Writer with all due respect I disagree with you about them being wishy washy. I think from the governor (of whom I'm not even a fan) down to the locals they have done a great job being proactive rather than reactive. They have all repeatedly advised what to do based on their location and what is likely to happen in any given area. Thats much better than in previous emergency situations. IMO.

Oh Silvia, I hope your gorgeous garden doesn't get torn all up! You work so hard on it.

Sultry, I know what it's like. I was in SC for Hugo, down here for Andrew and Charley's eyewall came within 5 miles of my house and devastated the towns just a few miles south of us. I get PTSD-like symptoms when hurricanes come. People think I get overly dramatic, but most of those are the ones who have never been through a major hurricane or who weren't here for the 2004 season.

Growing up in SC, I know all too well the damage they can do. My first experience with a major storm was Hurricane Gracie when I was 7 years old. It completely blew away most of Edisto Beach on the island where my mother was born and raised. I remember my daddy taking us down there by boat afterwards, and I just cried and cried. The beach, the pier, the road, everything was just gone. People criticized him for taking us down there to see that, but he wanted us to respect hurricanes and realize what damage they can do. Hurricane David hit the coast of SC and at my aunt's house, a tornado it spawned twisted two 100+ year old trees on either side of her house out of the ground. How do we know it was a twister? Because both trees fell AWAY from the house. If it had been the wind, one would have fallen on the house. That was only a Cat 1. Hugo completely destroyed Isle of Palms, which wasn't a great loss, because it had been taken over by rich northerners who had passed laws prohibiting locals from visiting the island on the weekends, because they forbade parking on the side of the road, and nobody was real happy with what it had become. I remember on the news, a native Charlestonian was asked what he thought about the devastation of Isle of Palms, and he said "Couldn't have happened to a nicer group of people," of course, being sarcastic. I spent many a happy hour in my early 20s on Isle of Palms, so seeing it just washed away shook me to the core. After the storm, the county passed laws forbidding beachfront building and bought up a bunch of lots for public parking so nobody could keep the locals off of that beach ever again. So sometimes, hurricanes have good consequences. :-)

After Hugo, my family members in Charleston and Edisto Island, SC were shoveling mud out of their houses for days, and several heritage oaks were blown over on the road to my grandmother's house. Hugo picked up a house from the front beach on Edisto and carried it half a mile in and set it down in the marsh. Not a dish was broken. It also unearthed a civil war cannon from the marsh and tossed it up onto land.

Being part of a coastal family from SC, I have been personally affected by so many hurricanes, I can't even name them all. So yes, I freak out and get a little crazy about it, but I have good cause.

Writersblock, You tell my uncle (my Dad's brother-in-law) that it was a myth. He was in the national guard and had to go in and help pull all the dead bodies out. Not only in those buildings, but all up and down the coast.

Hurricane Camille was the third and strongest tropical cyclone and second hurricane during the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the second of three catastrophic Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the United States during the 20th century (the others being 1935's Labor Day hurricane and 1992's Hurricane Andrew), which it did near the mouth of the Mississippi River on the night of August 17. Camille was the second strongest U.S. landfalling hurricane in recorded history in terms of atmospheric pressure, second only to the Labor Day Hurricane in 1935.

The storm formed on 14 August and rapidly deepened. It scraped the western edge of Cuba at Category 2 intensity. Camille rapidly deepened once again over the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall with a pressure of 900 mbar (hPa; 26.58 inHg), estimated sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h)[2] and a peak official storm surge of 24 feet (7.3 m). The hurricane flattened nearly everything along the coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi, and caused additional flooding and deaths inland while crossing the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. In total, Camille killed 259 people and caused $1.42 billion (1969 USD, $9.16 billion 2016 USD) in damages. To date, a complete understanding of the reasons for the system's power, extremely rapid intensification over open water and strength at landfall has not been achieved.

