Tropical Storm Fay

I'm wishing all of those in the path of Fay the best. Keeping my fingers crossed that it's downgraded.

Take care and be safe!

Kelly

Kelley, Thanks!

Thanks Kelly! It looks like "Fay" is going to make landfall on the SW coast of Fla, right around Naples and travel up through the central part of the state. We are expected to get some gusty winds and lots of rain from it here in the Daytona Beach area. I am sending my thoughts and prayers to all in the path of the storm too. By the time it gets near us it will be downgraded to tropical status. I'm concerned about the Tornado's that are spawned from these type storms! Already Tornado watches and warnings up around the state! It's very dark outside right now ... I heard on the news that outer bands of the storm are already spreading across the lower part of the state. The worse part of the storm is usually the NE side.

I never did secure my plants or patio furniture today as I had planned! Sure hope I don't end up with a pool full. If it looks like the weather here locally is taking a turn for the worse, we will work in the rain to get everything secured.

Stay safe everyone!

Please be safe, I hope like Kelly said, that it gets downgraded.

We are getting a much needed rain in Austin from Fay.

Take care
Lourdes =)

Doesn't sound good....but hey...hoyas are from areas of big cyclones/hurricanes so they will fare just fine (i hope???).

I am on the path of Fay, so I've been getting all my hoyas 100+ and Orchids 30+ and other plants off the ground. I started 7AM , at 3:30 I was taking a break and still had more to pick up. My dining table and few shelves are full, my spare bedroom is full of plants and the garage too. My DH said , you've got way too many plants. LOL

I am going to get up early in the morning and begin securing plants and stuff. I will probably just take the orchids and plants that are hanging in trees and put them on the ground, turn the bench over on the ground and will remove all the hanging plants from around the pool and on the deck and move them into the Florida room or the shed. I have some very heavy container plants out on the pool deck and out front that I will have my husband use his hand truck to move into the shed. I know they won't mind all the rain (now predicted to be 9", possibly more in our area) but I don't want to take a chance on them flying around and becoming missles that could go through the windows since we aren't boarding up for this storm. I don't mind a tropical storm with the rain, it's the Tornado threats that are scary!

I took down all the small hanging pots and brought them inside my guest bathroom. They are hanging from the shower stall. Some small bonsai that I have, I put under the plant shelving outside barricaded by the white Bird of Paradise I have in a large container. They should be safe there. If not, they will end up in the pool. ^_^. Tomorrow I'll take down the larger hanging plants and bring them into the garage. The very large container pots (beaucarea, banana, Lady Palm, and two coconut palms) will stay where they are. They fared very well in 2004. I'll have to move the orchids into the garage in the morning.
Jan, I sympathize with you. At one time I had over 100 orchids and every storm we carried them into the garage. In 2004 we had them in the garage for weeks with no water. I lost quite a few. I'm now down to about 50 orchids. It was a bad year for my plants.
I have to remind my hubby to keep Popeye, the bird, in his cage. If the winds are strong, the screens may rip open and off he will go. ^_^

Most importantly, I hope all of you are completely safe through the storm! On a secondary note, I hope all your plants are safe, too. Ya sure do get attached to the little buggers, don't ya? May there be absolutely NO tornadoes! It's got to be really scary for all of you. :o(

Yikes.
Maybe you should look at Fay as Nature's round robin- you might get the King Palm from up the street, and a neighbor on the next block might end up with your Hoya lacunosa (and your lawn furniture).
Seriously, though, I'll be thinking of those of you in the area of Fay. That's Jan, Eileen and Lin? Anyone else? I don't remember where in Florida Ric lives.

I think Ric is in So.Fl. in the way of Fay too!

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts.
Mark, I'm in St Petersburg.....on the west side of Tampa Bay, the latest forcast has the storm moving more north-northwest and away for us here in the Tampa bay area. I figure the winds will be toping around 50 mph here. So I'm leaving all the hoyas out. I'm sure I'll have a few hoyas fall to the ground but the thought of moving hundreds of plants takes all the fun out of growing hoyas. Besides I don't have to worry about airflow for a few days.
For those closer to Fay's path, I hope that Fay breaks apart into a few scattered showers.

Be safe everyone. If you lose plants, I'm sure one or more of this wonderful group of folks will see to it that you get replacements.

Barb

Amen to that, Barb!

Be safe all, and keep us updated as to how you are doing! Amen to what Barb said!

Karen

Our local t.v. stations are out of Orlando (same for Eileen who is about an hour south of me in Palm Bay). ~ ~ ~ Waving Hi Eileen! ~ ~ ~ Weather reports for us are saying possibly 50 mph winds and 9" or more rain! I'm glad our property is high (for Florida) and we've never had any problems with flooding in the 33 years we've been in this house. My husband will drain the pool down a bit or it will overflow with all the rain. He has what is supposed to be an all day Faculty meeting at the University tomorrow but I have a feeling it won't last long. Orientation was scheduled for Wednesday and has been postponed. I'm happy about that because I always volunteer for housing check in with students and I really don't want to be out in the rain. My husband teaches at an Aeronautical University and I'm sure everything will be shut down and they will be flying all the planes out of town tomorrow if they haven't done so already. They aren't going to take any chances with the planes after losing so many to the tornados that hit campus last Christmas day!

Sunshinesw is in SW Florida where that storm is making landfall and Ric is in St. Petersburg on the west coast, so they will really be feeling the effects of the storm, tonight and early tomorrow.

Our weather here on the East Coast is supposed to begin deteriorating around mid day tomorrow and on through Tuesday night. By noon Wednesday we should be in the clear.

