Thursday, October 10, 2024

It's Happening Now


All the drama is happening across the ocean this morning as Milton crawls across Florida. I've just been reading up on the news and it looks like Tampa has escaped the worst of it, but of course the storm is still happening so who knows. Areas to the south seem to have been harder hit, and then there are all those tornadoes toward the east coast of the state.

My friend Cherie is visiting London with her husband, and they came over last night for dinner. Their home is in South Tampa, and their daughters are staying with a nanny in Brandon, which is inland from Tampa. We watched storm news as they collected information from home, all in advance of the storm making landfall. In addition to newscasts we found a webcam channel where we could watch a series of live webcams from up and down the west coast of Florida, so we could see what was happening in real time.

I'm sure it's strange and stressful for them to be here now, rather than there, but at the same time we enjoyed dinner and it was great to catch up. Dave made shepherd's pie, a broccoli and cheese soup and a tarte tatin for dessert. Cherie texted me from her hotel at 3 a.m. saying her daughters are without power but safe.

We're waiting to hear what has become of Dave's parents' mobile home, which is on the water in Cortez, near Bradenton. My family in Lutz, north of Tampa, planned to ride out the storm in their houses. I had misgivings about that because...


...of my stepmother's house. This photo was taken not long after my dad built it in the mid-'70s, and as you can see, that entire wall is glass. I texted my stepsister and said my stepmother and nephew shouldn't stay there, and she said she agreed but they were determined. (She lives next door.) Hopefully they've sequestered themselves in an interior room. It's proved to be a very durable house during past storms so hopefully the same will be true this time around.

Meanwhile, yesterday was pretty quiet. I cleaned our flat in preparation for our visitors and took a walk through the neighborhoods north of us just to get some exercise. That's where I found the leaves in the top photo, and also this broken mirror:


I wasn't going to use that photo because it seems reminiscent of hurricane damage, but what the heck. I can emphatically say a hurricane did not damage that mirror.


Here's a mystery. This sign has appeared at the base of our street. (Hopefully this one won't be abandoned so that I have to haul it away myself.) We have no idea why the street's going to be closed or what's going on. Stay tuned!

44 comments:

  1. I hope that your families and friends ( and their properties) will all survive the storm.

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  2. It certainly isn't great in Florida as the disaster unfolds. DeSantis almost makes me as sick as #45 does.
    I love the mirror photo.
    There were some houses built here like your step mother's house. I think they look great, and your step mother's house looks very strong, with solid frames around the not so huge windows.

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    1. DeSantis is awful. I'm sure my dad's builder designed that window wall with hurricanes in mind.

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  3. Perhaps an unexploded World War II bomb has been found on your street.

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    1. You'd think they wouldn't wait until the 14th to remove it!

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  4. I see this morning, most of the cameras in your link are off line. I hope that doesn't bode a lot of damage. I watched live reports as the eyewall made it onto land but finally had to turn it off. Watching it was like watching people talk about the election, it was just stressing me out! I hope all your family is safe this morning.

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    1. It probably just means the power is out and the cameras and internet are down.

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  5. Just hearing the news that although Tampa avoided the surge Sarasota had it...hope your family are ok

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    1. Aside from the tornadoes the damage seems fairly average for a hurricane. Helene was worse, I think.

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  6. We still have a great many friends in Florida and so far they've fared fairly well.

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    1. Your friends are probably in South Florida, which seems like it's been largely spared.

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  7. I've just read that millions are without power in Florida. I sure hope your relatives are unscathed.

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  8. I follow on YouTube all the live broadcasts that can be found about the hurricane in Florida. I have family there, it's strange that the hurricane scares me more than the missiles and rockets that have been flying overhead here for so long.

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    1. That IS strange! It's hard to look away from the media reports, which carry that sense of suspense.

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  9. I think that sign was dumped! I'm trying to reach Florida friends and heard cheering news about Tampa from other contacts. Power is largely out, but they didn't get the dreaded surge.

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    1. Yeah, I think the surge was largely south of Tampa. Please god, not another dumped sign!

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  10. It always takes my brain a minute to translate the British date system - I was like there's no 14th month! Then again, it's morning here & I haven't had enough caffeine yet.

    That hurricane, right on the heels of the other one, is just so scary and so much for people to process (much less live through).

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    1. I know -- I still write dates American style and it causes no end of confusion here.

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  11. I think it will be a mess there for awhile. I hope there haven't been many casualties. It sounds so scary.

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    1. It seems (from what I've heard) that the damage is actually less than Helene.

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  12. Good to hear that so far no serous damage in Florida. I wouldn't want to stay in a house with so much glass during a storm like that. That mirror makes an interesting photo.

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    1. I wouldn't either! I'd get the heck out of there!

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  13. It's always odd, parts of Florida this morning are beautiful and peaceful, Sarasota, not so much. Hope power is restored quickly.

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    1. That's the thing about hurricanes -- they pass and suddenly the sky is sunny and dry again. All the moisture gets sucked into the storm.

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  14. Hope that your friends and family are well and didn't incur too much damage.

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  15. There were 38 tornadoes🌪️ that did more damage then the hurricane 🌀 seems to have done. One hit in Ft. Pierce where a cousin of mine lives ... it took out a police station! She posted a bunch of pictures on Facebook!
    10 fatalities as of this morning! There will probably be more!
    Lots of water ...

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    1. Yeah, I saw that story about Ft. Pierce. Looks like half of Milton's casualties occurred there, which is strange given it's so far from the storm's center.

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  16. I hope your family (and that house!) came through the storm unscathed. My Tampa friend was fine at her son's and he didn't lose power. Her home did, so she'll stay with him until it's restored. It's time for hurricane season to be over!!

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    1. Everything is fine, according to my stepsister, though they have no power.

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  17. I love that broken mirror photo. I hope everyone rides through Martin. I’d be afraid in that glass house, too. It must be so stressful for your friends to not be with their kids. What an awful season, and probably more to come.

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    1. I think they wouldn't have gone through with their trip if they'd had any idea how bad Milton was going to be and that it would hit Tampa directly.

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  18. I hope your family and friends in FL are ok. The hurricanes and tornadoes cause great damage for some and little to nothing for others. The unknowns are terrible. Everybody will be happy when hurricane season is over.
    Your dinner with friends sounds very enjoyable. Dave is a great cook.

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    1. There's a huge amount of suspense involved in the waiting and preparation, and then the storm itself passes pretty quickly.

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  19. The broken mirror shot of selfie is very creative

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    1. Thank you! I am always intrigued by reflective surfaces.

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  20. I hope your family in Florida is okay. I like the photo with the broken mirror. You are very creative with your camera.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I imagined the people in the house going, "What's he doing with that mirror?!"

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  21. I hope your family is doing ok! I actually really like the broken mirror shot. It's really interesting --

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  22. The wall of glass in the house would worry me too. It needs some type of storm shutter covering in hurricane season. Hopefully it survives Milton.
    The broken mirror reminds me of the kaleidoscopes we played with as children.

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    1. Yeah, it does need a hurricane shutter. Might be hard to install one on an angled roof like that.

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