My daughter's friends that stayed in KW said that her school, her job and her apartment appear to be intact and minimally damaged. We don't know if there were any leaks or roof damage at her apartment or if her car was flooded. But, all things considered, we are grateful that her stupid friends are fine and that things are not as bad as predicted.

Sending good thoughts to all who are still in Irma's path.

We had constant tornado alerts today. Winds are still 85 mph with gusts much higher. Still have power, incredibly! Winds to stay strong until tomorrow. Trees are blowing around like crazy but seem to be holding. About 10 inches of rain. Power flickers a bit, but we're hanging in there.

I have been glued to the news all day. We are in MA, far from the storm, but I would hope all in the US, both near and far, are worried about what happens in FL. Sending prayers and good wishes to all of you in FL

Thank you, Bonnie! It's pretty intense in Winter Garden now. It's been raining hard all day and now the wind is really kicking up, too. Power has flickered but held on.

Donna

Wonder why everyone has power but me on the east coast near the Juno Jupiter line. It flickered on twice for about two seconds around around 7 or so.

I - need - air-condition

Not - a -camper

Beagles,

Sounds like all is well.

BTW, You can ask your propane supplier to check your tank periodically, and have them aim to keep it full. That is what our supplier does. We once were out for a week with tree limbs on power lines around here, and were glad to have a whole-house generator. I think they all click on when needed.

You may also want to have a maintenance contract w someone to check out the generator once a year and be sure it is operating well.

Thanks mtn. We do that w/ our propane tank in PA but not in FL. I guess we should look into that for FL. I will see about a maintenance contract too. We didn't really ever anticipate using the generator b/c no one is at this house during hurricane season normally, and with only using the gas for the fireplace and dryer, it didn't seem worth it to worry about the fuel supply.

This was just an odd confluence of events that my in laws happened to be there... although of course we would have let their friends' and their friends dog's come to the house and stay anyway even if my in laws weren't there. The other couples think their homes will be destroyed b/c they're mobile homes on the Manatee River :( They have their "real" houses in PA, but still :(

They've lost power now. MIL said they are having green lightening. The winds are scary. But everyone and the house are still OK for right now.

Has anyone heard from Runninginplace? She's in South Miami and was not evacuating. Running, hope you are ok!

Is everyone ok? Running please check in! Everyone check in if you can!

Still waiting to hear about our place on Marco. Friends who stayed are safe and did not have too much damage. Storm surge was not what was expected

No damage at our house. In-laws are fine. The other couples are going to check on their houses now.

Has anyone heard from writersblock?

One of the couples lost their roof. They're looking for roofers now :( The other, their house was fine. My in laws are still hoping to get on their plane on Wednesday and come home. I think that's doubtful. We'll see.

Glad things went relatively well for Florida!

Heard from friends our pool cage is partly gone and the other half is in the pool. Storm surge came to the top of our sea wall so house not flooded. Parts of roof tile gone. Just waiting to go back. Things a bit primitive now on Marco. No electricity or water. All in all VERY lucky

That's good(?) news cmm1986! I guess a damaged pool cage is a lot easier to fix than water damage from a flood...

Thinking of all of you in FL!

Still have power. All the lines are buried in our area. But just now got TV and internet service wi-fi back on. I told my DH I feel we're like God's Chosen children...but he scolded me for mocking religion. He's a non-practicing Catholic and me, an atheist/agnostic whatever, but obviously not reverent enough for DH. He-he-he. Hope everyone else is okay. Where is writer? running? acdc? maddielee? finn? msmeow? Hope everyone is okay. jterri, use some of your pasta to make cold pasta salad with Italian dressing, fresh diced tomatoes and small pieces of salami or what ever! We have a ton of outdoor clean up to do. Just read that Jose might do a full circle loop in the Atlantic and head to the east coast! Keep your eyes and ears open. I hope it was a one-off idiot fake news story!!!!

So glad to see many checking in here (and in my real life) with minimal damage.. lots of inconveniences but no major damage. Hope the trend continues with those we haven't heard from as yet.. thinking of you all!

Thanks for your concern, everyone. Everything is fine here inSafety Harbor, very minimal damage, but we only got power back a little while ago.

i think things should be okay at home, but the phones (including cellphones) and Internet are all out over there, so I'll probably be offline for a while after I leave here tomorrow.

Checking in from Flagler County. I'm okay. Power back on last night. Some pool screen damage but the cage itself is fine. Broken trees, lost a solar powered attic vent and the attic over the garage filled with water. Will probably need to replace that ceiling, but it hasn't fallen yet. Have fans on it. Flagler Beach is flooded with many/most homes flooded with a few feet of water. Our pier survived! A1A seems ro have survived. Glad it's over. Thankful no one was hurt badly.

We're here and fine in Tampa, thank you for thinking of us.

No real damage, lost a fence and a sailboat is half submerged, but nothing that can't be fixed. Yard was a mess with small branches and Spanish Moss, the trees held on tight and stayed where they needed to stay.

