Hey. Moved your post into a new thread instead of the Redrumloa thread.
Lisa and I live in Palmetto, FL, which is about 40 miles south of Clearwater (on the other side of the Skyway bridge and Tampa Bay)... She, my daughter, her infant son, and live-in, addle-brained father-in-law (don't get me started) all bugged out late Monday night to Tallahassee Florida (the panhandle). Having buttoned down the house, I stayed behind with the pets because juggling all of that between us was just too bleeping much to think about.
The real fun started Wednesday night about 5:45 or so. High winds, loads and loads of rain, I'm totally guessing that it was probably a lower Cat 2 by the time it reached us from the Cape Coral/Fort Myers area. Aside from a shitload of rain, the mass of the storm all but missed the Clearwater area having shifted east, but it was kinda spooky to say the least. Creaks and groans, and the occasional slap against the metal storm shutters...
Aside from power blips, we never lost power here. We did lose Internet and cell phones almost IMMEDIATELY but that was about the extent of it. I even have a fridge full of both bags of ice for the coolers, and a case of frozen water bottles that I had planned to spread throughout the fridge if necessary to try and keep it as cold as possible for as long as possible...
Like you, we have friends south of us in the Cape Coral are who were a direct hit for the storm. Got a terse "we're alive and safe" message from them last night, but nothing further. Don't know what they've lost, but you're right, the damage being shown is devastating...
Prayers go out to them...
weather.com
