Clyde

So Nicole packed a little more punch than I anticipated here in EC FL. We had 2-3 hours of intense winds overnight and flooding rains. Definitely more punch than other late season storms (like Josephine in ‘95 or Gabrielle in ‘01) that were similar strength. .

The transformer to my house, and only my house, blew about an hour ago. I might possibly have been the first power outage in Seminole County due to Nicole…[emoji2371] .

Looks like South Daytona is going to have some real problems overnight. They have evacuated multiple high rise condos that they have deemed at risk of ‘complete structural failure’. .

I can’t believe I am back posting in a hurricane topic in November, but here we are. Already getting some heavy squalls here east of Orlando with the easterly flow, although not specifically part of Nicole. Just had the tree service complete clean up last week on my most concerning “leaner” post Ian but expect I will lose a couple more this time around. To Normandy’s point, the WSW track is always one to watch in FL, but hoping the time of year and dry air keeps a lid on this one. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

* significant (sorry, limited to my phone) .

Was thinking about this today. Ike is probably the last hurricane that had such a significant storm surge that took pretty much a worst case scenario path. As bad as Ida, Michael, Laura, and Irma were, they all actually missed more populated areas (imagine Michael into PCB, Irma slightly west up the Gulf coast, or Laura into more populated areas of LA). I do recall with Ike there being rumors of a sign isn’t death toll early on that settled to a lower number. Hopefully that’s the case here as well but I am concerned due to the shift east in the course, age of the population, and what appears to be a large populace that ignored evacuation warnings. On top of that, I don’t recall storm chasers noting fatalities in any of the hurricanes discussed above. I haven’t sent that myself, is it widespread here? Without power still I’m pretty limited in what I can look up. Anecdotally though, that is concerning. .

Quick update from Seminole County, FL. Still without power, a few homes in my neighborhood closest to the creek that runs through our neighborhood have flooded. Seen some things around town I’ve never seen in my 52 years in Central Florida. Seen 3 cars washed into debris along the Econ river (believe all were rescued), many roads that have never flooded are closed, one washed out. And I know if 4 friends now that lost everything to flooding and we’re rescued by National Guard trucks in the UCF area. I also understand that New Smyrna Beach is much worse. The main story, understandably, is SWFL, but the damage in central FL is historic. .

Just when I thought I was making it through unscathed this happened, then another tree smashed our power pole, leaving us with no power or water. Already lost septic due the standing water so for my first hurricane ever (been through 9), appears we’ll have to relocate. Of course, the water at the entrance to our neighborhood is standing over the road and the power lines snapped and landed in it so not sure that’s the right move either… And still I am one of the very lucky ones compared to what I’m finding out from friends even here in the Orlando area. .

Annnnddd there went my power [emoji23] .

East of Orlando here, yard flooded, water 6 inches to a foot deep everywhere, septic backed up. I don’t live in a flood zone so can’t imagine what it looks like in those places. We got 11 inches of rain with Irma and had no standing water so this is quite something. Oh, no wind damage to note and didn’t lose power which is a minor miracle since I typically do for pretty much anything stronger than a deer fart. .

A bit east of Orlando here. We’ve had rain nearly non-stop since around 10 last night, very heavy in the last two hours. Wind gusts are infrequent but we’ve had enough to bring a few branches down. .

I keep thinking back to Charley and the wind damage in a narrow swath. This is catastrophic damage in city after city after city. I just saw an LSR about airboat rescues going on all the way down in Everglades City. This is Florida’s generational storm. .

Really tough to compare this to Charley IMO. Charley was a rapidly intensifying micro cane with a very small diameter of greatest winds. I went through the ‘core’ in East Orlando and saw pretty significant damage from a storm that had been over land for 12+ hours, but my family on the other side of I-4 (about 20 miles away) only saw 25-30mph winds. I think Ian is going to be larger with more impact over a broader area, although maybe not as intense as Charley. .

Wild tornado video for Ft. Myers, FL this morning. Not something you see in Florida very often - I can’t recall a FL tornado video which such obvious debris and motion before. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’ve always thought this as well. Like the St. Louis airport E-4 a few years back, there’s no comparison between a tornado that does E-4 damage at a single location vs one that does so over dozens of miles. That’s why I’ve usually considered Hackleberg one of the most impressive tornadoes since I followed this stuff. Devastating damage over incredible distance. Regardless of what rating the W. Kentucky tornado gets, it’s the sheer scale of the damage over so many miles that puts this one in a unique group. .