TravelTalkOnline Forums People Talk SXM People Talk Still in survivor mode

Yes, we are back up.... but still in survivor mode at this point.

Absolutely, JD helped save our bacon..... but at this point we are still far from anything that anybody could possibly consider normal at all.

We have plenty of water, one thing we did absolutely right! We are lucky because we have a pool (no it is not working), but it give us water to cool off and for the toilet. We are on well and septic --- so just think about it for a second....... not going there.....we have a bucket... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

There is a lot more than I can even think about at the moment.... but we are still in survivor mode at this point, and we are better than many others, just here in our community alone, much less other areas.

You have no clue about how valuable (that we cannot get) that ice is!! And gas is now sort of available, just depends on the lines and the tanker trucks.

The last multiple days is importance of water (drinking) forget about bathing, Refrig, Freezer, gas, etc. At least we dig a bunch of ice and got a bunch from a friend, but still not close yet.

That and putting the blue tarps on the roof, not done yet as it is feels like 102 during the day. So am not using the garden tractor/mover/ with trailer because do not want to waste the gas.......... better for other uses, can always clean up. Well did clean up the majority of the shingles, but they are still there and did pile up the siding that I found, so if you are in Orlando you can send it back.....; <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Exactly why we installed a whole house generator last year. After a week with no power following hurricane Irene, I'd had enough. I hope we never have to use it, but if we do it's there.

As per prior statement . I missed several hurricanes and what was missed missed was ice AFTER.

And a propane generator/natural gas doesn't need carburetor maintenance.

Hope everything improves.

Wendell

We just heard about an hour ago that some people here in town got power, so are very much hoping that at least our office will have power by tomorrow. If nothing else, we can move over there for a couple of days..

We had a whole house generator installed earlier this year and it has kicked in 3 times so far.

Whole house generator is the way to go. We installed one some years ago ago after a hurricane - can't remember which one - left us with no electric for 5 days. And it's kicked on multiple times since then, especially during some of the blizzards we've had. Expensive but worth it

We're going on 6 days, as of 10 PM this evening.. Some people in town do have power, as of this morning, but no power here or at the office yet..

I feel your pain. Being in the middle of nowhere, ours is always the last to come back on. We broke down and installed a whole house generator this year, so there will probably never be another power outage here in my lifetime, lol.

Yes, our town is apparently the poor stepchild, as the towns on all sides have all or most all of their power back on. Thank god we have the generator, as it is hot as hades at the moment. Regardless, we are extremely lucky that we have so little damage, versus those in SXM and elsewhere, whose entire lives have been destroyed.

One thing that I think is a huge problem for some are the island property owners who rely on the rental income to make ends meet. I used to have a beach condo in SC and was always keeping up with the hurricanes.

Of course beyond that, all of the island businesses had to be hammered financially.

But regardless, if they have a mortgage and zero income, that really hurts.

On a much brighter note, we got power back at the office (but NOT at home), so the fur babies and I came over to the office to spent the night tonight. Eric stayed home, as he did not want to have the generator running if someone wasn't there, and we fought so hard for the past week to keep that freezer full of food we have there. Maybe we'll have power at home tomorrow. Over all, we are still much luckier than those in the islands, and millions of others here in Florida and Texas. Prospective is a good thing..

Well, thank GOODNESS, FINALLY, we have power!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dance.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Well, if you can believe it, our power went back OFF at home at 3 AM this morning and is still back off. We are at the office, where at least we do have power.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif" alt="" />

Power back on at home!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/circle.gif" alt="" />

You're sure now ? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Glad it is on guys !!

A couple of other people said their power came on and went back off. I guess when they are hooking up more power, it blows things that were already connected?? Dunno. I just hope it stays back on this time..

The blonde's younger sister lives on the waterway in Miami. About a half mile in from Biscayne Bay. Due to her husband's medical condition they decided they needed to stay put and ride Irma out. The house is almost 70 years old and is built like a bomb shelter, all poured concrete and reinforced cinder block, the slab was designed and poured about a degree off level so that if they ever got water...when it receded, most of it would roll right out. We are told the roof is strapped down to hold up under 175 MPH winds, and they have corrugated retractible steel shutters on all the windows. It has gone through all the big storms in Miami since the early 1950's without any serious damage. But we were concerned about the storm surge coming down the waterway...nothing this big had ever been headed directly for them. But when Irma went west (as predicted by the European model), we were pretty sure they would be fine, and in fact the water never even came up into their back yard. We suspect a direct hit as originally forecast would have put them in probably at least 2 feet of water. But they had decided they needed to stay there so we didn't talk about that at the time.

But right in the middle of it all, during the worst of it there in Miami, the 20 year old backup generator blew up. And even though they were in an area that had power restored in less than 48 hours after Irma had moved out, it was pretty rough for them, mostly for her husband, who's not doing very well. And when he's not doing well...nobody's doing very well. The neighbors ran a line over for the refigerator and she was able to recharge her iPhone to keep in touch...so at least we knew they were doing OK.

Scary for us...obviously even more so for them.

Glad to hear they survived and no damage to the house.. Our generator wouldn't start at all, so we were extremely uncomfortable for 4 days until we were able to borrow a generator from a friend whose power came back on.

Thanks. I can't imagine being in a situation with no power for 4 days in the aftermath of a hurricane as you were.

They were most lucky that the eye didn't make landfall in downtown Miami as first projected. That would have put them right in the worst of the north and northeast sections of the storm surge. Irma would have probably still been a cat 4 storm, if not cat 5, and I don't see how they would not have been flooded out. They have several friends in high rise condos and I suppose if it appeared that Irma was going to make landfall in the Miami area they could have found someplace in town where they could have ridden it out. But I don't think it was a gamble we would have taken. So their luck was the price paid by people over in Naples. Although it was category 2 or 3 over there...more than bad enough.

As of today, which is now NINE days later, there are parts of our town which STILL do not have power!! And many of those are in the poorest parts of town, where I know very few of those people have generators. I am totally disgusted with Duke Energy. They kept saying they are going to have all power back in Polk County as of midnight on Sunday, and claimed that as of Saturday afternoon there were only 5,000 Duke customers that were still out of power, which we knew was a d*mn lie or pure incompetence. They since revised the number to 22,000 on Monday morning, have no idea what their current count is, but I can pretty much guarantee it's probably still wrong.