I live in North Alabama now and I am probably more afraid of tornadoes than hurricanes, but that is because YOU GET ADVANCE WARNING of a hurricane. Both sides of my family are from the gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama and until you see what the wind, water, and storm surge can do you cannot appreciate the fact that it can wipe everything out. A hurricane can turn quickly and can get stronger quickly. Do you really want to gamble your life, your family's life, and your pet's life that it will miss you?

I just got an email from my management company telling us to make sure we take in or secure anything loose lying around our apartments so they don't damage our or other people's apartments. Of course, they are in Ocala, which is slightly closer to the east coast than we are, but still, very considerate of them.

I always make my place safe, but after the hurricane season of 2004, I found the strangest things in my yard, including an entire Rubbermaid child's playhouse. It had floated all the way down the ditch behind my house from the other end of the street.

So another admonishment - be sure to take in or secure anything that can become a missile during the storm. Remember that pine needle they found stuck through a tree after Andrew? Yes, even tiny things can become missiles. I forget which 2004 hurricane it was that went through our area at night, but I could not sleep for having things banging up on the plywood. I was so glad I had boarded up, even if living in a boarded up house where we only took down one window and put it back up every storm was maddening. Being in a boarded up house with no power is truly mind-bending. It's like being trapped in a box. I'm still a bit claustrophobic.

Sherry, yes, people died, but not because they were having a party.

Just watched the evening news and they said it's going to make landfall in Brevard county.where I'm at.as a class 4.

Writers, I was there, were you? I will not respond to you anymore and I wish you good luck. I hope all of y'all in the path are safe and never see the destruction I and my families have seen over the years.

writersblock & Sherry, I've heard that story both ways, 1) it was a hurricane party and 2) it was a bunch of neighbors who had been boarding things up all day and were ust gathering together to ride out the storm; but the bottom line is, they did not heed the evacuation warnings and they died. So heed the warnings, and get out while you can.

I'm in Broward, a little west, and it's the 1st year we are trying out our impact windows. I'm nervous. We are not expected to get the same strength winds as the coast but you never know. Even if we come out of this clean, I think next year I want to put shutter rails back up, just for peace of mind. We still have the panels. I'm here almost 10 years and have never been through a hurricane. I do not like the feeling of not having shutters up. We cleaned the yard of any potential projectiles but I see many neighbors around the lake that haven't yet. I sure hope they do.
writersblock(9b/10a), you're on Hutchinson Island where we have a condo, right? Fingers crossed for you!!! That storm is projected to come so close. I went Monday to close the shutters and one of them is broken. We tried everything to get it closed but it's so old. I couldn't get anyone out there to repair it on short notice. We did just put impact glass there too so hopefully its will be OK. I noticed that the huge sea grape bushes on the dune were hard pruned and there are so many cut trunks and limbs laying in the brush. I don't think that was a smart thing to do right before a hurricane. They will be sent flying around for sure. Oh well. I'll just cross my fingers and say a prayer that everyone on the island is safe. Thinking of you! Be well and stay safe. Prayers for everyone in the path of Hurricane Matthew.

Yes, that's right, halfwaythere. You should be fine with the impact glass as long as you aren't low enough for storm surge to be a concern.

I can't believe that now they say it may loop back around and hit us again next week.

Good luck, everyone!

I'm looking at pictures from Haiti and Cuba and it's breaking my heart. These people have so little anyway, and now this. The looks on their faces are just so hopeless and helpless.

108 so far dead in Haiti. That place cannot win for losing.

No ice to be found anywhere, so I'm making ice cubes and putting them into gallon ziploc bags to stuff my freezer as full of possible to try to save all that meat I have in there. We'll definitely lose power here, and for how long, who knows. Some people were out of power for 5 days after Hermine.

I hope everyone that needs to evacuate has done so, and I hope you found a safe place to stay. Gaineville hotels are full to the brim. Friends of UF students are flooding into stay with them here. The traffic is insane! They're opening shelters and there is an emergency number if you need transportation to a shelter.

