I bet it’s an exciting day for people flying into Atlanta, with 48+ knot gusts at a 45 degree angle to the runways! On flightaware.com you can see all the big jets in racetrack patterns at the four corners waiting for their chance to land.
We have heard through the grapevine that our condo in Siesta Keys has some roof damage but we are not sure if there is water damage on the interior or not. DH scheduled months ago to fly in to Tampa and then drive to Sarasota this coming Friday to do some updating and routine maintenance and has plans to stay the week. I’m not sure what the status of flights will be as of Friday and also not sure if he will be able to get the rental car we reserved. The condos were all evacuated as of last Friday so at least everyone is safe. I had ordered on-line some items for my husband to use in the update when he arrived and I got an email notification that a few items were delivered and left by the managers office on Friday. Since no one was there to take them in, I imagine they have been “re-distributed” elsewhere by the winds. If that is the worse thing that happens, I just hope they ended up in the yard of someone who needs the items more than we do!
Just landed in SFO @my-3-sons! Grand baby should be born tomorrow or Weds at the latest. Good thing we got out when we did. Pilot said they ware not returning and no flights were taking off with wind gusts in the 40s and very heavy rain
Great news and congratulations on becoming a new grandmother!
@jym626 Sounds like you timed it just right! Congratulations on the new grand baby-how exciting!!!
Not so exciting, actually, for many airplanes that would be illegal, so it would be a divert. I’ve done a number of max crosswind landings, which are not a big deal, but if it’s gusty, that can be exciting. Interesting that they are holding, probably just waiting for a chance that the wind dies down briefly to go in, however, forecast is for them to just get worse. Long day for pax going to Atlanta, or attempting to fly out!
Glad jym made it out, just in time.
@jym626, here’s to a great trip for you and healthy, happy grandbaby and DIL. Talk about getting out just in the nick of time!
Charleston SC is being hammered with tornadoes and flooding .
Congrats @jym626 for making to SFO safely. Fingers crossed for the new mom to have an uneventful delivery! How exciting! Enjoy the calm weather here on the West Coast.
Stay safe, @carolinamom2boys! And thanks,@bunsenburner, @Nrdsb4 and @busdriver11. The plane we were on was only two weeks old. The pilot told everyone not to spill anything on the carpet 
Congratulations on making it and for the new grandbaby!
As for meteorologist forecasts and satellite projections:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/forecasts-have-done-a-good-job-predicting-irmas-shifting-path/
Oh jeez, I hope he or she was kidding!!
@takeitallin I would guess your husband would have no issue with flights by Friday. Rental car might be a little trickier. Regarding the packages, silly of the delivery company to leave them out right before a hurricane is predicted. Contact the sending company for replacements or refund. You shouldn’t be on the hook for that. Hope any damage is minimal!
Jet Blue is capping airfares to Florida for returning evacuees at $99. I never flew JetBlue but they are looking good.
Apologies @Kajon, @MYOS1634 and @takeitallin -I did not see your posts. Thanks for the kind thoughts. Hope your condo is ok, and @GRITS80 that your house is ok as well.
Oh, my achy body. We got lucky in our neighborhood- power and water intact, only small, twiggy branch debris. No flooding, buildings damaged. Had to undo so many preparations- move lanai furniture (guess will do fall cleaning instead of later), plant pots, bird feeder, stuff filled refrigerator with, neighbor’s yard plus our front fallen branches/twigs removal… Back still soggy to pond. People head back to work/school here by Wednesday. Not sure when airport will be open.
Huge sized storm, so good it diminished to a cat 1 by 2 am near us. The center (eye) went north inland but so wide so much wind/water was drawn into the east coast they had it much worse than our evacuate to neighborhood. Tropical storm force winds are still fierce. All of the people who left point A for B (to Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, Atlanta) still got bad weather.
btw- I was serious about donating locally. Texas millionaires hopefully will come through for their local places. All of Florida is affected by Irma.
A friend of mine in the North suburbs of GA lost power a couple of hours ago after hearing a big boom. She said the winds weren’t bad, just raining.
Aunt in Boynton Beach just got her power back! Only out for 48 hours - much better than expected.
A huge tree crashed onto my mom’s car and somehow water got into her den and the carpet is soaked, but it didn’t go as far as the living room so her hardwoods are ok. She was able to file claims already even though she is still up north. Her homeowners insurers told her as long as pictures are taken of the carpet damage it can be torn out asap. And as soon as tree gets removed, lexus dealer will come and tow car away. Though her building never lost power, many others did. There was also a lot of trees down in her community,
There is a FEMA fact check site that talks about myths and one is that insurance/FEMA won’t pay if you start ripping out stuff. Now someone during our flood did get some pushback because of lack of pictures, so be sure and take picture of damage, especially documenting how high water got in houses where flooding occurred before ripping out stuff. But mold is such an issue that getting wet stuff out and drying out is a priority. Don’t forget to wear masks when ripping out potential mold ridden stuff. Eye protection also good. These were two things stores around here ran out of 2 years ago. If you want to send donations to hurricane/flooded areas, these are valuable things to send.
In the end, I think SC low country had it worse with Irma than Matthew last year. More wind/tree damage around midlands - lots of power out. Looks like governor has lifted evacuation to barrier islands in SC so hopefully people will get in to assess damage today.