Gsciencechick, doesn't it seem that this one was underestimated ?

I thought the strongest it was originally estimated was a Cat 3 and I was surprised to see it at a Cat 4 this morning. I hope everyone stays safe.

OT - my son and his GF are flying to Peru on Thursday, tomorrow, from the Cdn west coast. I saw this morning that their flight was making a stop in San Fran and then Panama CIty. There was 10 minutes of panic until we googled the tracking of the flight number and discovered it was going to Panama City, Panama and not Florida. It didn't say that on their tickets.

JT, oh yes, because it developed and intensified really fast.

Good luck to all, in the direct path and on the fringes.

Could top to 160 to 175 miles an hour gusts. YIKES!

Scary. I have family on St. George Island and other spots in the path. They evacuated and are safe, lots of worry about what they will be going home to.

Maddielee, I have a sister and BIL on St. George Island, and they did not leave. She is undergoing Chemo and they decided to hunker down rather than be cooped up with others and risk infection. At least their house is on stilts.

Loonlake, hope they do ok.

A sister's house is in The Plantation, she's never had damage in other storms hope she's lucky this time too.

My family has a small farm near Quincy so everyone evacuated there.

Sending best wishes for everyone and their loved ones in the path of this hurricane.

My sis lives next to the Plantation. They have plenty of supplies as long as the house holds. They even parked one of their cars on the mainland just in case the only bridge goes out. They can always take the fishing boat to the mainland to get the car for the next chemo treatment!

With all the hoopla about Hurricane Florence in NC, it seems we haven't heard much about this one and it sounds even worse. Good luck to those in the path!

My Sil and her family live in Destin. They evacuated to an Airbnb in Louisiana. A good friend is in Panama City and has chosen to stay put. i Am worried about her and those who chose to stay.

We have a beachfront rental in The Plantation on SGI for October 26th - November 3rd. Got a e-mail reminder this morning that my final rent payment is due Friday. I can't see the house being habitable if the 14 foot surge prediction is true. We'll know more tomorrow and I hope it's not the worst.

loonlakelaborcamp -madielee - the predicted storm surge, at it's highest, would submerge the island. That has to be scary.

Jrb451, we were on the island in 2012 when Tropical Storm Debby hit. We had moved our cars to high spots and had to wade through water to get to them to evacuate before the bridge was closed. What amazed me was how fast the water went down and the beach was cleaned up. If your rental is on stilts, and most are, the house itself may not have damage.

The electricity took a few days to be restored. Hopefully the storm surges added sand to the beaches and didn't erode them too much. It will take a day or 2 to fully access the damage. Good luck.

It seems they have quite the mess in FL. I hope by now, everyone has had news of those who stayed behind.

It is eerily calm here in central NC. We're forecast for several inches of rain tomorrow, which should provide entertaining power outages. Lots of wet soil and loose trees. We have one leaning, I hope it stays up until the tree guy comes next week!

I just heard that my friend in Panama City is safe. What a relief!

I'm headed to Virginia Beach, but it's a women's getaway so whatever! Rain and wind won't stop us and this time we're not on the beach front anyway. good luck to others!!!

Glad to hear some reports of safe loved ones! That is a monster storm! Just shy of a category 5 from what I heard around noon. We will be at the edge of the storm and likely will have some rain and lighter winds tomorrow. Rain we need, and especially the cooler temps along with it.

I’m headed to Ft. Walton Beach tomorrow. Jury is still out on whether my high school reunion is still happening. But if it is cancelled, I’ll have more time with family and friends. Thankfully none of them had any damage.

Loonlake, any word from your sister? Hope they are ok.

Here in Western NC the rain was intense all night. DH had to go out and rescue the Adirondack chairs we keep down at the creek at 2am so they wouldn't wash away. Wind has been strong enough to soak everything on all the porches but no branches or trees down. Still raining hard in bands. Looks like SC is in bigger trouble this time.

We've had some good downpours and gusty winds. The school districts are closed, but otherwise most businesses seem open as usual. I can work from home (class is online today and fall break starts tomorrow) but I will stay home and use the treadmill vs. try to head out to the Y.

Maddielee, finally heard from them at 8 PM last night. They are Ok, had 9 ft storm surge that went under their house, but cars got a foot of water. Singles gone, facia boards gone. Windows saved by hurricane shutters. No electric, water, or sewer yet. Ground has to dry before using septic or it will back up (they had to put semi deflated rubber balls in toilet and sinks to keep sewage out during flooding.

Currently no cell or text service, but they have a DSL line working that they hooked to wi-fi fix to use when generator is running. Two hours on, two off.

Wow, loonlake, that is crazy.

Well, I had an interesting couple of hours. In the midst of the storm this morning the next door neighbors hired some goobers (on the cheap I am sure) to remove their diseased tree in the front yard that was a matter of time before it came down. Well, you can guess what came next. They took out a power line and transformer, so I spent about 2 hours without power. I am amazed that the power is back on already. The line guys are unsung heroes.