Hurricane Helene

[Koz]

I hope all of you in Florida and South Georgia stay safe and if possible get out of town.

 

Here in the Lake Oconee / Lake Sinclair area the forecast says we’ll be getting 70 mph winds. It looks like we may end up in the NE quadrant of the storms and that’s usually tornado spawning grounds.

 

I’ll be staying at my hotel in case there are any issues and half of my staff is going to take shelter there as well.

 

We’ve prepped and have a contingency plan to operate the hotel 2-3 days without power. I hope it doesn’t come to that. But it’s a rural area so you never know.

 

Ironically, my two 100Ah LifePo kayak batteries may come into play. I can connect them to a UPC to run a computer and power one of our routers for our fiber internet. With my Noco charger I can recharge them in my Bronco.

 

The next 48 hours are going to be interesting. Stay safe out there.

[Mike L]

Thanks @Koz

 

We already had a few rain bands come through and are expecting more as the night goes on into tomorrow night. 
 

I made a milk run today helping the kids and some friends put things away around their houses just in case and getting fuel for everyone’s generators 
 

We’re expecting 5”-7” of rain with gusts of 65 if it stays on course. 
I feel for the folks in the panhandle as they are gonna get hit the hardest. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[GRiver]

Hunker down @Koz and stay safe. Im ready as we can be, I guess. 

Been getting rain, and a little windy, expecting more tomorrow.

I agree with @Mike L panhandle looks it going to take full brunt.

 

[bowhunter63]

Stay safe 

[GreenPig]

Heavy rain here in Lizella. Lots of standing water already and expect 5 inches tomorrow. May need my jon boat to feed cows in the morning.

[Susky River Rat]

Stay safe guys! 

[GRiver]

How ya doing @Koz looks like you’re getting a lot of rain.

and how you @Mike L, you getting any winds yet

[Mike L]

Oh Yeah!

it’s been gusting to about 30-40 for the last hour or so not much rain tho. 

The wind just started to change direction 

Expecting gusts to 60 by 6:00. 
 

Lee County barrier Island had one clocked at 80!

It comin this way. 
 

Theres 20ft seas on Charlotte Harbor (5 miles from me) and 30-40 ft about 20 miles off shore. 
 

Thanks for checking 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[cheezyridr]

[Mike L]

19 minutes ago, cheezyridr said:

Darn close to what it’s like in a Cat 2 and worse as it gets bigger  

 

 

 

All you guys in the Panhandle and So Georgia and Alabama. 
 

Stay Safe. 

[Koz]

22 minutes ago, GRiver said:

How ya doing @Koz looks like you’re getting a lot of rain.

and how you @Mike L, you getting any winds yet

So far, so good. Thanks for asking.

 

It’s been raining all day, but no hard rain yet. Winds are supposed to pick up within the next few hours with gusts in the 40’s.

 

But between 2 am and 6 am we’re supposed to have winds between 60 and 73 mph. That’s also when we expect the spin off tornadoes.

 

I’m at my hotel for the time being. Hopefully things go well here and I can get out of here in the morning to check my house. In the meantime, I can drop in on my Echo Show and see what’s going on in my living room.

 

Stay safe everyone.

[flatcreek]

They’re saying 85 mph here by 6am

[Mike L]

We just had our 3rd tornado warning 

One was 1/2 mile away. 
 

The bands are moving through at 60mph!!

 

All you guys Stay Safe 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

[GRiver]

You stay safe too @Mike L

[N Florida Mike]

Whew … Having our highest winds yet up here as I speak. That gust was at least 40 I would guess. It didn’t rain all day but we’re getting a lot now.

There’s been tornadoes north and south of us…

Hoping and praying for everyone…

[GRiver]

Hang in there @N Florida Mike. Computer say we are getting gust up too 50 here but I think it’s a lot less than that.

Do you have high water there? We’ve had water way up in the yard for about two weeks. 

[Koz]

2 hours ago, flatcreek said:

They’re saying 85 mph here by 6am

Stay safe, buddy. If you end up needing a place to stay reach out to me. Hopefully either my house or hotel will have power.

[N Florida Mike]

@GRiver Just had one closer to 50, I’d say. I was just outside my back door and it took my breath away. I keep seeing these long skinny clouds up in the sky. Hope they aren’t what I think they might be. ..

My lake is full but not overflowing. We’ve only got 1-2 inches here so far.

Heard the river is breaching the bulkhead near downtown Jax…

[flatcreek]

@Koz

thanks man, that earlier report has downgraded somewhat for our area but we’re prepared and hopeful the bad stuff misses us and everyone else.

stay safe to all.

[Koz]

If any of you in our BR community need to flee go ahead and reach out to me and I’ll see if we have availability at the hotel. Hopefully we don’t lose power here.

 

And if you come, bring a fishing pole and fish off of our docks when the weather clears. It might be a lousy time to fish, but it’s fishing!

[N Florida Mike]

Now we’ve had a gust to 63.  

[Koz]

It looks like we will get away unscathed here. It’s approaching 4 am and still no big winds. 

 

We may have a little flooding to contend with, but even the forecasted rain totals are off.

[Susky River Rat]

Glad all of you seem safe so far. I am very lucky that I live in an area we rarely see. Weather like this. The hurricane is usually all torn up before it gets here. We will just end up with the flooding rain and not the damaging winds too. 

[GRiver]

@N Florida Mike, @Koz, @Mike L, @flatcreek, and @Glenn

Plus anyone else that out there in the storm’s aftermath. 
How is everyone doing this morning, hope all is well. 
Wow @Susky River Rat you’re feeling the wrath of Helene too.

That storm was HUGE!

[N Florida Mike]

Our power went off at 1:30 this morning. We had one last bad band go through and that was when we lost it. For us, it was a high end tropical storm. I know we had gusts to the 70s. I don’t think we have any trees down, but I haven’t done a search yet. No flooding where I’m at…