Popping in while we still have power to wish all of the Florida Fractallists here at Rendo - Viv, Damien, Michael(Mivan), Joe P., Linda A, Wojteg, Brenda(nilla) and everyone else - good luck and minimal damage as "Mean Jeanne" makes her way onshore. Starting to get some pretty stiff wind now. Palm Bay is right there in the bad "northeast quadrant" of the storm, so I reckon this'll be tougher than Frances - hopefully not! Boards are up(they never came down after Frances - lol), my fav trees are staked off and Joie and I are fixing to ride this one out. So many 'canes this year, we got low on "hotel money", so we're battening the hatches and praying everyone makes out ok. I'll see you guys either when we get electricity back or they let us go back to work. Be safe and Godspeed to all! c-ya! Rick

Yes, good luck to all the Floridians this weekend. I tried to send you and email, but it got bounced back twice. I feel for ya, can't believe y'all are going to get hit with your fourth hurricane this season!! Good luck and Godspeed to all. A bathtub is a scarey place to ride out a hurricane! Be safe, let us know as soon as you are able, how you fared, and all the very best to you and Joie and all the Floridians fractalists from Mike and me! :)Maria

I'll be praying for your safety and the safety of all in the path of this hurricane. Marion

Thanks for the good wishes Rykk. We came through the last one OK except for loss of power for about 5 days and the loss of a maple tree. It's pretty quiet in Orlando right now. The lull before the storm I guess. We expect sustained winds here inland of probably 70mph with gusts considerably higher. Our house is almost 50 years old and has weathered many other storms and we are well stocked with supplies. Biggest problem in central Florida is flooding from rain. The area has been dry for almost 30 years and a lot of flood prone property has been built in due to lax building restrictions. Those new residents are now hurting and the additional rain from this storm will no doubt put the St.Johns river well over the banks, causing additional destruction. Good luck to all. Mike

Wow - still have power and internet! I agree with your words about stuff being built in the wrong places these days, Mike. The wind is getting absolutely fierce now. I'm in Palm Bay about 6-8 miles inland from the Atlantic and about 4 miles inland from the Indian River. Nopthing's come down as far as I can tell but its got 4 hours worth of increase to go. The house sort of rumbles, occasionally, so I haven't been able to nap much - listening for anything coming loose that I might have to go out and tie down somehow. Stood in the south-facing entry-way at the front door smoking and watching 60ft pines whip-sawing back and forth. Hard to believe they haven't snapped yet. Gonna get pretty wild b4 the night is over.... Good luck, y'all! Rick

Ten pm here in Orlando and still not blowing too hard; some rain has fallen. Honestly got to say that I am glad not to be in Palm Bay with Rick. Too close to the action for me. Still experimenting with chaoscope to the bitter end. Will have some interesting images to post if nothing fails. Might not have power after tonight. We'll see what the morning brings. Gonna be a windy one for sure. So what else does a native do during hurricanes, but go to sleep. G'night all. Mike

We're thinking of you - all of you in Jeanne's path, and hoping that you come through safe and sound. Thanks to those of you that still have power and that can update us on your situation! Bless you. Panny

I hope everyone comes out okay. Man, I can't believe how hard Florida has been hit this season. Praying for your safety. Nick

Good luck with you all!! My thoughts accompany you!! Karine. (Excuse my English, it is not very good)

It's now almost 5am in Orlando. The howl of the wind woke me at 4 o'clock. Main body of the storm has not reached us yet but is very close to our southern boundries. The power is flickering and I expect I may be offline soon. Going to be a bad day for sure. Limbs of the liveoak in the front yard are flailing like a giant grotesque creature in death throws. Don't know too much about those south of us though over 100,000 are already without power and the company that services that area has already issued a statement saying they may be without electricity for as much as 3 weeks. Not much else to do except as we say down here, "hunker down and ride it out." Maybe Rick and I can start a hurricane blog after this is over.............. Mike Orlando

Rick & Joie, Keith's family, Linda A & Mike, Mike, Damien & all in the path of Jeanne: You're in my thoughts and prayers. Please let us know as soon as possible that you and your families are safe. God bless you. Linda

Hi Linda and All Fortunately the storm veered south and west of Orlando instead of staying on the forecast track. There was however more structural damage from wind this time because of the lengthy storm. And then there is the water; my oh my do we have water! Lake Monroe which is just north of Orlando is over the seawall and I expect the gators will be not far behind. Hope Rick and others farther south came out OK. Though I understand some areas on the southeast coastal areas may be without power for up to 3 weeks. Our outage this time was slightly over 30hrs. Mike

Good luck to all the Floridians also from germany. I really don't know how it is to live with hurricanes. But I think it must be very dreadful.
I wish much strength and perseverance to all concerning for the time thereafter. And courage, if everything must again be developed.

(Hope my english is not to bad)

Best wishes, Trixi.

Joie and I rode out Jeanne at our house and made it thru ok. Again, not a scratch on the house - thank God! - but our yard is a shambles. Three big oaks uprooted and 3 more 60ft pines snapped in two. My windbrake is starting to develop holes! lol We got power back at our house in ONE DAY!!! Unbelievable! But...on Tuesday, it went off again but came back on that night. We were off for a week with Frances. The lake came within 6-10in of flooding the house, but its gone down about a foot, now. The Melbourne/Palm Bay/Satellite Beach/Indialantic area I live in got hammered pretty bad. 75% of traffic lights blew down and a quarter of the telephone poles went down, too. I saw a half mile stretch this morning where they were all on the ground. My boss got the river into his house and there are big chunks of plywood from my neighbor's roof all over my property. Lots of damage over there. SERIOUSLY strong storm - Cat3 is the biggest ever to hit here and it made Frances seem like just a blustery day. Glad to hear you did ok in O-town, Mike - I sure hope Viv - she lives on the east coast - is ok and no one else had too much trouble with the storm. I'm back to chainsawing and haulin' wood...again! Sigh...poor trees...coulda been worse, though! c-ya! Rick

We survived too! I was amazed at how high the river rose! Once again we had minimal damage to the house, rearrangement of the beach and my poor neighbor seems to have lost about everything. I scooted a bit inland to ride it out and I'm glad I did. It's a mess...but life goes on. Glad to see you made it ok, Rick. I hope the others did too. Viv

Thank you all for letting us know that you are okay!!! You had plenty of us concerned, and I know that it's still tough going, but to know that you survived more or less intact is grrrrreat news!

Glad you're ok, Viv! Yeah, I drove down Valkaria road Sunday at dusk to US1 to see why my "stream" (its NOT a ditch!!! lol) wasn't flowing out of the lake and the road was covered with dirt! I'd called the Emergency Stormwater folks up in Viera and they said it was because the Indian River was over its banks and all the drainage was backed up. Sure enough, looked like the river came totally across all 4 lanes and Grant/Micco got hammered. Looks like the "stream" only flows when its low tide at Sebastian Inlet but the lake's gone down some, now, and I don't think we'll flood. I didn't go that far, but I wonder what happened to the 2 new houses built next to the boat ramps at Jorgensen's Landing? I imagine they must have taken in a bunch of water. Bummer - Ozzie's Crab House got hit really bad, too! I've seen pix of beach-side and it looks pretty grim in places. I'm glad your house made it ok! I'm not gonna take down but a few boards till Thanksgiving - too much work putting them back up every 3 weeks! lol Rick

So glad you all made it through the weather!
I'm sure the clean-up has to be tough, too.

Nick

Message edited on: 10/01/2004 02:02

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