Hey KeyWestGuy, do you have to evacuate? This storm sounds like the worst yet, and it is taking aim at Florida as well. And Orlando seems to be the focal point. Man, what did you guys do to deserve all this attention? Pat Robertson would blame gay days at Disney World.

Seriously this is a scary storm, I feel so sorry for Jamaca and the other Carribean islands and hope to hell that it does not hit Florida.

The officials ordered a mandatory evacuation at 9:00am today for all visitors and non-residents; 6:00pm today for residents of mobile homes; and phased evacuations of residents starting tomorrow morning at 7:00am. Boarding up and shuttering (not sure what good that will do if a direct hit of a Category 5 happens) today and preparing to leave late Friday or Saturday morning if nothing changes.

The problem is the evacuation order states to avoid coastal areas and areas north of Fort Lauderdale due to the lingering problems from Frances. I think that leaves about 1.5 square feet deep in the middle of the Everglades.

As for what we did down here, I like to think it's God's retribution for Katherine Harris. Apparently, the Supreme Court wasn't the final authority on the 2000 election. Let's see what Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell think of that.

Good luck to all in the path of this storm, and hopefully I'll be back here irritating GatorJamie sometime next week.

Go Canes! (kind of ironic that this is my tagline, huh?) Beat F$U!

How about Go (away) Canes!

Good luck, KeyWestGuy, and be safe, we need your cute self back on the board asap. You know we want Key West to be spared, where else can older gay guys like me go and still think we look good in our speedos and boxcuts?

Yeah, just like he said!

Good luck KWG!

I'll be the judge of that. Send me a revealing pic, and I'll give my opinion. wink

Ivan destroyed Grenada. At least 12 deaths and the storm damaged 90% of households!

[Invalid link deleted - Outsports moderator]

I hope you can see this....it is the picture of the next storm here in Mickey Mouse Land!

[ September 11, 2004, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

I'm exhausted just chasing one of the hurricanes, so I can only imagine what Florida residents are going through. The weary look on their faces when I left the other day was just sad. I won't be able to chase this one, so I'll try to give our friends in Key West the latest news here.

As of this morning, one of the more reliable computer models (GFDL, for those keeping score) tracks over Jamaica, Havana, just west of Key West, and up toward Tampa Bay. Another reliable one, the UKMET, is a little farther to the east, hitting Key West nearly directly and then moving northward, right up the Florida Peninsula. For now, the hurricane appears to be weakening (though still a strong cat. 4). Unknown whether this weakening trend will continue.

Time to start preparations...good luck to those of you in Key West!

I think I will for sure have to board up some windows for this one. One side of my house is on a pond and I can just see debris flying across and knocking out some windows. I didnt lose power as alot of people did during Frances, be nice to have that same luck this time. I am being proactive at work and coming in to do payroll on Sunday(normally would be Tuesday) just in case.

Then come Tuesday might have to grab a bottle and hunker down!

Reporting from Key West . . . the island is fairly empty today. Mandatory evacuations for everbody today at 7am. Lots of people still boarding up and making preparations. Gas is scarce and you can't find a loaf of bread anywhere. (However, strangely Fedex delivered my payroll from the payroll service in Miami today.)

I'll update until the power goes or the phone lines.

Why are you still there???? :confused:

Lots of soul-searching went into it. I live in a category 5 building on the 4th floor so I don't expect flooding. I'm responsible for several businesses with 80+ employees who will be needing my help in the aftermath. I don't fear for my personal safety, but I do fear for what will be left of my island. The cleanup afterwards will be massive (I have a little experience with that after Georges in '98), and I need to be here for that. If one of the bridges goes, it could be weeks before those that leave can get back.

I don't expect anyone to understand the decision; but trust me, it's not one I take lightly.

Now before all that happens . . .GO CANES! Beat F$U!!!

Positive vibes from me to you KWG!

