Eisboch wrote:

"Dan Krueger" wrote in message
nk.net...

Eisboch wrote:

"Dan Krueger" wrote in message
hlink.net...


Where were you when the storm came through?

Dan


By myself in (at) our former house in Jupiter.

Eisboch

You were closer to the eye than I was. It crossed our home about 10 miles
to the north. It took out most of my fence and a 100' stretch of 15' high
ficus "bushes". Other than that, the damage was very minimal. I have a 25
kW generator ready for the next one. The extension cords running through
the house got old quickly and the hot water was gone in two days. My boat
only got wet on its trailer in Dania Beach.

Dan


The eye passed right over us. The front side built up from about 7 in the
morning until it reached it's peak at about 11am, then the wind subsided
from a roar to a breeze, then it became absolutely still. It remained
mostly cloudy, but the sun peeked through a couple of times. I went outside
to try to make some calls on the cell phone (power and phone lines were out
by this time) and I got the generator running. After about 20 minutes a
gentle breeze started up again and I went back into the house. Within 5
minutes the back side of the storm hit and I thought the house would rip
apart.

Then, over a week without power, limited gas for the generator, no gas
stations pumping gas anywhere nearby. The Home Depot opened a couple of
days after the storm on generators but only allowed 25 people at a time in
the store. There was a line of people throughout the parking lot waiting to
get in to buy small generators, 5 gallon gas tanks and water.

The Jupiter area and northward had been hit the previous hurricane season by
Jeanne and Frances. Prior to them, that section of the east coast of
Florida had not been hit by a hurricane for 100 years. Although not a direct
hit in Jupiter, they (Jeanne particularly) caused a lot of roof damage,
including our house and tore up a bunch of hurricane-proof screened pool
enclosures (ours included).

The winds in Wilma were much stronger, but weakened structures and trees,
etc. had already been destroyed by the previous year's storms. We did have
some additional minor roof damage, but that was about it.
My son's in-law's house was destroyed.

Eisboch


Looks like Ernesto will be mild compared to those three storms. The gas
lines were backed up already today - maybe a dozen or so cars in the
road waiting to get in to the stations. I have a commercial account at
a fleet fuel station so we can skip the lines and they have generators
to keep gas and diesel flowing. They were in business late in the day
after Wilma passed through. I have a large 17.5kW gas generator that
will power most of the house but I don't think we will need it for this
storm.

Dan