True story my landlord told me. In 2004, during one of the hurricanes that went through here (I believe Frances was the worst), the very large tree that used to be in front of my apartment fell into the courtyard. It smashed the gate and the maintenance crew had to get chain saws and cut the lady out of the house, because all the windows and the door was blocked by the top of the tree. All that, and it didn't even break the windows.

They said there are NO rooms to be had over here on the West coast. There are people calling all over in a panic looking for a place to stay. My biggest worry is the power going off, we are in tropical storm warning here.

Rita, that's my biggest fear too. Not only because I have just bought $50 worth of meat, but because of losing the a/c. If it stays off more than a day, I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't live without a/c. Also, every day I'm without power is a day I can't work (I work online). I may have to take the bus to the library to work if that happens, which will get me out of the heat for a good part of the day at least. Also, I just don't have enough candles to last too long.

Dirty, sounds like a big BBQ is in your future.

My in-laws live on the west coast of Florida and they said all the hotels are booked and that local colleges are opening their gymnasiums to accommodate people.

We have a generator curtesy of Fema from H. Rita lol. They reimbursed everyone for generators, chainsaws etc. That is, if it doesn't get blown away, a tree falls on it, or gets flooded out. H. Rita was the only and last time we had to use it. Dh changed the oil and cleaned it up and it actually works. Im mostly worried about all these big pines and oaks around us and about flooding from storm surge. H. Rita swept up the LA coast too and that created storm surge that rolled in a few days after the hurricane which was the real source of the flooding. The soil in LA holds water much longer than FL sand does so at least thats hopeful.

You can freeze milk jugs, water bottles, or empty soda bottles for ice blocks. We did that during Rita and some stuff in the freezer was still actually cold when we got back home after evacuation. I dont know exactly how long the power was off though, since we evacuated.

Are they not opening the shelters in the barrier islands because they want the residents to shelter more inland?

I'm in Hobe Sound and we're doing alright right now. I have the generator on standby and I tied up all my trees to try and "minimalize" damage. I just built a rubermaid shed last week. I pray it doesn't fly away!! I put over 1000lbs of lawn equipment and miscellaneous heavy things from the yard. Ugh!!!

Daniel, please stay safe. Good luck with everything. It must be getting close to you now?

Winds and rain getting stronger on the Treasure Coast, but we're well boarded up. Will be so glad when the wee hours have come and gone. I'm farther east than I was in 2004, but media reports lead me to believe we'll be safe. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to take the little old dog out to pee—he is drugged out on Rescue Remedy and wants no part of the outdoors tonight.

Hope everyone is able to stay safe.

ut2nc - there is a mandatory evacuation of barrier islands. Who is going to stay behind to run the shelters? I wouldn't. Anyone who chooses to stay is on their own; they've already said that.

I can't believe so many people did not evacuate. Our cable over here in Gainesville is already cutting in and out, and we're catching the outer bands. The worst part will be from about 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., so we hear.

I'm praying for everyone who hasn't evacuated, but this is a monster storm. I'm worried for you all. We have people camped out in the parking lots of the rest areas on I-75 because there are no hotel rooms. The highway patrol is going around giving them information about shelters. We only have two shelters open here, but they may open more if enough refugees come through. We have refugee shelters that are basically nothing but shelter -- some are abandoned warehouses with no water or toilet facilities. There are none open, though.

I'm going to get off line and fill up the rest of my buckets with water. Stay as safe as you can.

Just heard from my friend who lives just west of Port Canaveral. He said it was a non-event pretty much there -- a few leaves blowing around, power outage, but only 1-3/4 inches of rain, so I figure we're pretty safe here in Gainesville.

It seems that the western steering winds pushed it much further offshore than anticipated. All those prayers last night must have done some good. I like to think that Mother Nature and God have a pact to take care of gardeners as much as they can.

Not too bad right now here in Jax. We have a little steady rain and some wind gusts. I went out to feed chickens and let them out of their coops. Some opted to stay in lol. Usually they are running out in the morning even if its storming bad. They are like my parrot that hides during the hurricanes..birds know lol.