Good luck down there with the storm KeyWest Guy, I feel for you, seems like this is going to be the real deal for all of us on the Gulf Coast.

I'm going to turn into a snowbird a few decades early! I'm ready to NOT have to deal with the heat and humidity, much less the hurricanes, of a typical Florida summer!

Upstate NY here I come!

Ummm - Philly?

Ditto good luck to KWG!

wooo-hoo!!!!! six in a row! what a f@%*kin'
game! now on to Hurricane Ivan! thanks for the support, GatorJamie.

Go Canes!

[ September 10, 2004, 11:56 PM: Message edited by: KeyWest Guy ]

Ivan just regained catagory 5 intensity, and his central pressure and estimated surface winds are both slightly stronger than Hurricane Andrew was at landfall. Looks like a very dangerous night in the Cayman Islands.

Almost all of the computer forecast models now indicate the hurricane will only give a glancing blow to Key West and brush the peninsula's west coast before heading up to the panhandle for a Wednesday/Thursday landfall. This is certainly not the final forecast, but I would be getting a lot more worried if I lived in Pensacola, Panama City, Tallahassee, or Apalachicola.

165 MPH winds. Holy shit!

As JASooner said, the forecast track now goes west of Key West, hopefully sparing us the largest part of the storm. It's finally some good news, but still too early to feel comfortable.

Thought you guys might like to see this creative preparation for Hurricane Ivan. No plywood at the Home Depot; no problem.

only in Key West!

That is very funny KWG! Definitely bonus points for creativity.

Hope all you Floridian Outsporters (and hell, even non-Outsporters ) stay safe. I just can't imagine how some of you folks are bearing this!

It's been nine days now, and lots of people down here are still feeling the effects of Frances. I got power back yesterday, after eight days of 90+ temps. Darned good thing, because I was starting to hit the end of my patience. But the neighborhood didn't sustain too much damage, and everybody's survived, so that's what matters.

Right now, though, I think the attitude a LOT of people are taking is "This isn't normal, people are gonna be cranky, and we simply can't hold it against them." And then we had Ivan barreling at us. I feel TERRIBLE for the people it's gonna hit, but if it had hit here, with as many people who still don't have power, many of them elderly, it would have been a disaster that I wouldn't have even wanted to imagine.

KWG, is your appletini invite a standing one when natural disasters are looming?

Arrgh. My hometown, where my mom and stepdad live. They have refused to leave for any hurricane. :mad: frown

We got the first feeder band this morning. It's been raining pretty much all day with periods of high winds (up to 45 mph according to local radio reports). This will continue through tomorrow.

We are VERY fortunate on this one. I like to think it's all the clean living I do.

Seriously, my thoughts go out to those in the panhandle and the rest of the Gulf Coast, especially GJ's family in Panama City. Hopefully, Ivan will weaken greatly before making landfall.

Well, my office is about to empty out with all of them heading to Gulf Shores to Panama City to board up their weekend houses. It's been a long time since we've had to do this.

I've only lived through one hurricane, Eloise in 1978 and it's not something that I would want to do again. GJ, surely your mom and stepdad remember that one and want to get out.

And even when there isn't one looming. wink

Hmm....sounds like I've gotta take a few days off of work and head down to the Keys for appletinis!!! wink

That's just it, Aubie. We've lived through several, including Eloise, which didn't hit us too bad. Mom JUST DOESN'T GET IT that Category 5 means widespread roof failure, and Cat. 4 is near that. I don't care that she's lived in Florida more than 50 years - she's never seen anything like this.

JASooner - will you talk to a stubborn lady in Panama City for me???

Heh...I've tried that before. Just ask if they would make sure to leave a last will and testament with you...sometimes that gets people's attention.

The computer model guidance is all concentrating on a MS-AL landfall now...perhaps as far west as the mouth of the Mississippi/New Orleans metro or as far east as Pensacola. If it were to come in one the west side of Mobile Bay, a significant storm surge would be driven up the bay. Final intensity is still a big question at landfall. It will probably go through a strengthening phase overnight, then weaken some again during the day tomorrow. Good luck to any of our friends down there.

