When is the bad weather suppose to hit the villages, Im coming down next friday for the weekend. I hope for some sun. Is it suppose to be bad all next week. ?

Lived through a couple of them when we lived down south, including Andrew. Although we were in Boca Raton which was north of Homestead and other areas that were devastated. Isaac is forecast to be at most a Category I. We are on the "dirty" side of the storm so can expect lots of wind and rain. But since this is not a "monster" storm like Andrew or katrina, we are just doing the minimum....buying some extra canned goods and water each time we go out. If it was forecast to be a monster, we would probably think about evacuating. I'm getting too old to spend a few weeks in August in Florida without power.

Bought the weather radio and had the fire dept set it up today. We've had a couple of cases of battled water and a bunch of canned food on hand for quite a while. We do have a coupe of flashlights, but one is a rechargeable so I think I'm going to get a battery powered lantern.

Lived here for 12 yrs only had two huricanes hit us... TV never lost power, the locals around us did. We are not going to have a huricane hit us cause it is a tropical storm and it will blow out to the gulf...been here long enough to know better! I get a big kick out of everyone being so worried!! LOL

For all you folks with generators, I received this warning in an email from SECO today:

If you are using a generator during or after the storm passes remember that, if used improperly, these units can feed electricity back into the electric distribution wires outside your home. This situation could cause serious injury or death to utility workers trying to restore your power who assume that the line they are attempting to repair is not energized. Portable generators should never be wired into a home’s electrical panel or into a receptacle that’s connected to an electrical panel. Appliances should be plugged directly into the generator.

• If homeowners are ordered to evacuate, or choose to evacuate on their own, they should turn off all appliances. It is a good idea to turn the electricity off entirely at the main breaker panel before leaving.
Bowman concluded by saying that both SECO Storm Center and SECO Energy - one of the Nation's largest electric distribution cooperatives located in Central Florida contain very good storm information and SECO members and the general public are welcome to use both sites.

Just so ya know.

I agree. The odds of a hurricane doing a lot of damage this far inland are very slim. That being said, there is nothing wrong with taking a few common sense precautions and being prepared. The biggest threat to us from a hurricane is the tornadoes that it might spin off. But even then there have been very, very few tornadoes hit this area over the years and they usually have a very narrow path of destruction. Of course, you are in big trouble if you are in that narrow path, but we're talking about the odds of being seriously affected by bad weather and the chance of devastation from a hurricane or tornado in the Villages is very small.

Dr.Winston...you apparently weren't in TV 02/07 when we were hit by a tornado. Several villages were affected including my own. We had $100k in damages Never underestimate where a tornado may hit.

No, I wasn't here at the time, but if you read my post you'll note that I said that the damage from a tornado can be devastating. But, they don't hit here very often, ( I think there were 16 in the past fifty years and most of them were CAT F0) and the destruction path is usually fairly narrow. There is not the widespread destruction that a severe hurricane can bring.

Tornadoes are very serious and are terrifying because the leave nothing in their wake. They destroy everything. Had I been caught in one like some of the people here were in 2007, I might become overcautious as well. But to look at it objectively, the chances of getting hit by a tornado here are very slim.

Who ever wrote this warning is lacking electrical training. The first rule is to never assume that the power is off. Always check the line with a meter. However, someone could fire up a generator after checking the line with a meter I suppose.

Sunday - Tuesday event. Not sure what the weather is looking like for next weekend. Probably afternoon storms as usual this time of year :)

Agree
 

I agree that the threat of a strong hurricane hitting TV is pretty low. However, at one time we moved to a beach in Florida because it had not had a hurricane hit it since 1933. We felt pretty safe. You guessed it, we were hit with 3 in 2004/5 and they were devestating. It took over 2 years to rebuild. I would be really surprised if a bad one hit TV's but you never know.
Great no telephone polls, no weak bridges to blow out, no sand to get in the swimming pools, etc.etc. Life is good..!!!:sigh:

Google Hurricane Donna 1960. No one is safe in Florida. Always be prepared. Better safe than sorry.

And don't forget a trip to ABC Liquor...

Never, ever, back feed into you house system! Even if they do a check and find voltage where there is supposed to be none, they WILL move on to another area. They WON'T work on those hot lines, and they won't go looking until everything else is done. All you really accomplish is slowing down the repair process.

We were in the middle of several typhoons as well as 2 level 5 typhoons. Typhon is a Pacific hurricane, same thing, different name. Been there, done that. Our worst one knocked out water for 6 weeks, power for 12 weeks and the island had no gasoline because the storage tanks went up in flames due to a lightning strike. The good news (?) was my employer issued us home generators and gasoline to run them. We also had water delivered to us daily. Still not fun!
Don & Kaz

Case of Coors Light just in case. :wine: