If it's raining men then you might want to pick from these 148 or so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Seriously, if you can get on the Florida site then it's worth it for information but then you Floridians already know this. It may take a while to load: http://www.floridadisaster.org...

Gayle

I saw this footage in twitter as Irma hits the Caribbeans...one very angry hurricane indeed...again for all those in its path, all I can say, stay safe, find the safest area you can find!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...

Irma is indeed a very, very serious storm with no signs of easing up! I came in a few minutes ago and heard that it still has sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts were measured at 225 mph!!!

My husband finally got all the window panels in place and his extension ladder and step ladder are back stowed in the garage. Unfortunately, he says our window panels are not rated for this major storm but at least we tried. We sunk all the patio furniture into the pool and have moved everything that was sitting around outside, into the garage.

My youngest sister lives 590 miles to the north in Greenville, SC and she wants us to evacuate and come stay with her but I think it's a bit late to consider that distance with the two dogs because with all the traffic, it'd probably take 24 hours to get there!! It's been reported that many gas stations are out of fuel already due to every one filling their vehicles and gas cans. My husband says he can't imagine getting on the highway and not finding gas available and being stuck. We do have a few cans that we filled with gas for the generator but I doubt that would be enough to get us all the way to Greenville.

For now it's just hunkering down and waiting but no one is welcoming Irma with open arms.

Lin So scary and I agree with your husband not wanting to be stuck on a freeway.

quietyard said: I agree with your husband not wanting to be stuck on a freeway.

Yeah ... I can't imagine being stuck in the vehicle in the middle of a major storm. The long trip would be very interesting too, with our two Golden Retrievers! Our Bo, who is 4 1/2 years old is a very laid back dog and has always been a great traveler but Toby who is 14 month old, is another story entirely ... he is a wild child, very nervous with any change and whimpers when we just take him for a ride around the neighborhood or a mile away to walk in the park. He does not seem to like traveling far in a vehicle so it would be a challenge for a 10 to 12 hour (or possibly longer) drive to try to get out of the state.

https://arstechnica.com/scienc...

@Lin,
Do you put your dogs in crates to travel? I used to load my dog crate (large) into my Camry and seat belt it in. It had a holder for water and I'd leave the door open so my dog could go onto the seat and lie down of stay inside her crate. If it was heavy traffic, I used to leave her inside the crate with door closed and a blanket to cover it which soothed her (especially going over the Bay Bridge with the toll booth collector ).

Although I wouldn't want to get stuck on the road with nowhere to go with animals in the car.

Best to hunker down.

Gayle

Gayle, my husband has a Toyota Tundra which is a large truck but we only have one crate ... two wouldn't fit in the back seat and even the one we have is too large to fit at the same time both dogs are in the vehicle. We keep their leashes on them when we go anywhere and their leashes attach to another lead that is attached to the seat belt thingie. Probably not the safest but better than nothing.

no gas in gainesville, frustrating. no toilet paper, bananss, bread

to all of you in Irma's possible path. I thought it was pretty scary this morning to see that the NHC was calling this storm "potentially catastrophic."

Hoping that all of you will be safe, whether you stay or go...

@gardenglory
Pam, we got gas today & we were the only ones there. Directly across from Harvey's on Hwy. 90. We also got bananas at Harvey's although the banana display wasn't as full as usual BUT they had a truck from the warehouse that had arrived & they just had not had time to unload it yet. They had plenty of toilet paper. I don't have a clue about bread since I can't eat it. There was zero water but probably some on the truck & I would bet that's already gone.

Hurricanes can be divided into quadrants. Why does this matter? Because each quadrant has different characteristics and it helps to know those characteristics. It makes a difference which quadrant you are going to get. The NE quadrant is always the strongest. The NW is less. So, if Irma just grazes the eastern coastline of FL, the worst part, the NE quadrant will be in the ocean & the FL coastline will get the NW quadrant, which is better than getting the NE quadrant.
Thus, if Irma were to graze the west coast of FL then the west coast would be getting the nasty NE quadrant & the NW quadrant would be in the Gulf of Mexico.
If Irma were to go straight up the middle or spine of the state, then the eastern half of the state would get the brunt of Irma.
Here, read about it:
http://wistv.typepad.com/first...

Think the gas buddy app will tell you if a station is out of gas.

Good point Rj - I use it while traveling all the time.

"we got gas today & we were the only ones there. Directly across from Harvey's on Hwy. 90."

Harvey's ?? How ironic!

going out in a little while and hope people have gone home.

Weedwhacker said:"we got gas today & we were the only ones there. Directly across from Harvey's on Hwy. 90."

Harvey's ?? How ironic!

It is!

For those who may be impacted by power loss due to hurricane Irma....
If you haven't already done so, now is the time to turn your fridge & freezer settings to maximum cold. It takes 48 hours for them to reach the selected setting. Likewise, after the power is restored, leave them on the coldest setting for 48 hours. I find it helpful to put a post it note on the door of my fridge to remind me to turn the settings back to normal 48 hours after power restoration.

Watching the news and praying for all of you Ann your organization is amazing and glad you're sharing information for others in the area

And watch out for carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.