Sultry, birds are so smart. They can sense the change in barometric pressure. There is never any bird activity before a storm, if you'll notice. No singing or flying or anything.

The storm really hasn't hit us yet, but we already have quite a few power outages, some from a downed tree. I was looking at radar and once that top half spins around, we'll get slammed. That's where all the wind and rain is. I'm not optimistic about keeping my power on after that.

Just heard a transformer blow, and winds are up to 40-50 mph, with the worst of it just hitting us, so I'm sure I'll be offline soon.

Hunker down and stay safe!

My friend in Melbourne called and she is fine. That inner eye-wall was only about 5 miles from her but never came onshore. She says she knows all the prayers helped, I told her that I was tired from worrying about her and praying. She is without power and has whole trees down in her yard but that's OK.

Things are fine here. Despite all the drama the News is trying to generate, I think we (our area) had more damage from Hermine. Just been sitting here, watching coverage of the storm and noting how every time an on-scene reporter tries to put a positive spin on how relatively little damage was done, the ones behind the desk try to spin it back to all the 'devastation' that was done by showing the same scenes over and over. I'm not saying that damage wasn't done, it obviously was and I hope many of you here escaped any real danger, but the News seems really intent on making this seem much worse than it was.

Edit: On a related note, anyone else watching WESH coverage of a Water Oak that fell on a garage and thinking, "That root system seems very small for such a thick trunk"?

Lol. I was thinking the same thing then started seeing some bad scenes of flooding from Jax Beach and St Augustine. I guess we will see where all the really vulnerable areas are after this.

Well, this turned out to be a non-event. A little wiind, a little rain, a few power outages quickly taken care of by GRU. My lights went out for about a minute. Called GRU, had just gotten through giving them all my info when they came back on, so I said "Wait! They just came back on. Never mind." The radar isn't showing any more bands coming through here, other than rain bands. No more heavy winds. I feel so lucky.

Unless something changes drastically, my banana and my freezer full of meat are safe.

Better safe than sorry! That's what my grandmother always said. I agree. Isn't it better to prepare and have a non event, than to say oh it will ....... and then say "I'm such an idiot".

Oh yes, Sherry! I remember when I first moved to SW FL, we had Cat. 2 Georges threaten the west coast. I was the only person who boarded up my windows. It also turned out to be a non-event, but I kept those boards for years and used them over and over, and they saved me some damage in 2004 when three storms came close to us, and there were several tropical storms along the way too. I'm very respectful of tropical weather. Like someone said, it only takes one tree falling in the wrong place to make it a disaster for you, like that homeless man who was killed during Hermine when a tree fell on his tent.

I survived! My trees weren't affected. Just a bunch of leaves and a couple branches fell from a couple trees but luckily not my baby fruit trees!! The shed did great, the only thing was I lost power but the generator runs strong so ac and fridge is going nice!!

Daniel, happy for your baby fruit trees! I remember my first winter with my baby orange trees being very stressful when I lived further south. We had a couple of freezes that year, and I was working retail, so didn't get off until about 9 at night. I was out there one night with my then BF holding a flashlight so I could cover them. There were freezes and storms after that, but they survived them all. Unfortunately, winds usually blew all the blooms off in the spring and freezes took the fruit most years before it had a chance to ripen, so they were never that productive. I grew to hate citrus trees.

I am glad to hear good news from everyone! We had strong winds in my area, lost some plants, the banana and the bunch fell down, lost power for a day. Had guests in the house and a BBQ with different meats and the best sweet potatoes ever! and a lot of greens that were picked before it all started.

I will take a look today with the daylight and see how everything is doing outside. We were all lucky this time, for us it was a drill for what is important and how to prepare.

Silvia

We made out OK here in Stuart. No damage to the house, lost power for most of the day yesterday. I had the generator running as soon as I got home from work, power was back on just was we were ready to eat dinner with our neighbors. I had to work storm duty down in WPB. My biggest loss was my Loquat tree, it broke off at the roots. My veggie garden is a mess but the trellises all stayed up.

