|
After
a week of preparing for a severe
hurricane I will spend the next
couple of days getting things back in order
and stored away for the next time
(which I'm hopeful will be a long
time away)! Then we can get back to a
topic I'm much more fond of writing
about - domains!
Original
article from Friday, May 8, 2017:
As
I'm sure you are all well
aware, Hurricane Irma, the
biggest Atlantic hurricane in
recorded history, is bearing down on
Florida as I write this,
after wreaking havoc throughout the Caribbean.
The storm is so large it will affect
the entire Florida peninsula,
especially if it stays on its
current track and goes straight up
the middle of the state (Irma is
wider than the entire peninsula).
We are
located just north of Tampa
on Florida's Gulf Coast, so I am
going to turn my attention to final
hurricane preparations and it will
likely be several days before I will
have an opportunity to post again.
Our county officials just announced
they expect to see electric power
lost for several days after the
storm (which is due in our area
Monday morning).
The
latest track show the eye of the
storm coming through Polk County
which is the next county to our east
so we have been told to expect hurricane
force winds. On the plus side, since
we are halfway up the peninsula, the
storm is expected to drop from a
category 4 to a category 2 hurricane
by the time it reaches us and, if
the eye doesn't drift any closer to
us, our winds will likely be
category 1 - a level that is not
expected to damage homes similar to
ours. It's a big if as it could
still shift and go right through Tampa.
No one knows for sure and
they won't have the best grasp of the
track until the storm makes its turn
to the north sometime Saturday
night.
We
are as well prepared for the
hurricane (especially at the reduced
power expected by the time it
reaches us) as we could possibly be.
Plenty of water, food, batteries, a
generator and a hurricane reinforced
concrete block home far away from
any evacuation zones or flood plains
(a primary reason we felt
comfortable staying as long as the
storm wasn't expected to be above a
1 or 2). In our area, rain is not a
big concern with this storm. It is
expected to move through fast but
with those worrisome hurricane force
winds that causes the storm surges
that flood coastal areas and wind
induced destruction within 50 or so
miles of the eye inland.
Our
bigger concern right now is with our many
friends on the southeast coast of
Florida in the Miami/Fort
Lauderdale/Palm Beach area which has long
had one of the world's largest
concentrations of domain industry participants.
Just about all experts agree that
area will
be hit with a strong category 4
hurricane. For those not familiar
with the kind of destruction caused
by the five different categories
of hurricanes, this video from the Weather
Channel is a great visual
representation of what can be
expected (when the YouTube banner ad
appears over the lower part of the
video, just click the X at the top
right of the banner to get it out of
the way):
So,
we will have thoughts and
prayers focused on our
friends to the south.
Irma is expected to reach us
about 12 hours after they go
through the worst of it.
When things return to
normal here, I'll be back
with you and looking forward
to talk about domains again
rather than natural
disasters. Right now we are
wishing the best
possible outcome for
everyone who is in this
historic storm's path.
|