We are expecting winds of possibly 50 or a bit higher but the real worries are the possible tornado's and I'm sure there will be flooding in some real low areas. I am waiting to see how Key West fares from all the rain. They are probably right at sea level in some areas of the city and the highest point is probably @ 10' above sea level! Storm surge can really do some damage along the coast here so I know what it is capable of down there.

Most Floridians will be hunkering down and waiting this storm out. I'm so thankful it isn't a powerful storm. Even minor tropical storms can do some damage but most people in the path of the storm take precautions and board up and have supplies at hand. I will be glad when Hurricane season is over! Unfortunately this is just the peak of the season ... we have a ways to go yet!

Y'all are just the sweetest!

I'm sure our plants will survive. They may be a bit soggy for a couple of days but with the heat they should dry out pretty quickly! I think I'm going to move all of mine into the Florida Room and the Shed so the only way I would lose them is if a tornado came through and blew the shed and florida room away! I just hope people and their pets stay safe.

There is a saying down here during hurricane season: "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

LOL Mark, I just re-read this thread. If I come across a nice Palm Tree laying in my yard after the storm passes I might just find the owner and see if I could trade something for it! In 2004 we had 3 hurricanes come through here within a 5 week period! The winds took down or totally uprooted quite a few large trees in our yard ... totally changed the looks of the landscape! We planted 5 palm trees after those storms, because palms are known to bend and sway in high winds and don't seem to get uprooted or snap in half like a lot of other trees.

Yall take care of yourselves, you hear? I don't want to hear of any of yall not reporting in, but becoming plant food.

Take care of yourselves, your families, and your pets. The vegetation can be replaced.

Best wishes for all in the way of Fay.

Good morning!
Thank you all for your good wishes.
Fay made her landfall at the Cape Romano, or about 55 miles (90 km) south of Fort Myers. Currently it is raining heavily and wind is blowing pretty hard, same for all day I am sure. I am very thankful!
Please stay safe!
Jan

Whew! I am just taking a break and decided to come into the air conditioning to cool off and check in at DG! It's hot and humid out. Only 84 degrees right now but it sure feels warmer with the humidity. It was 80 degrees at 1:00 a.m. this morning! I've been out since 7:00, turning over heavy stuff in the yard, taking hanging plants down and moving them inside and moving heavy potted plants up against the back of the house. Any winds will be coming in from the east so I wanted to make sure andget everything on the east side of the house secure first. We are still expected to get tropical force winds in our area and are under a Tornado watch for the next 48 hours.

Eileen: It looks like things have changed with the track of the storm and it is now going to leave the coastline just north of you and make a u-turn out in the ocean and make landfall again north of us here in Daytona Beach, somewhere near St. Augustine.

I probably will leave everything where it is until I see what the next system is going to do. News reports show another Tropical Wave they are going to be watching closely. Sure hope it doesn't become a hurricane but it's that time of year so it probably will. I don't really want to take hours to hang plants back out and have to turn around and do it all again in another week to ten days! LOL.

Well, I better get back to work. Hope everyone has a great day!

Hope all our Friends in the path of Fay are safe and sound. Said prayers for all of ya.
Marcy

Well, if it doesn't stop raining soon, I'm going to float away. ^_^.
It has not stopped raining since yesterday. I had to go out and empty the cache pots and saucers under my plants so they don't drown. Yesterday morning I forgot to bring either inside or under roof, my epi cuttings that I just received last month. I have about 12 cuttings and I hope they haven't surcumbed to this storm. I just ran out before and dragged them under the lanai roof. It's a good thing my house sits up high. The swale out front is full of water, as bad as it was after H. Frances and Jeanne. I think we are getting the same amount of rain, just not the wind. Otherwise, we've had no damage.
Hope everyone else did as well.

Hi Eileen:

Glad y'all came through the storm okay. Hope your plants all fared well. You sure were hit hard down there ... reports of 25" of rain in some places and upwards of 30" before that storm completely leaves Florida! We've been getting squalls this afternoon and gusty winds ... but the brunt of it for us is supposed to be later tonight and early tomorrow. We could see 60 mph gusty winds and lots more rain but nothing like what y'all got. I've been watching the news and it's amazing the flooding in Satellite Beach and Palm Bay where you live! I've been in Florida 41 years and I only remember one other Tropical Storm this bad, back in the early 80's that caused a lot of flooding. It was moving at 2 mph but is stationary again ... out over the open waters which is not good. With the warm waters of the gulf stream it could intensify and become stronger but I'm hoping it will start moving again and get on outta here! LOL.

Bless your heart, Lin.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of you.
Mel

Thanks Mel ... we are fine. I feel so bad for the folks who've had the horrible flooding. I know to some 25-30" of rain might not seem like much but Florida is so low ... nowhere for the water to go! Daytona Beach is at an elevation of about 13' above sea level and some areas are a lot lower than that .. can only take so much rain. There's a lot of beach erosion after storms like this. New Smyrna Beach, just south of us spent about $3 million last year on beach restoration, dredging sand up onto the beach ... so far the storm has taken 20' of the beach back out to the ocean! If this storm doesn't get a move on real soon the folks who own beach front homes on A1A are going to be really sweating! Actually they probably already are worried that their homes may end up in the Atlantic!

I'm about a mile from the Ocean and the wind gusts are really picking up here. Every once in awhile I hear the sliding glass door into the Florida room rattling from the wind. We didn't board up since it wasn't a bad hurricane.

It's a pretty impressive storm on radar: http://www.accuweather.com/radar-local.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&zipcode=&level=local&anim=1&type=re2&site=KMLB

Here's the link to the National Weather Service's Radar Image for Florida with Fay showing up quite nicely:

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=mlb&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no

Using the left hand bar, the image can be altered to show Rainfall, Storm velocity, and other things. The Storm totals can show how bad the flooding is.