Tampa was bracing for a major hit but Irma wobbled to the east and it wasn't as bad as they feared. Power outages all over the state. I'm sure he'll let us know his status. We had gusts to 95 mph and sustained winds of 75. Wish I could give my builder a pat on the back.
Got a text from Ralph: His house was in the northeast section of the storm, and the farm got the eye. He said there's lots of damage, but they are all OK. Power will probably be out for a long while - poles are down all over the place. Dave?? You still with us?
Jeremy's family is fine in Orlando. Trees down all over the place. Next door neighbor had a tree fall through his living room. Jeremy had his big old oak tree taken down the day before the storm arrived. Smart move...it was old and ended up being hollow! He lost a lot of fencing. My friend in Naples rode it out and was right where the highest winds hit (Immokalee and I-75). Finally reached him and he is fine. Mass destruction in his community. I was in Traverse City golfing with another 2 friends who have houses in Estero and close to Marco Island where it first hit. They are still waiting for more info. Word is that my condo building in FM Beach suffered a lot of water intrusion and we will have much drying out and carpet replacement to do. Most units had water when checked...some lots, some not so much. Not sure how much my unit had but probably significant. Don't know much else. Waiting to hear. Glad y'all are ok. Have we heard from Dave yet?
Thanks for the update on Ralph Scott and Thanks Stu for the update on Jeremy. Things can be replaced... people cannot.
Yeah, the last of Irma is blowing through here as I type this. Looks like everything here is a-ok. Georgia and South Carolina appear to have gotten it much worse. The storm stayed on a straight north path and didn't veer to the west as much as was projected. I hope you guys down in FL are able to get everything back to normal asap.
I still have a rag top on my covertible in Hobe Sound and my condo seems to be OK. Power has been out since Sunday at 3:00P.
Came through ok here where I was weathering the storm in Clearwater and my condo in Dunedin in an evac zone B fared well also except I have a yard full of oak limbs and broken bamboo trees in the back. We were really... really lucky the thing went north when it did. As of 7:30 Sunday morning they were saying we in the Tampa area were looking at getting the doomsday hurricane many have predicted for Tampa Bay.... and we might have if it had gone just 4o more miles west before turning north. Good for us it turned north before that.... bad for Naples. They say it was a Cat 2 when it came through.... with gust up to 100 mph. Relatively tame to what it was or could have been. I hope you have a quick recovery down there Raplh.
I texted with Ralph a bit today. Sounds like his homestead came through very well. He's got no power, but does have a generator to keep the fridge and some fans running. The farm was not so fortunate. Badly damaged and what trees were not torn up are drowning if he can't pump the water off them. If anyone can get it sorted out, Ralph will. If not... I'm sure he'll figure a way to make lemonade. :wink:
Just got power, only took 5 days, hot miserable days. Both my citrus grove and town got hit hard. The farm had the eye go over it with winds between 121-135 mph, rainfall was 21 inches. Over a 1,000 plus trees blown over, severe flood damage that will kill thousands more. We lost over 40 barns, power poles and still have no power. Worst thing is over 2-3 million of our crop is on the ground, next years revenue. My Peaches are history, they can only stand 12-18 hours of standing water and it's been 5 days. My sons specialty farm in West Palm was totaled as well. My house survived great , lost trees, an oasis in bedlam as 72 power poles plus thousands of trees blew down. Most roofs are destroyed and in need of repair. The military arrived yesterday and dispersed water and food, no ice and its 92-94 everyday with humidity that makes you sweat thinking about it...It was a rough one... Last pic is of an organic packing shed next to the farm, the largest East of the Mississippi actually or was...
Damn, I am sorry about the loss and the damage Ralph. However, I am glad that you and your family survived the storm with your home intact.
Gentleman I appreciate your kind words. Not much you can say or do, it's no one's fault, it's the weather...As always in situations like this hero's emerge and a few low-lifes take advantage of the situation. Overall people help each other anyway they can. I'm not going to lie, this will probably put the company I manage out of business, breaks my heart. But you keep walking forward and pick up the pieces one piece at a time and see what happens. Only a percentage of farms are insured in citrus. In our case we are not eligible because crop insurance is tied to the Federal government. We are an American company est. in 1978 but owned by italians, since the enactment of the Patriot act you must have a social security number to be eligible for anything tied into the Fed. Govt. We don't..
Ralph, Glad to read that your family and you got through Irma safely but sorry to read about the devestation caused to your company by the hurricane. Florida citrus is an iconic part of American culture so I hope that when Congress crafts its relief legislation, they provide the necessary relief to get the growers back on their feet.