My SIL’s son is flying into Orlando today for a visit planned months ago. The two of them will shelter in place in Daytona Beach, even though DH begged them to evacuate. SIL lives just across the street from the main beach. 
MTA: She just sent an email and said we should have a family reunion at her place if Irma doesn’t flatten it. She added that she’s 470 steps from the “current beach.”
My brother and his husband left Florida yesterday for Atlanta to wait out the storm – they left home at 4:00 AM to beat the traffic. It still took them 12 hours to drive to Atlanta for a trip that normally takes 4.5 hours.
My sister called about an hour ago, she got my mom to the airport. Many flights out of Tampa are already canceled today, mostly American and small airlines but I thought it was early for them to be canciling flights already!
@jym626 I know in March an anticipated storm allowed D to rebook for free for about 4 days out - in their case an earlier flight which is not likely here. Too bad you can’t get to Charlotte. New track puts it out of entire cone.
No, there is a mandatory evacuation order. The friends I know in Miami left on Wednesday. I will never understand the decision to ignore an evacuation order if you have the means to get out. It’s very foolish. I also don’t understand the lines of people at gas stations on the news last night. Why did you not fill your tank earlier in the week?! It’s not as though we didn’t know Irma was coming.
Thanks,@scmom12. Tomorrow will be 4 days, so I will check. My DH is a “wait and see” guy, but I have special circumstances with needing the bulkhead if possible, so will check when the latest tracks come in.
Several models predict that, starting this afternoon, the storm will curve left towards Cuba and hug its northern coast. If that doesn’t happen then Miami will be in pretty good shape (the eye will stay east of Miami).
“No, there is a mandatory evacuation order. The friends I know in Miami left on Wednesday. I will never understand the decision to ignore an evacuation order if you have the means to get out.”
No, not all of Miami told to evacuate. Basically it’s only those east of US 1 and Biscayne Blvd. which, for sure is a lot of people, but Miami (and Miami Dade) is quite a large area,
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article171780902.html
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Please keep politics out of this thread. I deleted quite a few posts.
Evacuation orders include the option of going to a designated shelter which may be very close to where you live.
Not all but it’s the largest evacuation order ever for Miami.
http://mdc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0f29d50eb2e74dcc886f661d08d0868d
They also said anyone interested in leaving should go earlier rather than later, which to me is quite different than urging most to shelter in place.
@alwaysamom, yes it’s the largest but that is still only 650k out of 2.6 million people. Most are being asked to shelter in place.
They are telling those who want to leave to go now so they aren’t stuck on the road during the hurricane. It’s extremely dangerous to wait until the last minute to evacuate.
My guess is that many who are ‘sheltering in place’ are likely to regret that decision come Monday.
Friends left Vero Beach yesterday for Atlanta and the usual 8 hour trip took them 18 hours.
S said last night re his GF’s parents; “They have gas and are working their way through an enormous jam in central Florida. We expect they should make it out in time.”
That does not sound terribly reassuring to me. But since she is a teacher they couldn’t leave until the schools closed, I guess.
The idea of “sheltering in place” in Daytona Beach is kind of mind-boggling, from what I recall of the topography. Hope they have a 2-story house…Hope the storm surge, if it comes, comes at low tide.
@alwaysamom I’m in north central FL and people were preparing on Monday morning. Stations were out of gas and no bottled water by that afternoon. People HAVE been preparing. There are a lot of valid reasons they are in line getting more fuel.
As an electric car owner I’ve been curious about how EV drivers are faring. From what I’ve heard on the forums there are no lines at charging stations once you get there. One advantage to EV’s is that they use extremely little energy when idling unlike ICE’s which run out of gas. On the other hand filling a car with gas is quicker than a full recharge. Of course everyone’s waiting in the same lines to get North so no matter what you drive it’s going to be a trying experience. Good luck to those on the road.
Same here in Gainesville (gas shortages) - went out at 6:15 am for gas - couldn’t get it. Had an early doctor’s appointment and every station with gas had at least 30-40 cars waiting. I have about 3/4 a tank but would like to be able to leave in the event of long-term power outage.
I keep hearing that it is easier-going on I-95 vs. I-75.
My mom in Vero Beach is staying in her condo.
Maybe it was just a coincidence.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/braves-apologize-for-playing-rock-you-like-a-hurricane-during-marlins-game/