The Hurricane Thread | Hurricane Rafael

calodo2003 said:
After 40mph, first responders of any ilk don’t respond. One could criticize them staying put, but it seems like his condition was somewhat recent & could have clouded their judgement as to stay / leave or they hadn’t even made emergency plans.
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I meant in advance of the storm. People had hours and days to prepare for a storm that could shift.
 
Scarlett Dracarys said:
What they saying about Waffle House? I go there at least once whenever I visit Florida. I love Waffle House.
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Apparently someone dredged up an old story about some WH line employees dragging WH management, then it morphed into how it’s indentured servitude to stay open & serve others who are extremely grateful & often the only hot meal for miles.
 
calodo2003 said:
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I have no idea how home insurance here is going to survive this, it was already on it’s last legs while the state went to war on books and disney, flying migrants from Texas and yesterday Desantis was begging folks to donate money to relief funds.

The population was 18M when I moved here in 2010, and is 22M now. Was about 6M when my wife was born. The state of housing being built to support this growth is awful. Many of the houses look nice but standards and code enforcement is a joke. Built cheap and sold for a fortune.

I couldnt help it either yesterday, I finally lost it. The state of Ft Myers and the surrounding areas. And bizarelly last night Tampa felt almost normal. I have no idea why Tampa generally gets a pass time after time and I feel so guilty being relieve when a hurricane path changes.
 
NotworkSte said:
I have no idea how home insurance here is going to survive this, it was already on it’s last legs while the state went to war on books and disney, flying migrants from Texas and yesterday Desantis was begging folks to donate money to relief funds.

The population was 18M when I moved here in 2010, and is 22M now. Was about 6M when my wife was born. The state of housing being built to support this growth is awful. Many of the houses look nice but standards and code enforcement is a joke. Built cheap and sold for a fortune.

I couldnt help it either yesterday, I finally lost it. The state of Ft Myers and the surrounding areas. And bizarelly last night Tampa felt almost normal. I have no idea why Tampa generally gets a pass time after time and I feel so guilty being relieve when a hurricane path changes.
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I had similar feelings when I accidently fell asleep two hours before Irma was going to make landfall & Tampa Bay was still being considered ground zero. I was startled awake by one of my cats after four hours asleep to lights on, wind calm, & emergency plans not needed. Then I got on the internet & viewed the damage from SW Florida & was overcome with guilt. Kinda the same way I feel on my birthday, September 12.
 
Trying to confirm if I should roll back to my place. Like how current is the Teco power outage map, can't go back if power is out but I'm also paying 200-quid per night for a hotel. Strongly considering driving back today before tonight's rate goes to 300-quid (I've always found hotel rates to be the epitome of price-gouging).

To the last two posts above, saw a guy on CNN or Weather Channel, cannot recall which, but he was saying one of the biggest issues in Florida is how insurance no longer insures roofs that are older than ten years. He was wading through knee deep waters and pointing out all these houses with damaged roofs and flooded houses how most could not get insurance based on age of home and will now be homeless and having lost everything. I think the state should be on the hook for this.
 
It’s also weird seeing Desantis begging for federal aid considering he voted against the Hurricane Sandy aid to New York and New Jersey calling it financially irresponsible.
Aid could and should be supplied from federal government, goodness knows
MrMarcello said:
Trying to confirm if I should roll back to my place. Like how current is the Teco power outage map, can't go back if power is out but I'm also paying 200-quid per night for a hotel. Strongly considering driving back today before tonight's rate goes to 300-quid (I've always found hotel rates to be the epitome of price-gouging).

To the last two posts above, saw a guy on CNN or Weather Channel, cannot recall which, but he was saying one of the biggest issues in Florida is how insurance no longer insures roofs that are older than ten years. He was wading through knee deep waters and pointing out all these houses with damaged roofs and flooded houses how most could not get insurance based on age of home and will now be homeless and having lost everything. I think the state should be on the hook for this.
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Most of the folls I know that were out have been restored. Just got a robo call with a link to an update but doesn’t say much:
https://www.tampaelectric.com/StormNotifications

This link still shows a lot of folks without though I suspect they are more east and south of Hillsborough county.
https://poweroutage.us/area/state/florida

Pretty much everything in city should be restored now
 
Tampa Bay's back to status quo. Some mensa decided to drive the Courtney Campbell on a fecking moped at rush hour. Eastbound is backed up past McMullen Booth.

Can't keep Florida man down for long.
 
MrMarcello said:
To the last two posts above, saw a guy on CNN or Weather Channel, cannot recall which, but he was saying one of the biggest issues in Florida is how insurance no longer insures roofs that are older than ten years. He was wading through knee deep waters and pointing out all these houses with damaged roofs and flooded houses how most could not get insurance based on age of home and will now be homeless and having lost everything. I think the state should be on the hook for this.
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Long read and slightly off topic.
On this point I unfortunately have some experience. There are 2 main issues from my perspective, first is that roof replacements are the new windshield replacement. Unscrupulous roofers are going around submitting fake evidence to insurers to get houses new roofs, and they are over quoting and leading to 2nd issue, the work quality is abysmal. So not only are insurers paying out for new roofs that aren't needed, they are paying again for roofs that were repairs and won't hold up.

