Steeler Fans Along West Coast Florida

Well I don't drink beer but I wouldn't mind a cherry coke though. LOL! That's good that it is changing course but sucks for the other people who it changed to.

 

LOL, that's absurd. A once (or twice) in a lifetime event and they want you to ignore it? My son was all geeked up about doing, so I figured 'what the hell' and went with him, one of my girls and one of his friends. Literally drove 8 hrs Sunday to get there, ate dinner, went to bed, got up and ate breakfast, watched the eclipse (1 min 45 seconds), then drove 8 hrs back. Im glad I did it. It was pretty awesome to see it in totality. I hope you snuck a peek.

 

That's what Im worried about the most. They're not directly on the coast, but they're on a canal (in their backyard) that connects to the river, then the sea. Hopefully they won't bear the brunt of the surge, but I still think they'll get flooding. And this is before the real winds even begin.

 

Cherry coke sounds great too haha but yeah it does.

I work in the commercial roofing business and Tampa is part of my sales territory. Got lots of jobs going on that I hope don't get affected by the wind/rain, but it's inevitable that some will. It always sucks because I know it's going to be awful for people, but at the same time it's good for business.

 

Yeah we fly to that Tampa airport a lot now because it's so expensive to fly to MCO and since Tampa has that big bridge I think it's gonna be really disastrous for them. That's actually the only thing connecting them and St. Pete or something right? We flew in last year as Matthew was on its way and the waves were already coming over the barriers down there. I figure that thing is gonna be completely under water and people on the St Pete side will be totally stranded won't they?

 

My wife bought me a set of the glasses and stuck them in my backpack. I was so tired of hearing about that stupid thing that I thought about closing my eyes the whole time just out of protest. LOL! I delivered to a vision clinic earlier that day and the girls in there said "What are you wearing for the eclipse?!" and I said "My browns.." (that's what we call our uniforms) They laughed and told me to seriously not look at it without glasses. Right after the totality of it I delivered this trailer park and these rednecks were sitting out there and they had cut a hole in a cardboard box and put aluminum foil over it and were gonna use that to put on their heads and watch it but decided to just use their actual glasses instead. I hadn't looked at it at all and their dad asked me if I wanted to and I told him I really didn't have time but finally decided to stick the glasses on and look for a total of about 3 seconds and then take off again. One guy told me that his mom and dad lived in NC and people were selling spare rooms in their houses for $1,000 a night for out of towners to come and watch it! Another guy told me his son went all the way to SC to see it. I couldn't believe all the hoopla. I know people that went down close to where you were just to see it as well. It REALLY caused a lot of traffic on the interstate here and even the next morning I got stuck for a bit on the interstate from all the people going home the next day.

 

Isn't one of the problems presented by Florida is that for the most part it is at or below sea level with very little land rise so that storm surge can overwhelm infrastructure and cause overland flooding?

 

We didn't have any traffic, and that was by design. I originally planned to stop in Charlotte to visit an old neighbor, then to Greenville, but started reading about all of the traffic. Decided to head west, got on Google Maps, and looked for the most remote, but closet location to us, and that was Clarkrange. Literally drove right in and right out. I know other people who spent 3 to 4 extra hours getting home. Insane.

At 100% you don't need the glasses to see it, but you had to be in the path to see totality, that's why we went there. Otherwise just stay home. And believe me, the difference from 99 to 100 percent blockage is incredible. Even with the 1% showing, its too bright to look directly at it. But when that last 1% is covered, it's like BAM, this big black spot in the sky. Really a cool experience with the kids.

 

Yeah and the sea level thing is why Tampa is in so much trouble. I'm not sure if you've ever been there but it seems like it could flood REALLY easily and it would be absolutely devastating if it got a huge surge. Seems like it could be Katrina levels of destruction to me.

 

Yep. Im totally stressing out over their decision. To rational thinking people its a no-brainer. It's frustrating not getting through to them. Hoping they wised up and left, overwise Im fearing the worst.

 

Ok so this isn't really comparable to the force of a cat 5 hurricane but in 1997 the town I had spent most of my life in, in North Dakota was destroyed by a 100 yr flood. I bring this up because at the time I had a 3rd floor apartment and didn't want to leave when the evacuation order came in. My Mom and Dad who were about to have the first floor of their house destroyed insisted that we all go together. They kept the family together and we got out and looking back I am glad they insisted. So please take heed when they say to leave



This is what we went through, I don't wish this kind of devastation on anyone. Take care of family and take steps to save your lives, nothing is worth losing it.

 

Oh man it was a HUGE event around here. All the schools were closed and everything. Our kids go to private school and they even shut them down. I think there were only like 2 schools in east TN that didn't close for it. They said they were closing our kids' school because the eclipse was supposed to hit right at the time all the kids have to be picked up. I was like "Why not just have school and pick them up a few minutes later???" LOL! You're right though that people really did enjoy it and made memories they'll probably never forget. People were price gouging the crap out of those glasses like crazy and the day after it was over my buddy put a post on facebook saying he was selling his if anyone was interested. LOL!

 

I'm in the Tampa area....

 

LAME DUDE! Prayers to you and yours for sure. Would you have left if you had realized the storm was coming your way instead of Miami? Seems a lot of people are sorta blindsided by the shift huh?

 

Lol, there is another one in 2024 thats going right over Cleveland, so you could buy them and save them for that. But Im sure in true Cleveland fashion, they'll screw it up and it will be a cloudy, rainy day.

 

Also people in Cleveland will just look at it directly anyway. LOL!

 

That's crazy. See water to the roofs always makes me think about home much is lost. Nothing is salvageable. Hoping they left before it's too late.

 

Yea, the shift took us all by surprise. We were going to head towards Orlando yesterday but everything on radar was showing it heading right to central Florida. I'm near Clearwater/palm harbor... but well east of the evac zones...So we are hunkered down. Hurricane shutters and all that... it's gonna be a long 36 hours.... needless to say, I'll be missing the Steelers opener for the first time in a long time...

 

I will keep your family and all those in the path in my thoughts and prayers Bobby, Good thoughts

 

If ever there was a reason to break a streak. Good luck and hope you come through it and can see many more openers to come.

 

Man I hope it all turns out good. I saw while ago that Key Largo has already been without power for over 12hrs. Is it already pretty windy down there?

 

Not yet, we'll start the feel the effects of the surge in the next few hours, tropical storm winds. Sunday evening looks like it will get into the 50-70 mph range, and then we potentially get hammered late Sunday/early Monday with the brunt of it. The sooner it hits land the better, if it hangs out in the gulf coast waters and then makes a bee line for Tampa... we're ****ed.

 

Yeah they've been saying that it gets fuel by the warm waters out there and intensifies the eye. Generally I think these things are extremely hyped but I really think this one is the real deal and will seriously live up to the expectations of what they are claiming. It is unbelievably massive.

 

I have a lot of family and friends down in FLA. Stay safe and I am hoping for the best for everyone. Evacuating is the right thing to do under these conditions. For the ones staying we are all thinking of you and hoping for the best.

 

The name Irma is a German baby name. In German the meaning of the name Irma is: Universal, from the Old German 'irmin'. War goddess.

This will be a destructive storm.

The flattening of St. Martin and other islands is shocking.