It's a little insensitive.....but gave me a chuckle...


"I ain't going nowhere cause I ain't scared," Charles "Smitty" Smith, 60, said as he sipped a morning beer at the Double Play bar in the French Quarter. "I don't care where you are. If you're in the eye of a hurricane, it doesn't matter. I believe in the Lord. ... If the Lord wants to take me, take me."

It was VERY interesting watching Rob Marciano and Anderson Cooper holding each other up last night on CNN while they reported from the roof of a hotel in Mobile, Alabama. They make such a cute couple...especially when they are wet.

Mom made it through ok. Now my sis is getting it in Montgomery, AL.

Good to hear you have half good news. I hope your sister is okay.

GJ, glad to hear your mom is ok...I was very concerned when I saw the picture of that huge tornado that channel 7 had up on the screen.

My Mom and Dad have made it through ok (Dothan, AL about 70 miles NE of Panama City) except that they lost power this morning when the weather turned ugly.

We decided that Birmingham was going to get it worse than our country house (75 miles NE of Bham) so we decided to hang out here (plus, we figured TVA wouldn't be as busy as Alabama Power and we'd have power back faster). Unfortunately, the way it is now spinning, we are in the worse location. It's currently blowing about 30 miles sustained and gusting. I'm in the sunroom watching the 75-100 foot pecan trees sway back and forth loosing little limbs here and there. I'm fully expecting to loose several of the large limbs since the trees were planted in 1929 when the house was built. As strange as it sounds, it is really kind of awesome to sit inside and watch this hurricane blow through. We have 20 bags of ice, 5 cases of beer and a fully stocked bar. I'd say we're ready.

Y'all pray that no more lives are lost than have already been lost in Blountstown and Panama City.

[ September 16, 2004, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: Aubie in Bham ]

This photo of the collapsed I-10 in Pensacola is the scariest pic I've seen so far.

GJ, good news about your mom. Aubie, hold on; it'll be over soon. Good vibes heading out to all dealing with this monster.

My mom and grandparents live in Pensacola. I finally heard thorugh my aunt that they are okay, but that my grandparents house and my mom's trailer have both been heavily damaged. Stuff can be replaced, but I'm just glad that my relatives made it through.

I've been looking at photos online at pensacolanewsjournal.com. It looks like a war zone.

When is this Hurricane gonna be over? Stay safe.

All my family is on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, and they stayed to ride it out. I haven't heard from anyone there yet (I'm in South Africa, and watched the eye approach and move over them on doppler radar on the net, plus live reports on CNN). I'm confident they're safe, but would like to hear from them about damage. So far I've read a lot on the net about Mobile and Florida, but not much mention of Baldwin County. I'm sure they'll be without power for days and days to come, but I'm looking forward to someone getting word to me here!

I posted the following this morning on my blog from South Africa:
This is only fitting, from my family. I knew they didnt have electricity after Ivan hit and wont for awhile, so I didnt expect emails. We tried to call from here on Friday, but didnt get through (phone rang for about 3 minutes, then a busy signal). I have been reading reports online, and knew Baldwin County was a mess. I was confident all of my family is safe, but was very interested to get a damage report of some kind from them. And for that matter, I had not heard from ANYONE in the state of Alabama yet. So imagine my surprise when an email popped up in my inbox from my brother. It was 32 hours after the eye of a Category 3 or 4 hurricane had passed over my entire family, leaving death and destruction in its wake. And here is what the email said:

<<GAME ON! Auburn University will play Saturdays Game vs. LSU. The Auburn-LSU game is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 pm CDT. A release will follow shortly with details.>>

My family obviously has its priorities in order!

War Eagle! Beat LSU!

[ September 18, 2004, 04:26 AM: Message edited by: ATL Jock ]