Luckily we were all spared the real force of this storm. The storms of 2004-05 were not so kind to my neighborhood.

Ritaweed, My parents had moved to Tenn around 2006, found out they get frequent tornados in that area and ice storms in the winter. Both of those nasty's are more frequent than our hurricanes. The plus side is no fire ants there.

Glad everyone is OK! Wish we could get some of that rain. In the Huntsville, AL area, the entire month of September we only had .3 inches and it hasn't rained any yet in October.

To sultry_jasmine-nights: per your, "Get enough prescription medications stocked up to last a few weeks". How does one accomplish this? Pay full price out of pocket? My pharmacy has to get my insurance company's approval for any "ahead" purchase, like for a vacation, when there is not the pressure of a hurricane coming...and it takes days. Do pharmacies have hurricane exceptions?

Irma, I think it depends on your insurance. With my old insurance it was no problem, but with my Obamacare plan I'd have to pay out of pocket if it wasn't already time to replenish. Sometimes the pharmacy will give a discount in situations like that.

I can't believe how little damage there is out here on the barrier island. Ft Pierce out by 95 and the turnpike was worse. Luckily for us, the worst winds seem to have come from the west, and the only signs of water over the road were clearly from the river side. We were very, very fortunate. We didn't even lose electricity, which is unbelievable, given that the "hardening" of the system doesn't extend up this far.

Well, it looks like the only garden damage I took is that my Christmas Senna roots have been disturbed. It has a pretty severe lean now, but no sign of trunk damage. So I guess I will be building a brace to put it back into position to see if it will re-establish itself. If I have to, I will give it a hard prune.

Gary just found out that residential electricity will probably not be restored until Tuesday at the earliest. There are over 70,000 people without in my county. They are first reconnecting government and commercial electricity.

We had planned to get a generator in November when Gary would be getting his work discount but of course he is bringing one home today & we'll set it up temporarily to hook up the fridge microwave and TV/internet.

Our county was declared a disaster area so we'll get at least some of the money the generator will cost back from FEMA.

Between the generators and chainsaws running in the neighborhood it sounds like a construction site.

We're not complaining though. We are among the lucky ones. Many people around here lost a lot more than electricity.

Bea, I'm glad you're okay, even if you don't have power. Has anyone heard from sultry_jasmine_nights?

Wow, I was in Vegas and CA visiting my family when the storm hit, just got back yesterday...all flights were cancelled to Orlando but eventually made it home... thank goodness we didn't have any damage at all in my area( Sebring). That storm was scary especially when you are watching the news from another state and you're not seeing it with your own eyes. The media has a way of "scaring" you to death and showing you only the worst of the worst.

Hope everyone had minimal damage and all are safe!!!!!!!!!!

I had very little damage.tv antenna bent,the 1 storm shutter I have was ripped off.a lot of branches in yard.most of my baby fruit trees are bent to 1 side,I can fix with stakes.lost most of my okra.most of my naborhood doesn't have power but I do.there is a power line down in the road.I'm letting nabors charge phones.ran a line over to my closest nabor and put a window ac unit in so he has a cool room and lighting,he is to old to not have ac.

We are ok here. I had a lot of plants shredded and flattened. A few small trees fell and one smashed part of a chicken coop lol. Chickens were ok and on the other side of the coop even though the door was ripped off, they stayed inside lol. It took some coaxing to get them out. I got the bread out and thats all it took lol. They all ran out for treats!

So glad everyone is ok!!

I have a few plants totally missing so thats strange. Like they just got ripped up and disappeared. I'll take H. Mathew any day over what happened to us in LA during H. Rita. Of course, people directly on the coast here in FL have about the same damage we had in LA with the flooding. The only good thing is the soil drains so much faster in FL. LA soil holds the water so it basically sat till it evaporated uggg!

I think all the stuff we went through with Rita and Katrina really helped us this time and really kept stuff in perspective.

ETA..I just found some plumerias are starting to make seedpods! They must have liked the hurricane lol. If these mature in the gh this winter, I will have plaenty to give away this spring.