Rainydaze's HC Frances Journal

[rainydaze]

Whew!! What a day. A day of stocking up, boarding up and waiting..... I live in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. That is about 10 miles south of Jupiter and 10 miles north of West Palm Beach.

I will use this thread to update my experience with HC Frances as much as I can until I can't due to power/phone outage.

We live in a 3 bedroom CBS house. We have decided to stay here and ride it out. I'm pretty nervous. The officials are encouraging people to not evacuate unless you have somewhere specific to go. They say if you just leave you without going to a pre-planned destination you will not be able to find a hotel to stay in and also you may get stuck in traffic.

Anyway, here we are. Most of my neighbors are staying here too. A few took off.

I guess we are having our first feeder bands come in. We're supposed to get TS force winds starting tomorrow afternoon -ish and HC force winds early Saturday morning and on.

I don't know how to feel. It feels surreal. I've seen what 140mph winds can do. I suppose any one of us could die. But yet, no matter how hard I try I cannot even imagine what I'm in for. Maybe the storm will go more north of us and we will not have to see the brunt of the storm. I don't know. I don't know why I'm even here sitting in my house, why I'm not in the car with my family driving somewhere. I honestly don't know if I could make myself leave. As nervous as I am, I want this experience. I want to know what it's like to see mother nature's fury. This is probably a once in a lifetime experience and I admit...I want to live it. I hope this drive I have to be here doesn't cost me dearly. I think we will be OK. We have our safe room stocked up and ready to go. It's all set, now we just live it. I'm sure some of you will judge me for my thoughts, but I know just as many will understand me.

Please pray for all the people who will be affected by this big storm named Frances.

God Bless, Marie

[decgirl66]

Marie...

No judging here. A lot of people won't admit it, but they want to see it too. I was actually upset that I slept thru Charley! I really wanted to see it, although I know this one is much bigger. I think I am far enough north of the storm, that I can watch in amazement without too much damage (one can only hope).

God be with you and your family!!

Valerie

[george_r_1961]

Marie I hope u come thru this in good shape. Good luck to u

[MysticOne]

Marie,

Bless you for your honesty! I do understand what you are saying. I too live in awe of this storm - part of me wants to run and hide and the other part doesn't want to miss seeing the event!

We are staying, but also nervous about doing so.

I pray for you and your family, but I truly believe you will be safe and secure. You have made your plans and secured your space.

Good luck and God Bless!

Janet

[ssmith]

Yes,Good luck and God Bless.

I will be monitoring your posts,but will looking for your post saying all is well after she passes.

sam

[siobhan222]

Hi there,

I'm also here in PBG, but I must admit, I'm terrified. I feel like my husband and I became aware of this situation way too late and we've been remiss in not making better preparations. We moved here from Chicago, IL, just about 2 years ago. I'm originally from England and Ireland and I just really had no clue about hurricanes! We live in a 3 bedroom 2 storey CBS house that is about 5 years old. I figured that meant we didn't need to do anything in regards to shutters. We don't have them and I never even thought about getting them. I thought only snowbirds have them. Yes, I really am that clueless! Late last night, I saw a few of our neighbours putting up shutters or plywood and I got a little freaked. My husband talked to some of our neighbours and they said that even if it was possible to find the plywood, there are no tacks (???) to attach them to concrete. By tonight, almost everyone in the development had shutters or plywood up. Yikes! Luckily, we ran into a neighbour outside who had some extra plywood. She thinks she has extra tacks as well. I really hope so. Otherwise, I don't know how we will get them up and I know I'll be so so so scared. My husband tells me we have safety glass in the windows and that they are built to withstand up to 120 mph winds. That doesn't reassure me if the winds are 145 mph.

I would have considered leaving but we have 5 cats. I couldn't possibly leave them. One of them is almost 18 years old and he's like my baby.

I'm honestly terrified and also obsessed trying to learn all I can. Thank God for this forum. It's been very helpful.

I guess tomorrow will tell us more.

All the best,

Siobhan

[quickychick]

Siobhan and Marie, best of luck to both of you and yours. Siobhan, if/when the storm hits and you are still shutterless, do you have an interior, windowless room you and hubby and the critters can get to?

Again best of luck and hope to see you both well and posting in the coming days.

[rainydaze]

OK...I just spent 20 minutes updating my journal and telling you stories about how my neighbors are pulling together and helping each other out. BUT, when I went to post my message, I received a "critical error" message...grrrr.

Anyway, we are watching and waiting and everything is pretty calm right now. And...to make a long story short (because I'm too tired to type it over) our neighborhood is pulling together and helping each other out!!

Check in later, Marie

[rainydaze]

Captains log 10:10 PM

Still waiting........still watching......getting really bored.....

My neighborhood has gone crazy. Everyone is outside running from house to house yelling, laughing and having a good ole time! Now what was that thing about not letting our guard down, stay inside, etc. etc. ?

BTW, the wind is picking up a bit. Oh yeah ,neighbors "A" who fled in panic to Tallahassee yesterday came back home today. They were miserable with no place to stay and gas very sparse. They're very happy to be home.

Neigbors "B" literally had their car packed up and were standing in the driveway to leave when neighbors "C" convinced them to stay.

And now they're all running around outside having fun.

We already did the spray paint thing on our boards. Neighbor "D" wrote "Frances, pay my deductible". I finally joined in the fun today and wrote "Hurry Up Frances, were bored!" The neighbors thougt that was pretty funny

Good night from the Cuckoo's Nest, Marie

[simplykristi]

Stay safe, everyone!!! Hope all come thru OK!!!

Kristi

[rainydaze]

Good morning everyone Winds are blowing now! Just got this special weather statement from Miami NWS:

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
805 AM EDT SAT SEP 4 2004

FLZ068-072-041300-
BROWARD METROPOLITAN-PALM BEACH EASTERN-
805 AM EDT SAT SEP 4 2004


...SPIRAL BAND WITH HURRICANE FORCE GUSTS REACHING THE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA
COAST...

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWS A BAND OF SQUALLS WITH
WIND GUSTS OF 75 TO 80 MPH MOVING RAPIDLY TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST AT 50
MPH ACROSS THE ATLANTIC WATERS OFF PALM BEACH COUNTY. A MEASURED
WIND GUST TO 93 MPH WAS OBSERVED IN FREEPORT WHEN THIS RAINBAND
MOVED THROUGH. THE LEADING EDGE OF THIS SQUALL WILL AFFECT THE
ENTIRE COAST, AS WELL AS, THE METROPOLITAN AREAS OF PALM BEACH
THROUGH 9 AM.

PERSONS SHOULD AVOID BEING OUTDOORS! POWER OUTAGES ARE LIKELY TO BE
EXPERIENCED WHEN TREE LIMBS ARE BLOWN DOWN.


So stronger winds are coming. Still have power and even DTV still getting a good picture.

Neighbors running across the street back and forth to each others house. " Cuckoo, Cuckcoo"

God Bless, Marie

[birdwomn]

Stay safe!!

[rainydaze]

Quick check in:

Wind is whipping! 97mph wind gust just north of us. We lost DTV at about 10:30 am and lost power about 11:00am (Eastern).

Looks like we may get the eyewall and eye.