Legalily said: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

Thanks on both counts Ginny.
As to my organizational ability..... It's called experience = lessons learned. Good because I learned them, sucks because I had to learn them.
With each experience, you refine the plan.

Legalily said:And watch out for carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.

And whatever you do, don't bring a grill indoors & use it or you'll have the same problem. YIKES!

As Hurricane Harvey dropped anchor over Southeast Texas last week, Zello became the go-to app for rescuers working to save thousands of people trapped by floodwaters.

Within days of Harvey’s arrival, the app saw a 20-fold increase in usage in Houston, according to Bill Moore, the Austin based startup’s the chief executive.

As Hurricane Irma hurtles across the Caribbean toward the coast of Florida, Zello continues to boom in popularity. The free Internet “walkie-talkie” app — which relies on cellphone data plans or WiFi and is designed to operate in places where signals are weak — became the top app on iTunes and Google Play Wednesday.

Hello fellow garden lovers. Here in Port St Lucie preparing for the worst and praying Irma jogs east and further awa. As it is we remain in the eye of the storms track.

Have loads of orchids mounted on my trees, on my way to buy some shade cloth or even weed block cloth to wrap them snuggly in place and protect them.

Pray for us all in Florida!

Gilda

Praying for everyone in Irma's path!
Hoping and praying her strength diminishes significantly when she hits land......

Thanks Rj. I am going to check that app out!

Gilgomez said:Hello fellow garden lovers. Here in Port St Lucie preparing for the worst and praying Irma jogs east and further awa. As it is we remain in the eye of the storms track.

Have loads of orchids mounted on my trees, on my way to buy some shade cloth or even weed block cloth to wrap them snuggly in place and protect them.

Pray for us all in Florida!

Gilda

I know exactly where Port St. Lucie is Gilda. I'm sending every good wish that I have to you.

Gilda our prayers are with you - stay safe!

I think it will be good to download that phone app but also better to have as Plan B, old school walkie talkie on hand. Those phone apps will work if there are still cell towers left standing once the onslaught of those ferocious winds and rains comes about.

As already seen in various footages coming out now of the Caribbean islands, their area is sadly demolished.

Just saw a product called goTenna Mesh, this would work much better, assuming cell phone networks are totally down. I guess product is now on such high demand, seeing it it is on back order, but it is the more logical thing to use on a worst case scenario of communication structure going down, and you just need to touch base with family, friends, or anyone out there: https://www.gotenna.com/pages/...

Hard phone lines typically stay in service.

But don't they often need electricity also? Seems when our power goes out, so does the phone, maybe the cradle doesn't function or something.

Time to have multiple portable rechargeable mobile phone batteries. Landlines are only as good if those lines stay properly connected. If neighborhoods are older ones they may be above ground attached to a post easily cut off by strong winds, and very, very few nowadays have landlines.

I have a cell phone charger that works in the car. Doesn't take long at all.

I have a landline and love it. No cell for me. I also have a hard-wired old phone (see below) which unfortunately does not work with cable, so is currently out of service. I plan to return to the phone company primarily to get this phone working again. I love it. Funny story, I was talked to an obviously young man at the phone company and he simply could not understand a hard-wired phone, he kept insisting that my phone was plugged into a jack. It is not.

Land lines of the old fashioned kind don't go out in power outrages. During Super Storm Sandy all the time my power was out my phone worked just fine. I had copied down numbers before the storm hit so I had the number to call in to local News Twelve Long Island so you got the audio and at least I knew what was going on.

Yes, power outages do not affect the landlines, what I am talking about is the actual post and line still staying connected if they are installed above ground being totally demolished by excessively strong winds. Have to remember sustained wind gust of hundred of miles per hour is very intense, posts are just falling apart like matchsticks whether made of wood, cement or metal. Have seen over and over again anywhere where typhoons are in such level of ferocity, very angry Mother Nature unleashing unbelievable destruction.

In newer neighborhoods, infrastructure has been made subterranean, but older neighborhoods remain on the old exposed connection.

flaflwrgrl said:I have a cell phone charger that works in the car. Doesn't take long at all.

That is good, as long as you can safely go to your car at the height of the storm or there is no flash flooding happening around. So do a Plan B, have a portable mobile phone charger with you within easy reach.

I can also charge my phone with the generator. I can get to my car anytime so that's not a problem & neither is flooding here.....fortunately!

As to land lines, when we went through hurricane Frances, so many lines were down that pretty much no one had working land line phones. Cell coverage was a "be patient" thing. Some cell towers were out of commission & thus, calls were being re-routed to other towers. You could use cell phones but sometimes calls were dropped or you got the equivalent of the old fashioned "the lines are overloaded so you can't get through" --- don't know what you call that in today speak. As far as getting repairs, getting hold of people to do repairs or give estimates..... voicemails were full
all.
the.
time.
You had to try & try & try & try & try again.

Where I live now, I am sure land lines will be out of order. We don't have underground infrastructure here yet. My power to the house is underground from the power pole but from it runs from pole to pole beyond that. This is big tree territory too so we fully expect limbs to come down on the lines.

That is good to know Ann! At least there is back-up plan.

In our house we do not have a landline, but I use Magic Jack but it only works as good as your internet connection is. Incidentally servers of this company is in Florida. Can't beat the price of a year of its service which is equal to a typical monthly landline bill.

If internet connection stays on, it really helps to have access to social media, to me it is very essential, you can easily send messages and see what else is happening within your location, if you cannot physically go out anymore. I think that is what is different now when calamities arrive, there is faster transmission of news and updates, thru the help of social media. When there is a calamity in my homeland, I often resort to various platforms, like twitter, facebook, viber, youtube. Calling on landlines are just useless when calamities are extensive. In the age of selfie, people upload and shares a lot and it helps you understand what is happening. Of course there are news broadcasts, but sometimes the news feed is a bit slow or concentrates only on other areas not near where you live.

Ann and all of you Florida folks stay safe. This morning your folks in charge were talking on CNN or FOX about getting fuel and then to some stations with police escorts and apps to show which stations would have gas. Sorry did not catch the apps names but you should be able to find them online.