A storm surge of 6-12' is no joke. I hope people in low-lying areas along the west coast have plans to move inland if they're able to.


We'll get some wind and rain here, and may have power outages, so I'm freezing water in gallon-size ziploc bags to help keep the freezer cold if the power goes out.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/h...

Edited: Here is the updated (5pm) peak surge forecast:

pepper23 said: Hope Lin is evacuating since I'm seeing that Sarasota is in the bull's eye now.

I'm not in the Sarasota area; I'm on the east coast, near Vero Beach. We are in the cone of the storms path but we are only expected to have tropical force winds of 40-60 mph with higher gusts and 5-7 inches of rain ... nothing as intense as what folks on the west coast will experience! We spent all day preparing; moving container plants and securing everything as much as possible. My husband closed the hurricane shutters on the 2nd story of the house today and we will do all the lower window shutters tomorrow. We have a full house back up generator in case of power failure and we stocked up on groceries and water so we should be okay. My prayers are with everyone on the west coast of the state. Ian is a very dangerous storm.

Please be safe everyone. (((((Hugs)))))

Lin sounds like your all buttoned up prepared and doing all your can to stay safe. You have been thru these storms in the past. Your located in a area that may have some degree of damage but thankfully not a direct it. Very scary just the same.

I have family there they also have battened down all the hatches and been going 90mph
Preparing. They of course are tired, exhausted and worried. They don't seem as upset as I am. Their experience with many hurricanes over the years is , "Well we'll ride this one out as we have with many in the past." Thankfully they are not located in a evacuation area. After 20 years I never get used to it.

Stay safe and sending blessings to all… 🙏🏽

I messed up with the S. Threw me off. Glad you are on the other side!

Bea, I've been in Florida 55 years and with each passing year I wish that I lived somewhere else during the summer hurricane season! Even Category 1 storms are a bit scary and can do major damage but not nearly as frightening or as damaging as Category 3 and higher storms.

We have a lot of huge oak trees on our property and we only evacuated once (in 2016) when a Category 2 Hurricane was predicted to hit here. We spent hours and hours and hours in bumper to bumper traffic, spent one night in a motel and then had to evacuate from there because the storm had changed course and was heading that way. My husband says he will never evacuate again. We got new hurricane shutters installed last year so we'll just batten down and hope for the best.

Thank you for your prayers and I hope that your Florida family stays safe too. 🙏 💗

Lin… Thank you for ur concerns. My son and grandsons are all helping amazing how strong teens and young men are . It's all I can do to keep from tearing up. I know what many have lost in the past and the many challenges that many survivors have had to endure in he past and what's to come.

The trees are a huge concern too loosing precious old growth oak trees , plan collections are all at risk. I remember when The Viscaya Garens were hit by a catastrophic hurricane. Many trees and other treasures collected from around the world were lost. This monster hurricane makes the fact the recently the public service company tore up and scalped 8 trees that will eventually die.. that I treasured …
very minor. It's all relative putting things in perspective. Lives are at stake..
Everyone says things can be replaced but lives cannot. Stay safe … 🐝

My heart and prayers go out to those in Ian's path. Be safe!
But I also must admit I'm so relieved it's not headed my way...sat right here at my dinning room table when Michael hit 4 years ago.
Scary and still seeing the scars everywhere

Be safe all!

We are in Sarasota, but on high ground, thankfully. No danger of storm surge, and maybe very minor flooding, but we have good drainage and pumps. We had a brand-new roof put on two weeks ago, have impact windows and garage door, and food, water and a generator if the power is out for too long.

All my plants are tucked away, I hope they'll be safe. We have huge oaks too, but I don't think they are in any danger of falling or breaking, so we feel pretty well prepared now. I'm so tired from schlepping plants all day today in the rain, but it was at least nice and (relatively) cool. I just wish I could sleep through the storm and wake up when the sun comes out again. Unfortunately we'll get to watch the whole thing happen tomorrow. Wind isn't hardly blowing right now, supposed to start to pick up towards midnight.

And the track on the latest weather forecast I saw has the storm turning inland down near Punta Gorda or Englewood. This bodes well for less damage from storm surge out on the barrier islands anyway.

An interesting tidbit - Manatee County issued mandatory evacuations for Zones A and B and they actually backed it up by shutting off the water supply to those areas so people will HAVE to leave. It always baffles me how people think they can stay when told to leave, then think they can call 911 and expect to be rescued. There were folks on the TV news tonight saying they were going to "ride it out". Might be riding it out to sea tomorrow I'm thinking.

