My son lives near Scarlett in Jax. He reported last night that they got electric back after 30 hours. They were unable to eat ice cream in the freezer fast enough to keep ahead of the melting. Whose kid is that!?

This is a second-hand report from a friend who checked out my house in Melbourne Beach for me.

The house is just across the street from the beach, separated by A1A, where a lot of TV reporters stood during the storm.

My friend tells me that most houses -- inlcuding mine -- were hit with only minor damage: a missing roof shingle or shutter here and there. Although there is some slightly more serious damage to beachfront properties and mobile homes near the beach.

Apparently, Melb. Bch. got hit with lesser winds and a lot less rain than areas south of there, like Vero and Ft. Pierce.

All in all, good news for the Melbourne area. By the way, the local myth there is that it NEVER gets hit by a major hurricane because it's so close to the Space Center. The residents may want to re-think that.

Reporting in from Orlando, We got hit alot less than from Charley
Saw some trees down on the way to work this morning, but most of the debris from Charley is still in piles.
It was a loooong four days. I thought it would never be over and now the city is telling those who boarded up to leave it up in case Ivan decides to come this way.
Just what Florida needs is another hurricane!!!

I posted from Tampa a little too soon. We were hit with quite a lot of "weather" after Frances passed through. We were w/o power for 25 hrs. as were 204,000 Tampa Electric customers (about 2/3s?). Flooding was all inland and there was a weird thing where the hurricane, which hit us from inland, pulled water out of the bays and barrier islands as it came up, then pushed it into the bays and onto the islands as it left. This was totally unpredicted by all the forecasters, though it was the logical thing to happen. We of course don't get many storms that hit us from the backside so it wasn't as predictable.

Many are still w/o power. I feel so lucky to be back in my home and have some AC. Also, my fish are very glad there's bubbles in the tank.

From central, west coast of Florida. Indian Rocks Beach/Indian Shores in between Clearwater and St. Pete Beaches:
For anyone interested, here's our story and some more photo's.
Like so many other people, we lost power on Sunday around 3:00 pm. We own a condo right on the beach in Indian Shores, and found out that the condo never lost power or cable. Around 11:00 pm, the house had gotten pretty warm and the winds had died down. We were going to go over to the mainland to my parents house b/c they had power still. Found out the Belleair beach bridge was closed, so we decided to head to the condo for the night to sleep in the air conditioning.
We now are eligible for the idiot award for that move!
It was pretty calm when we arrived, but within an hour, things started to pick up. Looking at the radar on tv, we thought we were going to get some wind and rain, but should be fine. Slept about an hour total that night as conditions got worse with the constant wind and strong gusts. It was so dark that it was difficult to see what was happening with the Gulf, but every now and then, we got a glimpse of it and could still see that there wasn't any storm surge yet. Watched the news and saw the radar showing more and more yellow and orange with red in it, and wanted to be anywhere else but where we were. Kept hoping the thing would move on, but...well, you know the story. Felt the building swaying around 5:00 am.
Finally, around 7:30 in the morning, once we could see, we jumped in the car and drove back home. I know we didn't have near the wind the east coast did, but what we had coming right off the Gulf was scary enough! It felt a lot stronger than what they were saying the winds were.
Here's some pictures. Some are blurry b/c the wind was pretty strong as I was trying to take them:
Bay looking southeast:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-1979_IMG.jpg

Roof shingles off and trampoline blown into back of house across the bay from us:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-1981_IMG.jpg

A good friend of ours serving the public during the storm, fireman Jake:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-1990_IMG.jpg


Tree down the street from us:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-1986_IMG.jpg

Another tree:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-1988_IMG.jpg

Early Sunday morning picture of the Gulf:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-1998_IMG.jpg

An hour later right before we left. Our hobie still upright:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-1994_IMG.jpg

Another picture of the GOM:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...9-2000_IMG.jpg

Gulf Boulevard as we head home, area called 'the narrows':
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...0-2001_IMG.jpg

Street flooding as we enter our neighborhood:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...0-2002_IMG.jpg

Damage to high and dry on mainland across from the beach:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...0-2005_IMG.jpg

The hobie goes down, taken yesterday afternoon as things were finally calming down (it was tied to a cinder block that was buried in the sand):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...0-2007_IMG.jpg

We had power once we returned home Monday morning, only to lose it about an hour again. It was off all day yesterday, and last night, while leaving our neighborhood to drive back down to the condo, we saw a porch light come on!! Back home we went!