No electricity, generators powering the neighbor ( I really dislike the sound, but thankful for the power they offer). Yesterday stayed cool, will hook up the emergency AC unit if necessary today.

No internet, spotty cell service. People south of us faired a lot worse, we were lucky. And thankful.

ML (Tampa)

We are fine in Winter Garden, too. People, kitties and house are fine, but the big old oak trees took a beating. Yesterday a neighbor with a chain saw went down the street cutting up limbs for everyone. Wasn't that nice? We got them all stacked by the street for the city to pick up.

Power was out for 15 hours; I was surprised how quickly Duke Energy got it back on. Internet/TV/land line are still down, but that's really a minor inconvenience.

Family in Lakeland have no power. Sis IL and BIL have no water, either, and their screen porch roof was damaged, but all-in-all not too bad.

Donna

Hi Viola, I don't care if I see another pasta noodle for the rest of my life lol.

At 4:15 today my lights started fluttering on and off. I'm hoping I will have air conditioning tonight because I'm getting mean. Boca, a little over an hour south of me only lost power for under five hours total. I lost power waaayyyy before the storm was thinking of hitting. Strange. My phone signal is only working here and there for short times.

Anyway, glad everyone is safe and sound!!!

We had no damage really just a lot of foliage cleanup and two blown out pool cage screens. Now, all the work to get things back to normal.

JT, hope you get your power back soon. Electricity can be a weird thing, my parents house has power, but sis and niece's houses don't. They all live a few minutes from each other.

I'm surprised some of you got power back so soon. Our older neighborhood (maybe that's a clue) is always among one of the last. Another reason we invested in the generator.

Thanks Chispa!

Still no word from Running? Hope she is alright.

Still no electricity, this is one bedroom set up last night. Got a good night' s sleep with our French Door AC contraption.

Our power came back on the day after the storm, around 9 PM. Hoping everyone without gets power back soon!

My in laws are coming home today. My MIL sent me a picture, the airport was completely empty when they got there this morning. Which I think is really weird.

I'm checking in. We had a roof leak so I'm busy with clean up. Massive landscape and fence damage. No electricity. Lift station failure. No water. I am beyond tired and have had some experiences that are less than kind. Tempers are flaring as everyone is fatigued. I just wish people could understand that we are all in this together. Keeping my fingers crossed for power soon.

So sorry vicki, where are you located?

Vicky, I know what you are going through we didn't have the roof leak though. The heat makes one very cranky. It's been 12 years but I remember it well.

I had one neighbor make rude comments to us after we removed all his trees that had crashed through his fence into our yard. We had a drainage ditch in front of our home so dragged them about an acre and a half from a back soggy corner (was flooded) of his lot to a bit of high ground on both our properties boarder line. Neighbor never helped, it was hard heavy work. He got mad because we didn't stack it all on on our property. It was stacked on the border on the side of his house. I wanted to kill him.

Another neighbor just kept asking for stuff. He was ten times over in a better position with portable generator and a wide array of grills and smokers. I will help those in need but some people just take the PiS$.

I just this minute got electricity! Skippity do da!!!

We just got power. I'm doing a happy dance. I can't wait to go to bed tonight!

Finally back on-line!

Power restored this evening. We are thankful that there was little damage here. A few tree branches and a couple of bushes lost but we are ok.

Bless the linemen!

The days without electricity can be trying, but it's nice to live in a neighborhood where people tend to work together rather than against each other. After Gustav we were fortunate to have a whole house generator and freely shared fresh brewed coffee each morning and access to our washer & dryer. We even offered a cool spot to sleep on a blow up mattress on our living room floor, but didn't get any takers.

For the ladies with frayed nerves.... a brief "feel good" story from the storm:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hot-cops-gainesville-florida-viral-photo-hurricane-irma-calendar-fundraiser/

Be sure to click through for pictures :)

So happy to hear of the power being restored. Have a great night's sleep.

I don't know why, but I always tear up when they do stories of the linemen leaving to go help another city after a storm.

When I checked in yesterday I didn't realize that my name had been changed to Vicki. I am really ACDC (my favorite rock group). I have no idea why that happened. Could it be because I was using hotspot? Anyway, I watched tv for the first time last night and just had to come on this morning to tell you that I feel so guilty about complaining yesterday about my situation. I had no idea how bad the situation is in other areas of my state!!! I feel like such a witch! I apologize for being so self centered.

Gee Vicky, we all just dodged the big one. Just the prep alone was stressful. Getting cranky after several sleepless nights of 92* heat, zero air movement and the feeling like you were being buried alive doesn't take away from those poor people who have it much much worse. Getting cranky doesn't mean you are not grateful. It also doesn't mean you have no feelings for those who lost so much.

Still worried about running and hope she checks in soon.