Elaine.. You did what was necessary to stay safe and moving all those plants for safe keeping of those too. It is exhausting stressful and the worry alone wondering what's next…..running around 90mph all day is a lot to accomplish for one day. I would rather not have this storm hit anyone… in anyway…. …..

Stay safe everyone 🙏 praying for us all and our plant babies to be safe! my friend sent me this one as we try to stay safe. It has given me comfort 🙏

A Prayer for everyone in the path of this hurricane named Ian🙏🙏

God of the Universe, at the dawn of creation, your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellspring of all holiness. You created the oceans and rivers, and all that dwell within them, and at your word the wind and the waves were born.

The seasons follow your plan, and the tides rise and fall on your command. In both calm and storm, you are with us.

On the Sea of Galilee, even when the disciples began to fear, Jesus showed that he was Lord over the waters by rebuking the storms, so that all would know that even the wind and the waves obey him.

Creator God, we ask you to calm the wind and the waves of the approaching hurricane, and spare those in its path from harm. Help those who are in its way to reach safety. Open our hearts in generosity to all who need help in the coming days.

In all things and in all times, help us to remember that even when life seems dark and stormy, you are in the boat with us, guiding us to safety.

Gigi a beautiful and profound prayer during so much turbulence, many have been coping with daily the past couple of days thru more than most do in a years time.

Well, me and the dogs are holed up tonight. I didn't get all my plants to safety, so I'm hoping luck is kind to me tonight. I'll move anything I can in the morning after I check on the creatures outside.

hlutzow said: Well, me and the dogs are holed up tonight. I didn't get all my plants to safety, so I'm hoping luck is kind to me tonight. I'll move anything I can in the morning after I check on the creatures outside.

Stay safe, same here. Praying that the wind is not too strong and my plants are safe!

Hugo back in '89 did it for me, you can never relax once you have personally seen the damage, it is almost otherworldly. We were so fortunate when Matthew hit in '16, we were still in SC and our neighborhood had major damage, trees cutting homes in half, boats from our marina found miles away on the airport tarmac, etc. Our home had no damage and the property only had small branches and brush down. You can't take good fortune like that for granted. We'll be OK this time, Ian has taken a turn and should pass south of us but the memories are always fresh and we stay vigilant.

Prayers and for each of you (and everyone) in harms' way. It certainly doesn't sound good.

Earlier this morning our county had 3 imminent tornado warnings, so we hunkered down in a downstairs bathroom with the dogs. I'm thankful that we haven't had anything severe. According to the latest reports, our county received 7 inches of rain overnight and during a lull in the rain about a half hour ago we took the dogs for a quick walk/potty break. I had my phone in my pocket so I took a couple of pictures of the standing water in front of our house. It's truly heartbreaking to think about what those on the west coast of the state are currently experiencing and what the central section will be experiencing in the next 2 days. 💔

Prayers going up for everyone affected by Hurricane Ian. 🙏

Well, out here in Sarasota, I can tell you it's gusty - maybe gusting to 40 or so - and has been raining hard all night. Thankfully, our ground isn't too saturated from previous rains because most of it missed us the last few weeks.

A bit relieved to see the storm has, indeed, turned towards Charlotte Harbor now, and will pass to the east of us. But it's so big we're still expecting a lot more wind. Power and internet still on although the lights have flickered a few times. We just had a hot breakfast, but maybe the last hot meal for a couple of days. Once the wind dies down we can cook outside on the barbecue.

Just hoping our trees stay standing. They're really the only worry now. Power loss, wind and rain we can handle.

My procrastination in putting things up looks to have paid off, we might get rain but nothing else and all the things I would have moved in, sure need the rain. Altho trying their best, the weather girl is not going to get me in a dither over possibly a 25mph gust. I do wish the best for those in the path and especially those evacuating as thats its own hell...especially the getting back.

Just started drizzling here, I expect we will get a lot more, they say 10"- 12" but we are in a good place and no flooding is expected. So many areas around here are low, elevations of between 1' and 3' are not unusual, those places will be inundated once the surge causes the rivers to rise.

Lin, I am hoping your water recedes as the tide goes out. When the tides are unusually high the storm water cannot drain properly.