One good thing that happened is my brother found an injuried adult Osprey. We were able to gather it up and we took it down to the Seabird Sanctuary in Redington. He looked as though he was in shock. All wet and wide eyed with what looked to be an injury to his wing and a leg.

Wow, hibiscushouse, this was a Labor Day you won't soon forget!!!

Janeg

Did Tallahassee get hit at all?

From St Petersburg - finally just got power on after 48 hours without. That was the worst hours I've spent - so I can't imagine how awful it is for people who will do without for even longer. I didn't even go to work today, called in & said I was too annoyed & grumpy to even bother. Guess I'll spend the rest of the day cleaning up outside, luckily all 4 ancient oaks held but they released so many branches & twigs you can't even tell the yard from the driveway. My parents in Shore Acres had water up to within a foot of the front door, luckily it went no further.

From Sunset Beach/Treasure Island -- our tenant says the water never came into our home on Sunset Beach, but that the water came up to the porch, and (thank you, lord) stopped. And they were never without power. Caddies stayed open and there were lots of happy folks (and most likely some unhappy ones who DID get flooded) there for many hours. FYI, our property is about halfway btwn the gulf and the bay -- the bayside at this part of Sunset Beach is lower and usually floods while the gulfside is higher.

About Tallahassee, this is the only track map I could find that had details about where it's gone:
http://www.storm2k.org/

Hibiscushouse, that is so sad about the osprey...I hope he is ok. I kept on telling my DH that the winds were worse than they reported! Still is gloomy and spritzy here...I can't imagine it that it is still from Frances!!! Our neighbors across the street had major water leaks and buckets all over...a lot of their drywall is ruined....the roofers can't get there till next week!!! Tully, I know the grumpy cranky feeling all too well. Tandoori girl, glad you were not flooded.

So sorry for those with a lot of damage. My Mother & stepfather still have no electricity in Boca. They evidently got no sleep last night because of the heat. They're looking for a hotel that has room and electricity. Any suggestions on how to find one besides calling every one in the phone book?

Power back on at Mother's. Hope everyone else is faring better too.

update on the Osprey.
He was not injured. He was underweight and was too wet to fly.
She said that they have a very high metabolism and if they are unable to eat properly for a couple of days, they lose weight quickly.
They are giving him vitamins and hand feeding him and will release him as soon as he is ready.

Yay for the Osprey!

Tallahassee very lightly struck. Landfall 20 miles from here on the coast. Expected lots more. Messy yards and a few trees on houses & cars. We got today (Tues)off.
Ivan ((W))

Sometimes those smileys don't work right.

janeg, if you preview your reply, you will see the icon as it will appear in the final post.

My sister in Satellite Beach lost her back porch and some of her roof. Furniture and carpets are ruined. My Mom continues to be hospitalized in Melbourne. She has been reachable by telephone and says that the food is getting worse and worse. My poor 92 year-old Dad is in Palm Bay with a caregiver, no telephone, no electric and I hear from my sister that he is eating very little. It is all vey worrisome.

Our friends Lu and Georgio in Stuart came back to their doublewide to find both good and bad news. Bad news..there was a roof in their driveway.....Good news..it wasn't theirs. No major problems, just some lost trim etc.
Boat on trailer was ok. Tip for others with boat on land. Fill it with water before storm...very unlikely wind will be able to touch it.