After Irma we had both roofs done (my house and daughter house). Both had issues but I'll stick with mine. I had damage and it actually did need replaced and company in Brandon called Shinglemasters came out. They did the usual quote and sent it to me and I sent it back saying instead of estimate plus overages I wanted an all in quote which included overages. We agreed on verbiage and I signed. This company had a lot of "good reviews".
  • This was the worst roofing job I ever saw, wrong shingles, incorrect install, wrong nails, wrong nail pattern, didn't do moisture barrier, wood repairs with untreated wood, flashing not installed, gutters not replaced and chimney bracing not replaced
  • They had the city in their back pocket and it was "approved". If I hadn't checked, I'd have been left with a looming disaster next hurricane.
  • When I called them back and said it was BS they immediately handed me off to their lawyer and threatened to sue me if I complained or made any public statements
  • I got the head of code standards for Tampa to come, he walked the roof himself and came up with a 5 page report on the disaster. The city went back on certification and forced them to redo it
  • They they sued me for the redo and put a lien on my house
  • I retained a lawyer and this because a nightmare of a year of back and forth. The city wouldnt stand behind the redo report because the person that wrote it was thretened with legal action directly, not the city. This is important, they do this to get people to not support you.
  • After we fought and won the on redo cost fee they then sued me for "overages" on labor and material on the first install. My contract specifically stated it was an all in fee. The case dragged on and the city didn't want to be involved and in the end I had to settle by paying some dumb fee like $500 to get them to walk away. At no point was the city or the judge assigned even interested in helping me.
  • They tried to get me to sign an nda and I refused.
  • My insurer actually thanked me for the effort I put into the contract initially because it saved them a lot of money. When they also sent me the quote they received it was far more expensive that the one they sent me, so they tried to make money off me, the insurer by inflating the price, and saving money by doing a poor job
  • When they finished the redo they sprinkled nails all over my drive ending up in 3 flats between our 2 cars.

If I had not fought it, I'd have ended up with a bad roof. When I did complain they tried to bully us into submission. How many roofs out there are in a shocking state with these roofers that are taking advantage of a lack of statewide control and folks who don't realise a certificate is worthless?. And so here we are, a desperate insurance crisis driven by fake roof claims and poor work. There is literally no consumer protection worth talking about. I haven't even gotten to the lawsuit on the other house shoddy instal that turned out didn't have a permit issued to get it done.

It was after this experience I ended up taking the state home inspection license. I don't work as home inspector (though I am licensed and insured as one) since I work IT and a wanna be airline pilot, but the knowledge really helps me in fights after the roof one. I do check for friends on quality of work as a favor. Really useful.
 
Bottom line for me is to not purchase a home in Florida. I have been considering relocating again due to rising, overpriced housing market in Florida and with the insurances costs and the above post it just further drives home that unless your have seven-plus figures in the bank/liquid it's not worth it.
 
MrMarcello said:
Bottom line for me is to not purchase a home in Florida. I have been considering relocating again due to rising, overpriced housing market in Florida and with the insurances costs and the above post it just further drives home that unless your have seven-plus figures in the bank/liquid it's not worth it.
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Sadly, you’re pretty spot on.
 
NotworkSte said:
@Rado_N how did they fare in St Augustine?
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Seems like the worst of it avoided them on St Augustine Beach thankfully, as they are on Anastasia Island (if I’m remembering that right) and separate from the city of SA which I think saw more flooding albeit at a relatively lower level (still bad of course)

Where they are they said there was lots of heavy rain and wind and lots of fallen debris but they’ve been lucky.

Some of the stuff I’m seeing in this thread and on Twitter is horrible. I’m glad to see your region avoided the worst.
 
calodo2003 said:
These cats are making a massive difference right about now…

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They know where the $'s are. When my city got pummeled by Hurricane Ida most of the linemen had all come from Florida, started off great until they all turned into misogynistic arses that I had to keep kicking out my bar
 
New hurricane season is upon us. Hurricane Idalia is bearing down on the Big Bend of Florida. Bucolic Cedar Key will be completely underwater apparently. We will feel some hurricane-ish conditions here in Savannah on Wednesday night. @MrMarcello, you currently in Tampa? How are things progressing if so? Four to seven feet of storm surge in Tampa Bay has not happened for decades. My old apartment complex is in Zone A in Pinellas, mandatory evacuation even though it is located a mile or so from the bay...

 
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calodo2003 said:
New hurricane season is upon us. Hurricane Idalia is bearing down on the Big Bend of Florida. Bucolic Cedar Key will be completely underwater apparently. We will feel some hurricane-ish conditions here in Savannah on Wednesday night. @MrMarcello, you currently in Tampa? How are things progressing if so? Four to seven feet of storm surge in Tampa Bay has not happened for decades. My old apartment complex is in Zone A in Pinellas, mandatory evacuation even though it is located a mile or so from the bay...

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I like your strange homemade news channel.

“Next we go live, to Mike, coming to us from the Attic”
 
T00lsh3d said:
I like your strange homemade news channel.

“Next we go live, to Mike, coming to us from the Attic”
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This guy is great, really strives to keep his program bias-free. He gets hilarious at times. Found him during the last major conflict between Israel & Palestine a couple of years ago & he was quality.
 
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Off a rec from Agenda Free, I have been playing with this website for the past few minutes. Pretty decent, especially using the different models...

Tropical Tidbits
 
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