Hurricane Irma - Lined up on the Turks!

[Bruce]

My understanding is that when Irma turns north she will push the current storm surge on her NE side. Assuming she goes up the middle of Florida the biggest storm surges will hit Bimini and Grand Bahama.

 

[Peelz]

@Peelz I have been through quite a few hurricanes in my lifetime, growing up in the Cayman Islands. Last Cat 5 I was in was Ivan back in 2004 and that was on a 23 mile long island with 220+ mph gusting winds right before I moved to the US for school.

The T&C and smaller Bahamian islands are going to get beat up pretty good. The fact that they, like my country, stupidly removed integral mangroves are what results in most of the damage from seas. The rain doesn't bother the islands as much because it runs off into the sea pretty quickly unless they have hills which can cause mud slides as what happens in Haiti every year.

For those that live on the east coast of Florida storm surge is their biggest worry along with the wind and rain. I'm in Orlando, a little over 50 miles from the coast. It will get windy here but not like Daytona Beach will experience. Wife and I are both island born so we are planning to ride it out as we have many times before and pray that it keeps moving eastward for the sake of everyone on the coast.

one of the convos I had with a local shopowner, said the exact same thing about the mangroves

 

[OCMD]

So pleased one of my kids planned ahead, made sure her Civic Hybrid was gassed and ready to go, departed Embry-Riddle in Daytona last night after volleyball practice (go figure) and then drove 15 hours straight home up the coast. In that tiny Civic Hybrid with four big boys squished into that tiny car, all coming home to the DMV. Wondering when she will get back...

 

[haknslash]

Ivan was a Cat 5 but not quite as large and powerful as Irma. Highest sustained winds with Ivan was 165 mph according to Wikipedia. Our condo at Perdido Key was directly hit and destroyed by Ivan. Looked like a war zone bomb had dropped!

Latest track shows it now curling westward after it moving up through the middle of Florida. If the current tracks holds we will get some storms and light winds here instead of the Carolinas as projected earlier in the week.

Praying for those in Florida!!

 

[txav8r]

I was in hurricane Gilbert in '88 on Little Caymen, in the Caymen Iskands. Most of the island was less than 10' above sea level, and high ground were the gravel piles used for maintenance. 27 Americans and 10 Caymanians were left behind to ride it out. Gilbert was a Cat 5 wth 185 mph at its peak. We lost the only wind equipment we had information from at 140mph. The islands in their path were shaped and formed by these weather systems and the islands themselves evolve with time because of it. Man changes the landscape as he builds and that changes how the islands can ebb and flow with passing of storms. But that is part of life and the evolution of the planet.

My hope is that anyone in the oath of this storm heeds the warnings and leaves. If you have a choice, leave. the impact and storm itself is only the beginning. The aftermath in many cases can be much worse. No gas, no medical care, no food, no water, no electricity, and the added burden of those that stayed, taking resources and energy away from those trying to help recover.

Our thoughts and prayers to everyone. Be smart, be safe.

 

[Mystic1906]

@haknslash Ivan was plenty powerful enough. Especially for an island only 23 miles by 8 miles. Our wind meters at Owen Roberts International airport broke at the 225mph mark from the gusts. We had concrete electricity poles that were supposed to withstand really high winds and they were all broken and laying on the ground.

They are saying that it will hit us here in Florida now as a Cat 4. Miami is going to get beat up pretty bad. Hopefully it loses more intensity before it gets to them.

 

[Mystic1906]

@txav8r I was on Grand Cayman in Gilbert. That storm was weird the way it hit us. I was out surfing off South Sound by my house right before it hit. Then I slept through a lot of it but I was younger then. Couldn't quite understand why people were freaking until the damage came. The Brac and Little Cayman got more of the storm surge than we did.

 

[GTBRMC]

I've been driving a couple hours, but right before I left the Weather Channel people were saying they had no contact from Turks despite repeatedly trying. Hoping it's just power / communications issues. Anyone know how it went for them?

 

[Eric Ballard]

Only 38 feet......

View attachment 63729

WOW!!!!!

 

[Nick Hughes]

We've got a family condo in a highrise in Hallendale Beach, FL. 6th floor on the beach. Following the HOA emails they've been sending out is crazy. They have shutdown the building, no power, water, AC, locked up the whole building of 220 units and will not return until the winds drop below 35mph.