Just talked to my brother in West Palm Beach

[KBBOCA]

Hi All,

Just called my brother in WPB from here in Africa (@ 6 p.m. Eastern)... was surprised that I got through on my first try. I thought circuits might be busy with the storm...

He's fine. They've been without power since 9 - 10 a.m. this a.m. when one of the early bands came through. He says the radio is reporting 550,000 without power in Palm Beach County alone.

Says he estimates they have had hurricane force winds for 3-4 hours, reported gusts up to 90 MPH. Not too much rain.

Some pool enclosures in his community are damaged. He doesn't know much else about specific damage.

Anyway, for what it's worth... that's the report.

[melhow]

yeah. Just talked to my girlfriend in Lake Worth, and she said they have power and the wind is gusty, but she was talking to me from her front porch while she was having a smoke. Bad, but not TOO bad, it sounds...

[Lebowsky]

Thanks very much for the report, sounds not too bad. Can't wait to talk to my folks when this blows over.

[HeatherAKC]

My sister is 37 weeks pregnant and at the hospital (Name? I forgot, she lives in South West Palm Beach County, Lake Worth). The hospital has no electricty but are using back up generators. The windows are not shuttered, but have hurricane proof glass. I talked to her earlier and she was just watching the storm and had a bad case of "cabin fever". (Everyone on the coast does!!!). I worry a bit about her, but am sure she'll be fine.

[KBBOCA]

Well... I guess my brother isn't such a good judge of windspeed. I had assumed he was reporting what he heard on the radio, but here is the date from PBI airport. Highest gust reported so far of 68 MPH, so they haven't had hurricane force winds yet. (He's only about 6-8 miles from PBI...)

West Palm Beach
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KPBI.html

Note the winds are still increasing and the pressure still dropping.