Oh yeah... I'd be one of those who didn't leave if I couldn't take my pets!

I'm so sorry re: your ducks. Animals get very conditioned to a safe place and head for it in a crisis ... like they're on auto pilot. :(

Yes and in my mind i am thinking they would have known to go anywhere to be safe. i could not have taken them, but it didn't make me feel any better.

i am really worried for my family New Orleans for Irma. i am also thankful i got the hell out of there.

Totally understandable... re: the ducks and your family.

I've not peeped the news re: Irma ... it's headed to NO?! :blink:

Too early to tell, but it seems to be following a Katrina-like path across south Florida (and then Katrina of course spun into the Gulf).

This one is a monster. Katrina hit land as a Cat3 from a Cat 5 and it was not as powerful as this one.

I will be finished packing up my apartment by Saturday. I will be working from Saturday night until Tuesday at the latest. I pray for the people in South Florida where Irma is expected to be a Cat 5 hurricane when it makes landfall. U-haul is offering free storage to the residents of Florida.

Zimmeh

No way to know yet, but it doesn't look like it's gonna hit the gulf side. Either east coast or up the middle of the state. So I am not evacuating. The highway that goes through my town has been super congested going north. I gave up on getting a haircut today. Not worth fighting the traffic. I waited 20 mins Wednesday for gas.

Fingers crossed. I dread a possible power outage in this heat.

((((((((( everyone ))))))))))))) in IRMA'S path ~ God Bless

Reminds me, , here's a link to a Shelterbox vid on Irma:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kVy45OTyEU

Stay safe, folks - may deity watch over you.

Esme xx

The path predictions keep going back and forth between the direct hit being up the middle or the WEST coast...please consider going to a shelter tomorrow morning just in case they are right about it going west. (f)

Hi all and to those affected by Irma my thoughts are with you.....So far light just flickered once

Tool

Dee, as far inland As You Are just a few miles east of you was riddled with Hurricane Hugo. Now that they are forecasting it to go west of us our biggest threat being on the east side of the storm is tree damage from the winds and the fact that we have already had a lot of rain this year. People here go just as crazy now over hurricanes as they do 3 flakes of snow in the winter. If you have driven to our mountains and our Coast you can almost Define the line between the Piedmont and the foothills and the Piedmont and the Sandhills. I grew up in South Carolina and when I got grown I swore when I bought a house it would not be on sand and there would not be a pine tree on the place. LOL that said those pine trees snap like a twig in these storms thus the reason you can't find any water and places are running out of gas. No power means no gas and no water unless your own city or county and they don't cut it off. I'm just thankful it moved and is not going straight over the top of us

Hey Blade,

i don't know exactly where you are but i know as glad as i am for us (Greenville county) i don't like being on the east coast of any storm. My house in New Orleans flooded once when a storm hit Galveston.

The wind is wicked here today, and its a strange reminder of whats coming for us or whomever.

i know that during the crazy wind that a storm brings are the tornadoes that come out of now where, snap a ton of trees and go back up.

Where i live we have some huge trees on two sides, and i am not going to like it.

i am going to gas up my car today, not sure why but its what you do, and i have provisions just in case. i don't expect to need any of it, but one jog to the east and we are in trouble.

I made a joke about mother nature being mad so getting bathed and wind dried in my odd sense humor lol

Dee I was thinking the same thing about the trees. Ima park my truck out in the front forty where there are no trees. My house is however surrounded by huge oak trees, they make me nervous but I love them the other 90% of the time. Beautiful here today, just a tiny breeze. Ima finish mowing this evening. Im on a hill so I dont worry about flooding but these trees do make me cringe

I am fine. Just got internet back. I never lost power. Nothing's open and I need to get to the doc or urgent care about this ear/sinus infection. But that and some tree limbs down are the worst of it. I own a mobile home south of here, and I haven't gone to check on it. The tenants evacuated, so I guess I'll hear when they get back.

Glad to hear you are safe, except the ear/sinus infection!

I heard from MysticOceansFL. They're still without power but she's doing okay and asked me to tell you she says hello.

Thank you !

I spent 27 hours from Sunday afternoon to Monday evening at work. I ended up working nearly 75 hours last week and now we have to keep an eye on Hurricane Maria! Keep the Caribbean in your thoughts. Dominican Republic from my understand was hit and now they are predicting this hurricane to hit Puerto Rico and continue to follow Irma's path. ����

Zimmeh

Here is a link that includes map and locations of the recent fire activity in Southern California.

http://www.fire.ca.gov/general/firemaps

Severe Weather Check-in
 

Bump!

Check-in for our frozen friends in the northeast.

Stay safe friends.

Be safe if you MUST go out during this mess. If your gov declared a State of Emergency, that generally means stay home and if you're an employer, don't punish your staff for staying home!

"Charlotte Mecklenburg Police responded to 169 wrecks between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday, and state troopers took 700 service calls, including more than 500 crashes before noon."

That's sad. I hope they'll be ok.
Most people are afraid they'll lose their jobs when their employers make them report to work or make them feel like they are easy to replace...many employers don't close or care about their employees' safety during a State of Emergency. I've worked for places like Blue Cross or a warehouse that told us if we didn't show up for our shift, we wouldn't have a job tomorrow. These companies are famous for not closing during bad storms.

YEARS ago, I got fired from Merillat Cabinet factory the day after I totaled my car in a blizzard at 10pm on the way to drop my son off at his baby sitter so I could report to night shift. I NEEDED that job and they had a Zero tolerance policy for call offs.

True. But when there's a State of Emergency all companies should pay "admin time" like when I worked for one company that did pay us for any time they sent us home or closed.

My supervisor texted me and told me not to come to work today. Another text later said wait until noon tomorrow to come back to work. It will be written off to administrative leave.

We had over three inches of snow last night, it never went above the 20s today so the roads are still icy.

It is sad when employers do not care about the people who work for them. I have friends in Florida who were made to ride out Hurricane Irma because they had to stay and box up the important employees' paperwork and other stuff. It was too late after that for them to get out. Hearing about this made me so angry. Needs to be a Federal law that covers and protects EVERYONE in regards to life-threatening situations.