I'm in Fort Myers, Florida (southwest corner of the state).
frogwoman even had a couple mentions of visiting me a few years ago (which she did and I'm so glad).
As of this post:
- (most) Local petrol stations have been out of petrol since 4:30pm Tuesday (local time).
- The stations that do have full pumps, have lines winding around blocks. There's 30 minutes+ wait in line. I wouldn't be surprised if the ones that are currently running, are out within the next 4 hours.
- Also, majority of the petrol stations across the state are in the same predicament - out of petrol & no information when more will arrive.
- (most) Local big name grocers have been out of necessities (water, batteries, etc) since the same time Tuesday.
- Same goes with hardware stores - plywood, generators, etc.
- Regarding airports: If you've been lucky enough to get a flight out, you're extremely lucky. I know American Airlines was waiving a few fees yesterday.
- As of last night, airports were beyond full of people and could not accommodate the masses. You can leave to evacuate, but no flights are coming in. Again, that's providing you were able to catch a flight. People were being turned away at one point.
- Regarding travel via roads:
Under normal circumstances (and according to google maps for time):
- Tampa is 3 hours north of me.
- Jacksonville is 6 hours north of me and puts people at the Georgia boarder. Same with Tallahassee.
- Florida Panhandle (Pensacola area, just west of Tallahassee) is 8 1/2 hours north of me and puts people at the Alabama boarder (Mobile, Alabama is less than 2 hours from Pensacola).
- Right now, the roads around me are being reported as clear. It's getting to the Tampa area where there is a roadblock. Complete bumper to bumper and traffic stopped. Reports yesterday afternoon said if you haven't left already and are planning to, be prepared to spend an extra 50+hours on the road... just getting out of the state.
- Regarding evacuations:
- The Keys started mandatory visitor evacuations on Monday. Tuesday night they started resident evacuations. There's one way in and the same way out.
- For the most part, the counties have voluntary evacuations. Main counties have been Broward, Miami Dade and Collier. Collier county is close to me, as the main city that "needs" the voluntary evac has been Marco Island. Marco is an hour and 10 minutes south of me. The next town from that is Naples, which is about 55 minutes south of me. I'm in Lee county.
- Local businesses have been shuttering / boarding their windows and doors since last night. The places that haven't boarded up, have signs on their doors saying they're closed and I've got messages from my various doctors offices saying they are closing today until further notice (Monday / Tuesday, when the storm should pass).
- My neighbourhood is swarming with construction crews, shuttering houses. I have friends in another part of my development that have evacuated Tuesday afternoon, and as of the wee hours of this morning, they have reached their destinations (inland Georgia, Tennessee).
- My upstairs neighbour and my immediate neighbours are staying, or at least that's the plan for right now. I'm still staying too. There is a maintenance guy who lives a few units down from me. He runs his own business and since Tuesday afternoon, has been in the process of going to people in the community and doing their shutters. I saw him about 2 hours ago and he said I'm on the list for tomorrow; he has way too many people to do and is short handed (his "3 sets of crews bailed" on him).
That's my update! Stay safe for those who are next in the path (before and after me) and sorry for the destruction of those before me...
Is it wrong I'm not sorry for the richie rich people (Branson and his ilk) that got destroyed, only because they've got more money than god, so it's not a big deal?
