OT: Denis the Menace

I just have been watching the weather on my computer. It looks as if it will go up the Gulf, and make landfall somewhere in the Pensacola area. We had 2 inches of rain yesterday evening, and are having a few squalls right now. It is a Cat 1 hurricane at last report with windspeed of

80mph,, but I am sure it will speed up, as it goes over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

This is a neat site, and I learn more info from poking around where it says "hurricane center" on the left menu. I live in Polk county, Lucille lives in St Lucie.

thanks, Pat for the lovely card, it was so thoughtful of you. Gill

Pat EAXStitch wrote:

Thanks for asking Pat. We're just getting some heavy rain but I'm on the East coast and Dennis is on the West coast so no hurricane here. Isn't the weather weird?? Lucille

At present, it looks as though Gillian is on the far east edge, I am on the far west edge, and Lucille is in the danger zone. However, hurricanes are funny things, they can change direction and/or speed very quickly. Here in the Big Easy, the warnings are for a Tropical Storm. I find they often do more damage over a wider area than some hurricanes, so I am fully stocked up with simple food, batteries, candles etc.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

I'm in Port Saint Lucie, way over on the East Coast of Florida and far out of the danger zone for Dennis. The last I heard it was going to make landfall in the gulf, either in Louisiana or the Florida panhandle.

Take care of yourself and be sure to stay dry and safe. Good luck,

Lucille

Pleasure Gill - glad it got there so fast!

I saw that Denis had calmed down a bit after creating chaos in Cuba, but was expected to hot up over the Gulf. Hope it doesn`t swing your way, anyway.

Pat P

Sorry Lucille, for some reason I thought you were on the west coast. Right now, Mobile, Alabama, and Gulf Shores (a very popular vacation spot) are under evacuation orders, and most people are apparently fleeing north. Here in the Big Easy we are only expecting Tropical Storm winds and water - which, as I said, sometimes do more damage than the hurricanes do because they tend to hang around longer.

Stay safe, everyone, and take all the necessary precautions.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Olwyn Maey,

It is you who I am worrying about. We are 30 miles inland from Tampa, and will just get the fringes of the storm. I do hope and pray that you will be safe. From what I have heard Mobile bay may be the center, but it isn't good to be a hundred miles either way. Good luck!!

Gillian

We should be OK, thanks, Gillian. My house was built in 1917 and it is still here (!) Also, being an old house, it is built up on piers, and the ground floor is about 5 ft higher than the middle of the street, so even if we get localized flooding the house should be ok, it's just a question of getting the car away to high ground. I have the freezer packed solid, plenty of bread, muffins etc. (some of it cooked in preparation for Cindy)in there plus some gallon jugs of water. I cooked a lump of ham, and we have lots of fresh fruit and salad veggies, so we are ready for just about anything. We are not near the waterfront, and are inside the levee, so the most likely problem will be loss of power - they just this evening finished reconnecting the last of the people who lost it during Cindy, and there are still lots of downed trees and tree branches which the city has not yet managed to pick up.

I just this minute saw on the news that some of the hotels have refugees from Florida!!

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

My source in Pensacola says they've been told to expect the same as Ivan, including three-week power outages. Needle Delights, which only just reopened a couple months ago, is battening down the hatches. They have moved further inland from the location which was badly damaged/flooded in Ivan -- in fact, just a mile or two from my friend's house. (She assures me that this area's biggest problems are falling tree limbs.)

My source will try to send me e-mail from her cell phone if the power is out, and I'll pass the info along as soon as I get it.

At the moment, it looks like Pensy will be on the east (worst) side of the storm.

Dennis moved so that my friend in Pensacola (and Needle Delights) are on the west (lesser) side of the storm. Hallelujah. Also decreased from

145 MPH (Category 4) to 120 (Cat 3) before landfall.

They just told us that it had hit Pensacola and was Force 4!

Pat P

The latest news I've seen said it did hit Pensacola but it was downgraded to a category 2. The winds were about 120 mph which is still much too dangerous to make me comfortable.

Lucille