areas in town where two and three lakes are now one. So there is no place for the water to go. Just a complete mess.
 
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#133
#133
ClearwaterVol said:
St. Pete/Clearwater/Tampa dodged a bullet that I thought we were going to get. Fort Myers got hit as hard as I've seen in my life.
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I know historic is a word that gets thrown around often but this truly is for the Ft Myers/Sanibel/barrier island area.

I lived through Charley and it doesn’t come close to the level of destruction we saw with Ian. I heard from a source on FMB that 75% of the buildings were destroyed. The causeway will more than likely have to be completely torn down and rebuilt. Same for the bridge onto Pine Island. This is the worst case scenario we’ve heard about our whole lives in the area.

The sheer size and slow crawl of the storm was catastrophic. My parents and other family made it through with relatively minor damage. I know several friends who lost their houses completely. Still no power mkay places but cell service has picked up a little.

We are about to get the remnants here this afternoon/evening in Charlotte.
 
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#136
#136
My BIL and a buddy took his boat out to Bokeelia on Pine Island yesterday evening to tarp another friend’s house that lost their entire roof. They were able to rescue 1 individual off a roof and get them back to the mainland while out there. While putting in the boat a Florida FWC airboat pulled up with bodies piled up on it he said. He and my sister are in route to head back out today along with numerous others with boats from my hometown. Their efforts are inspiring and a beautiful sign for humanity as a whole. I hope and pray my sister is ready mentally for what she may encounter and see out there today.
 
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#137
#137
AthensVol2007 said:
My BIL and a buddy took his boat out to Bokeelia on Pine Island yesterday evening to tarp another friend’s house that lost their entire roof. They were able to rescue 1 individual off a roof and get them back to the mainland while out there. While putting in the boat a Florida FWC airboat pulled up with bodies piled up on it he said. He and my sister are in route to head back out today along with numerous others with boats from my hometown. Their efforts are inspiring and a beautiful sign for humanity as a whole. I hope and pray my sister is ready mentally for what she may encounter and see out there today.
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Dang, so heartbreaking
 
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#138
#138
Everything good in Valrico. We got power back yesterday about 11 Am but cell phone coverage and internet is hit and miss. Friend 5 miles away still without power. Tomorrow heading to Port Charlotte to check on the status of my friends brothers house. The brother spoke with some neighbors and their neighborhood is destroyed. We tried to head there today but with flooding of the Myakka river weren't able to get through to his house. So we are leaving first thing in the morning to try and salvage anything we can. Thanks for all prayers during the storm, please continue them as we move forward.
 
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#139
#139
tntar heel said:
Everything good in Valrico. We got power back yesterday about 11 Am but cell phone coverage and internet is hit and miss. Friend 5 miles away still without power. Tomorrow heading to Port Charlotte to check on the status of my friends brothers house. The brother spoke with some neighbors and their neighborhood is destroyed. We tried to head there today but with flooding of the Myakka river weren't able to get through to his house. So we are leaving first thing in the morning to try and salvage anything we can. Thanks for all prayers during the storm, please continue them as we move forward.
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Glad you're okay
 
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#140
#140
tntar heel said:
Everything good in Valrico. We got power back yesterday about 11 Am but cell phone coverage and internet is hit and miss. Friend 5 miles away still without power. Tomorrow heading to Port Charlotte to check on the status of my friends brothers house. The brother spoke with some neighbors and their neighborhood is destroyed. We tried to head there today but with flooding of the Myakka river weren't able to get through to his house. So we are leaving first thing in the morning to try and salvage anything we can. Thanks for all prayers during the storm, please continue them as we move forward.
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Good morning.
I hope you are able to get to the house today and able to salvage whatever is salvageable.
Hard to imagine so many things gone in so little time.
We still have not heard from @Septic and hope that it is only because of Internet issues.
Let us know how it goes.
 
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#141
#141
VolFaninFla said:
Good morning.
I hope you are able to get to the house today and able to salvage whatever is salvageable.
Hard to imagine so many things gone in so little time.
We still have not heard from @Septic and hope that it is only because of Internet issues.
Let us know how it goes.
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Yeah, I'm getting concerned for him
 
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#142
#142
VolFaninFla said:
Good morning.
I hope you are able to get to the house today and able to salvage whatever is salvageable.
Hard to imagine so many things gone in so little time.
We still have not heard from @Septic and hope that it is only because of Internet issues.
Let us know how it goes.
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We were able to get there. I didn't realize that my friend had 2 brothers living in the same complex. They were very fortunate. As many, retirement areas here, it is basically a lot of snow birds who stay here through northern winters. It is an 1100 unit trailer park for older folks on a gold course. Both brothers very fortunate, exteriors in tact so we were able to get contents out of one brothers house and put in our garages until he can find a storage facility.
 
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#143
#143
The other brother had minor damage to interior. Exterior, they had a "Florida room" that was deposited in the pond behind the house. Roof was in tact on one side and no damage to the ceiling inside. The other side we laid gatorskin underlayment and used flexseal to make a temporary barrier. Until they can get a new roof laid down. Really nice folks and I was blessed to be able to help. All keep Robert, Denny, and John in prayers. Oh and especially Lori my buddies wife who has the daunting task of hosting we'll say a trying BIL. So funny story, this brother we sent on an impossible task to get him out of our hair yesterday. @YankeeVol will understand operation.. We sent him looking for canopy lights, most crucial item for our op.
 
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#144
#144
Oh and it was so weird... the view from the roof I was able look out and see how the winds came through that community. It was protected by a fabricated wall which I'm sure reduced some damage but once that thing got loose through the middle it was thumped.just total annikation down the middle and on the edges mostly spared. Guess Ian didn't like golf. I didn't take pics because I felt funny recording others despair.
 
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#145
#145
Co-workers calling me Rocky this morning because my boonie cap (bucket hat for non military) didn't do its job shielding my face


Edit.my goodness I haven't slept that well in a long time.
 
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