Really, Vicki, when you're that miserable, especially when you're cut off from the news, it's totally normal to focus on your situation. I haven't ever forgotten what it was like to be without power or water for 15 days after Wilma. Even the week before this storm I gave only the briefest glance to everything else going on in the world.

Justerrilynn, I still know a lot of Miami folks who are without power, so hopefully that's all it is. They're saying all FPL customers on the east coast should be up by Monday, aren't they?

Still no power here, a lot warmer and more humid today. #TECO has not made an appearance in our neighborhood since a quick drive through a couple nights ago. There are still trees on top of downed lines, so I am not expecting to be powered up anytime soon.

The bad guys are starting to appear. Pickup trucks driving down dark streets with their lights out. Casing neighborHoods. A friend chased 2 men out of his yard last night, police came and told him that breakins of houses that are vacant or look to be vacant are happening....and that is one reason people stay at home.

Writer, ours came on last night. I had cool glorious air conditioning. I'm so thankful for that! We left the storm shutters on the back for a few days until that other storm took a hike. Our bedroom is on the back and was like a tomb. Our little dog is impossible to sleep with so the bedroom doors were also closed. One night I had a mini panic attack over the feeling that I was buried alive. Slept on sofa and the little mutt kept me awake all night, wasn't much better than being sealed up in a coffin but at least felt I wasn't breathing the last bit of air.

Now to get back in the swing of things. I'm still exhausted from sleep deprivation and feel like a dried out old sack.

Do you know the status of your place? Any water get in?

Most of you already know of this Power Tracker site but I will post anyway. It's showing Hutchison Island has power.

http://fplmaps.com/

Nope, everything is fine here. The outside looks bad but the ugly mansard is just "decoration" and could blow away completely without affecting the structural integrity of the building, unlike most townhouses like this, so I'm fine--power, water (kind of), phone and internet all back late Monday night:

I do feel bad for everyone still without power and especially for those without water, especially in this heat. It's kind of a miracle that we got everything back so quickly because above and below us on the island they're still out.

I'm still exhausted from sleep deprivation and feel like a dried out old sack.

I've been sleeping pretty much whenever I can since I got back, about 12 hours a day total, I think. It's the reaction to all that stress.

FPL had just told a co-worker of mine that it may be another week for his power to come back on. Our power came back on so we're loading up our generator to take to him and he got a call from his wife - power is on! God bless the linemen! They work hard and in some crummy conditions. This is Flagler County. Still many without power.

Noooooooo:

All is well here, except I may need to change my user name to sweatinginplace :). We lost our power Saturday at midnight and Uverse (wifi and tv) cut out Monday afternoon, so we've been completely out of touch. I live in an older neighborhood full of lush tree canopy and aging power poles and lines. We always lose electricity quickly and get it back slooooooowly. As of this morning we'd seen no sign of a tree trimming crew much less power trucks to deal with a lot of downed trees and lines. FPL, our energy provider, claims power will be back by midnight Sunday but based on past storm experience I doubt it--I'd bet midweek next week earliest. Fortunately we had no damage; we have huge oak trees surrounding the house and I was so afraid one would fall, or a large limb would crash down.

Despite the misery of living without electricity my wonderful, wonderful husband has kept me as comfortable as possible. We have a generator and he really likes working with electricity so over the years he's set it up to run the power through circuits into the house, meaning normal operation of lights, tv (except after UVerse disconnected so no signal), ceiling fans and small appliances. This time we realized the generator would also power the wall unit AC we have in our Florida room so I dragged a mattress out there and have been comfortable to sleep. Forget roses and candy, THAT is a keeper of a spouse!

And we feel incredibly blessed that the vacation/retirement house we bought 5 months ago in Key Largo came through the storm unscathed-HUGE relief. We have direct deep water access meaning the house is on a short canal on the Atlantic side of the key; climb in the boat and 45 seconds later you're on the open ocean. So we were frantically worried up in Miami about the storm surge and of course the wind. The water came within inches of the top of our stairs from the dock to the back yard but didn't overflow into the pool or lower level. Minor wind damage to screens but overall the house is in perfect condition. Most amazingly of all--the electricity came back yesterday, the UVerse is humming and everything is perfectly normal inside! We decided to bug out of Miami so packed up the cats and the refrigerators, turned off the generator and now I"m sitting comfortably in air conditioning with laundry going downstairs and all the comforts of home.

We've got many friends down here and the damage and destruction is heart breaking. Even in the upper Keys which didn't get the full force storm, lots of people have flood damage and the debris fields are stunning to see.

However it is awe inspiring to watch the outpouring of help. From FEMA trucks to electric restoration convoys to giant Salvation Army semis with supplies to C-130 planes and helicopters flying over in formation....a steady stream of resources. It's a reminder that despite politics or divisions within our country, when something terrible happens Americans pull together to help.

So glad you're okay and have a cool place to escape to, runninginplace.

I'm so glad you checked in Running! I was starting to think something happened.

It is great how people come together! I always say that people have more in common than they don't.