Hurricane Charlie....
 

I saw bits and pieces on the weather channel this morning. The waves are going pretty high!

i am fine. it sucks. the storm is now 145 mph!!!! it is supposed to weaken significantly before it gets to me. but my heart seriously breaks for everyone in the southwest. i got it easy compared to you guys. my prayers go out you.

i hope to wake up tomorrow to a clear peaceful day:(

It's Category 4 right now. The wind and rain started about 10 minutes ago. Since Orlando is so far inland, we should be ok but I just have to worry about tornadoes. I'm shutting down my computer now so I don't have to worry about lightening getting it. :) I'll post tomorrow with an update if I have electricity. To all the other Florida GCers, stay safe and make sure to let everyone know you're ok tomorrow!

i will definitely give my update tomorrow. i am completely going off line about 6 or 7 this evening. staying online now calms my nerves

My cousin lives in Miami. I'm sure she's evacuated.

what is so sad is the local meterologists look so tired and stressed. i know that is obviously expected but it is just so evident in their eyes.

miami looks to be just about in the clear.

Wow, I was not expecting this to be a CAT 4.

Take care Orlando GCers. Sounds like you guys have tornadoes there.

Unfortunately, now they're saying the eye is expected to cross over Orlando, and the winds will probably reach about 100 mph. I'm about an hour east of Orlando, so I know we'll get tons of wind and rain as well. It's already thundering, so I know that'll go on for the rest of the day.

Looks like a long night ahead. . .:(

Stay safe and dry, everyone.

my hatches are battened down as much as they can be! Here in central Carolina, we catch all the rain and hardly none of the winds, unless it's a Category 3 storm or higher (Hur. Fran '96, Hur. Floyd '99). As long as it doesn't increase in speed if it goes inland, we should be ok, but please pray anyway :)

MacDill AFB in Tampa is at HURCON 1 (Hurricane Condition 1 - storm expected to strike in less than 12 hours) All the aircraft assets of the 6th Air Mobility Wing and U.S. Central Command have been evacuated to inland bases until the storm passes.

Batten down the hatches, you guys in Tampa and Central Florida!

whats going on in the southwest?

and down in Southeastern North Carolina (i live 2 miles from the beach) is gray and cloudy but they're calling for some bad stuff starting tomorrow morning

I was thinking about all of you earlier when I heard the news. I hope everyone is safe and sound as can be in this situation.

where are you located??

well i made it. the storm went right pass me. everyone here was fearing major wind. but when it hit jacksonville beach, it was only about 45 mph. so it barely missed us. but was i lucky. i slept right through the night until about 5 a.m. when i turned on the news and saw the hurricane was in the ocean. my mom said about 2 a.m., it was really windy outside. but definitely no damage. so happy!!

i have seen the footage of the florida the got directly hit. so awful. i am praying for you guys.

smiley 21, thank god you're ok. for everyone else, daybreak is bringing frightening images. thoughts and prayers are with all.

Good, you're okay!

My oldest lives near Savannah and they're expecting 75mph winds-- and her alma mater is in the middle of rush! She was going to run over and help the chapter with Theme Day but she had to evacuate her house last night--too many trees nearby.

Ballerina has a friend in Orlando who lives near Downtown Disney and her car was totaled when a tree fell on it.

Supposed to hit here in Raleigh, NC this afternoon between 1-3 PM or so...won't be too bad (not like hurricanes coming in from our coast) for us - they are saying sustained 40 MPH winds, and gusts up to 60 MPH. We had a few tornado's yesterday and they suspect a few more today. Things seem kinda calm out right now.

I have an aunt & uncle in Port Charlotte. My uncle (who's had some recent health problems) was evacuated to a nursing home when the storm was first predicted; my aunt came home to find the windows all blown out, with a lot of damage to their house. At least, they're both alive!

I hope as many Floridians check in who can. My prayers are with y'all!

We made it through the night with very minimal problems. We lost power about 8:30 last night, and FP & L came out about 10:30 this morning. We lost a few tiles off the roof, but that's about it. Now I need to try to call my grandmother (she's about 15 minutes outside of Raleigh) to check on her.

Durham, NC is still standing, I'm happy to report. Only thing to worry about was the half opened window on the left passenger side of my car during the storm :( O h well, what the hell, nothing a towel can't fix.

I am still waiting to hear from my lil' sis' in Orlando... She was supposed to call me this morning. Her cell phone isn't picking up. I tried to tell her that hurricanes are serious and not to sit out on her porch like she thought she would. I only hope she listened.

I'm sitting in Wilson...and waiting and waiting. Its just dark and rainy here right now. They say its going to hit around 1 -3. My boyfriend in Pawley's Island, inbetween Charleston and Mrytle Beach on HW 17, is without lights. He said it wasn't too bad. After going through Floyd and the flooding and Isabelle last year...bring it on. Hope yall in FL are doing OK...it looks like a mess on TV..my thoughts and prayers are with you!

Hey all. I'm ok. I can't stay on too long because I had to go to a friend's house and I'm on her electric generator. Anyway, Central Florida got hit REALLY bad. Our roof was almost taken off. I'll post pics later but I'm doing fine. A few tornadoes that really took out the area but definitely not as bad as Port Charlotte, FL. I hope everyone else is doing ok!!!!

ETA: The power is completely out in Orlando.

OMG, thanks for posting OKAYS, it looked really bad.

Remember, I was Very Close to the Tornado last May.:o

When you can get out and see the destuction, it is mind boggleing.

God, glad to see reports coming in from GCers who are safe and sound!:) :cool:

My in-laws are also in Pawleys Island and lost a big tree and some smaller trees and plants. Luckily, there was no serious damage or injuries.

To top it off, my MIL was down in Florida on Thursday and Friday! She's definitely glad it's over for them.

I HAVE ELECTRICITY!!!!!!!! WOOHOO! Although, people right down the street don't and most of Orlando doesn't. We're lucky. I took some pictures with my digital camera. The better pictures came earlier today from my disposable camera but I won't get those developed for a while. In the meantime, here's a few pics from around the neighborhood. I apologize that the files are so large.

A tree completely uprooted (taken from my car as you can see :) ):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Uprooted-1.jpg

Here's the roof to me and my roomie's place. The roof repair guys came out this morning and put on a temporary tarp since we had so much damage. I had better pics in the AM but this will give you an idea:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../OurRoof-1.jpg

The backyard with our roof shingles:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Backyard-1.jpg

More later!

Glad that you're OK.

So far, all of my chapter brothers are OK too. :)

i went to the movies today...well so did half of jacksonville!! my bf and i went to two theaters cause one literally had 100 people in line. no lie:eek: i think charley drove people crazy last night. so every left the house. cause the malls were packed too. it was insane!!


glad to see more people are doing well:)