In the last couple of hours, I’ve heard them talk about a direct category 4 strike on Melbourne or Port Canaveral on Friday morning. It sounds like the states further north could miss a direct hit, or perhaps have category 1 winds only. I’m sure this will change in the next day.
Most flights from south Florida seem to be cancelled tomorrow, except for a few in the morning. My husband is still scheduled to go out in the morning, so it sounds like if you are able to get out early, that could be the only chance to fly out.
Mine is leaving FIT. They are really encouraging everyone to leave (FIT has a lot of foreign students, so it is difficult).
They may return to campus about Saturday, but I fear there will be no electricity. They’ve moved patients at the hospital (Cape Canaveral) and closed the cruise ship port.
I’d recommend her not going if she can cancel her tickets and move them to another time.
DH talked to his sister who lives in Port St Lucie. They’re staying put and haven’t been advised to evacuate. This the the first hurricane they’ve experienced since they moved to FL.
Florida hadn’t had a hurricane in 11 years until the one that hit Tallahassee a month ago. Now this one. When my nephew moved to the Tampa area about 12 years ago, they had 4 in a row. He’d start school, it would be cancelled for 4 days. Start another school (there were some issues getting him in the right one), cancelled again.
My daughter is now in Orlando. She said it was a beautiful day, blue skies, no rain.
@twoinanddone and @jym626 Thanks. That’s helpful. Her FIT friend, who is not from Florida, has arranged to stay with a friend somewhere further inland. Her flight isn’t till Saturday so it’s not a rush to decide, but the chances of this trip working out are dropping fast. I have no experience with this kind of thing as far as her flights go. She has nonrefundable inexpensive tickets with two different airlines and unless flights are actually cancelled she may not get all her money back, which will compound the disappointment. Better that than getting caught in this mess. Hope everyone stays safe.
Given the weather emergency, I’d strongly suspect the airlines will let her cancel and reschedule. My friends did that for their flight from Jax and are leaving tomorrow instead of Friday.
Oh I’ve looked at the FIT website and those of the airlines. Rescheduling won’t really help as school schedules make that tough. If they have mercy on her or the change window expands she may get all the funds credited for future travel without additional fees. I haven’t talked to her since this morning but she’s sensible and I’m sure she’ll make a good decision even if it’s disappointing. I sure don’t need any more convincing. This is a scary storm.
Atlanta Area is fine. We are not being told to do anything. We may feel some residual rain/wind from Matthew, but we are not worried at all. Lots of folks in NC/SC are evacuating TO Atlanta, so hotels may be booked up.
The Atlanta Airport might get crazy with lots of cancelled flights coming from hurricane areas. So you might encounter frantic travelers and long lines.
I’ve just been watching the weather channel. The Space Coast (Melbourne to Daytona), and First Coast (Flagler up through Jax and the Georgia line) are expected to take a direct hit from a Cat 4 hurricane. Things don’t look good.
FIT is flat flat, flat… The water will have no where to go/drain. It is only about 2 miles west of the Inner Coastal (Indian River), so there could be flooded streets everywhere. If they lose electricity, they will all just sit and wait until it is restored. Melbourne is not a major city and there will be no priority to get them power. The school is actually on break until Wednesday (the Tuesday resumption of operations is just for the admin offices). My daughter is worried about the important facilities - the weight room, the athletic fields, the cafeteria. There are some classrooms on the ground floors of buildings, but I really don’t think there will be too much damage to the school itself. Even a lot of the labs are on the second/third floors of buildings.
My daughter is in a hotel in Orlando - which is now also expected to take a hit (Disney is clearing out the campgrounds, Sea World is closed for Friday). They (her boyfriend and his brother) have plans to swing south and double back to a friend’s family’s home in Jupiter if the storm passes by that area tomorrow. My daughter is actually quite worried and wants to be with an adult who can help her decide what to do. They have gas, a case of water, and their electronics. Her house (rented) is not secured or boarded up so she has no idea what she’ll be going home to.
11 pm news in Tampa Wednesday. We may get some wind on the west coast of Florida but being west of the hurricane means a lot less rain than being east of it like the one that hit Tallahassee. Central Florida- think Orlando- will get high winds/rain, only into eastern Hillsborough county (Tampa’s county, most of the population here is west of the county’s center/I-75). Of course, as the meteorologist stated, hurricanes can change course rapidly. But for us, thank goodness it went up the Atlantic instead of up the Gulf this time. Jacksonville has never had a hurricane- they will get one.
Atlanta too far from things to worry about it. Tampa area has nothing to worry about except maybe moving outdoor furniture if 30-40 mph winds hit. Not a big rain event this side of the state this time. Four years here and I have learned so much about tropical systems! My snow/blizzard prediction knowledge doesn’t help me here.
The ship has sailed, and she’s got what she hasin a hotel room. The property she lives in is either owned by a real estate company or they manage it. One of the other parents has handled everything (her daughter lived there last year too). I’m surprised they didn’t come over to put boards up or at least contact the renters to tell them what to do.
I have a storage locker in Jacksonville with all my belongings in it. I’m sure it will flood as it is right near the river and the creek. Pretty resigned to losing everything at this point.
@conmama, he just texted me pictures of Dorothy, Toto and the Wicked Witch, so I think the gist of it is that he’s getting out really soon, (yay), but it’s very windy. They still have him scheduled to go back to Ft Lauderdale tonight, but there’s no way it will be even close to legal to land, so I doubt he’ll be going back until tomorrow.
The Jax beaches suffered significant damage from hurricane Dora back in the early '60s. I hope Matthew won’t be anything like Dora.
We have family and friends along the First Coast who are concerned about the potential for storm surge flooding. As of last night, not everyone had heeded the Jacksonville mayor’s evacuation order which wasn’t specifically designated as mandatory. Very few people there remember Dora and even those who do have become complacent.
^They do mandatory evacuations in stages so there isn’t mass chaos with millions stuck on the roads. They probably will order evacs today.
My mom is in Ft, Lauderdale area but about 5 miles from the coast. She’s prepared as she’s gone through it several times in the last 30 years and Wilma was a direct hit. They were without power for at least two weeks, iirc, so people should not expect things to get back to normal right after storm passes. People in that area still had tarps on their roofs a year later.
During Wilma my aunt ( who lived in same complex as my mom) inexplicably decided to open her front door during Wilma and the air conditioning unit was ripped from the ceiling and flew towards the doors! She lived on the 12th floor and her catwalk was always a wind tunnel but add a hurricane on top of that and its surprising she wasnt blown out the door!