[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

And by being extra cautious (and thinking of the employees who have to work to keep facilities open), exactly what major impact to your life...has a few extra closed days caused?

This must be an extreme event!! CNM and I agree again!!

[Two Bills]

As I said before, damned if you do, damned if you don't!
20-20 Hindsight is a wonderfull thing.
......and I bet the ones bitching about early precautions now, would be leading the charge, if the measure were taken too late!

[perrjojo]

Those who think planing was too early most likely have never been trapped in a horrific hurricane..I have. I also know that when waiting you may find yourself prepping in the rain.

[vintageogauge]

This was a great day to go out and do other stuff. Scooter was at the Cattail Rec. Area from 1:00 until 4:00 with the food trucks open as well as the Bar at Edna's, most if not all of the restaurants and stores were open. We took a drive though Leesburg to see what we haven't seen before, also went up to Sams and Lowes to look around. Now we're tired and time to relax. We'll figure out what to do tomorrow when it gets here.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

That would make sense if the models showed it heading to the middle of the state today. Landfall is still a day away and the predictions are that even if it was headed toward the middle of the state, which it probably is not, we'd be wouldn't be really impacted on Tuesday and perhaps Wednesday.

The question is not should we be prepared, should the local governments not getting prepared, it's how much are they doing and how far in advance. This call to close facilities was made on Thursdays. So much can, and has, happened between then and this coming Tuesday. Sure being prepared to close facilities should have been a logical action, but actually closing them that far in advance was absurd.

Absurd?....you have no idea the manpower required to close facilities, although you do know it doesn't involve you. I have talked to, and we have people in our neighborhood, who are working long hours over several days to prepare this place for what could be. While they are doing that, they need to prepare their own homes and family. I normally agree with your but, using absurd when you have no skin in the game and no view to the enormity of the task...well absurd is a tad harsh.

[Martian]

I recall just a couple days ago a lot of people wondering WHY no one had called for a mandatory evacuation and were going on about how they were going to wait until the last minute and cause major traffic jams with people fleeing for their lives.

Now, people are complaining that they can't get out and play a little golf because TV made a conservative judgement call...

Damned if you do, and Damned if you don't.

[pooh]

Was it too early a call to shut down facilities? No, because at the time, weather reports indicated danger soon. This storm is a monster and truly predictions are just that, though scientific evidence helps in making those predictions, but again, they’re predictions.
Things are changing minute to minute and what’s the problem with being prepared earlier than regretting not being prepared. Villages employees also must ready their own homes, their families. Sometimes these things take longer than expected and who are we to put anyone’s life or that of their families, in danger just so we aren’t inconvenienced! Need something to do? Clean out closets, dressers, rid your home of things you no longer need....you’ll get plenty of exercise, find items you can donate that might benefit others and soon, this “nightmare” of being “without” will be over.

[John_W]

Live Webcam the Bahamas

*LIVE* Hurricane Dorian LANDFALL IN MARSH HARBOUR (Category 5 WINDS 185+) - YouTube

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by john_w

live webcam the bahamas

*live* hurricane dorian landfall in marsh harbour (category 5 winds 185+) - youtube

wooooooow!

[thelegges]

I am grateful that TV started early to keep us safe. Think how long it takes to remove all the chairs, tables, and pool stuff. And that TV is making sure all employees are home with their families.
if one thinks that will ruined their plans for starting to close things down early it’s a shame.
Then again you probably won’t be one of the hundreds of volunteers to pack supplies for those who lost everything.
Some choose to think of others first, some choose to think of only themselves.

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by thelegges

I am grateful that TV started early to keep us safe. Think how long it takes to remove all the chairs, tables, and pool stuff. And that TV is making sure all employees are home with their families.
if one thinks that will ruined their plans for starting to close things down early it’s a shame.
Then again you probably won’t be one of the hundreds of volunteers to pack supplies for those who lost everything.

Some choose to think of others first, some choose to think of only themselves.

......

[GoodLife]

Originally Posted by Kahuna32162

Looks like Dorian is turning East and will only skim the Florida coast sometime Tuesday or Wednesday. With Rec centers, golf courses, pools and entertainment all cancelled, do you think TV pulled the trigger too soon?

As they say, don't count your chickens before they are hatched. The high pressure north of Dorian that was supposed to start weakening and allow a sharp turn to the north has remained stronger than expected. Some of the models are nudging the storm track further west. Hurricane tracking lists are very difficult and historically can be off by 70 miles 48 hours out. Remember Irma? Expert opinions were all over the place. A delay of several hours for the turn north are just a few degrees in the angle of turn can make a world of difference. This ain't a done deal by any means.

[Martian]

Originally Posted by GoodLife

As they say, don't count your chickens before they are hatched. The high pressure north of Dorian that was supposed to start weakening and allow a sharp turn to the north has remained stronger than expected. Some of the models are nudging the storm track further west. Hurricane tracking lists are very difficult and historically can be off by 70 miles 48 hours out. Remember Irma? Expert opinions were all over the place. A delay of several hours for the turn north are just a few degrees in the angle of turn can make a world of difference. This ain't a done deal by any means.

But! But! GOLF!

[drcar]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

Yup. It's ridiculous that they closed all the rec centers and pools on Saturday when, if it did hit us, they were talking about Tuesday or Wednesday.

I had some guy from the district walking around my neighborhood handing out papers and refrigerator magnets on how to prepare for a hurricane on Saturday. My first thought was, "What a waste of money." Four to five days before this thing might have hit they are doing things like this. In addition, if people don't know how to prepare for a hurricane I don't know what they've looking at. It's all over television, radio and the internet.

People were lining up for gas on Thursday and stores sold out of bottled water and bread on Friday.

Impact was predicted (possibly) Tuesday or Wednesday and not the thing has moved north which was always a possibility.

Yesterday the weather channel revised their forecast to have the thing loving more north and everything returned to normal.

I've been living in The Villages for over seven years now. In that time we've had about ten hurricanes that could have possibly hit us bad. The only one that did was Irma in 2017 and the damage and effect was really minimal. We lost power for about three days. A few street were impassable for about a week but there is always alternate routes in TV. In may neighborhood there are a lot of manufactured homes and some did lose their carports and sustained damage to their lanais. But there was no widespread serious damage. The fact is that hurricanes seldom impact areas this far inland. I would much more concerned if I lived near the coast.

That being said, everyone should be prepared so that they don't have to run out at the last minute to buy bread. (Why bread by the way?). You're better off having a bunch of non perishable food items.


We have battery powered lights and radios and plenty of spare batteries. We have a propane grill to cook on and I always have two bottles of propane. I make sure the cars a filled up and I usually have five gallons cans of gas on hand for the mower. I charged my iPad and Laptop with the car. We never lost water, but we always have three or four days worth of bottled water. If the forecast shows the storm really heading toward us a day or two before, we fill up a bunch of buckets with water to flush the toilets and clean up. We also have a plastic bin full of canned food and first aid supplies on hand all the time.

In 2017 we were fortunate that a friend who has a generator allowed us to borrow it. I thought about buying one and even tried to buy one a few times when we had warnings. Then I think, seven years, one storm that impacted us, I don't know if spending $500 to $1,000 on a generator that we may never use is worth the gamble.

Yes, I think that they pulled the trigger way too early and they cause widespread panic every time there is a little tropical depression in the South Atlantic. Every year a hurricane seminar is held and everyone should go to that when they first get here. If you do, you'll learn to be 90% prepared all the time and don't have to go crazy if one actually does hit us.

As I said, I have lived through a lot of warnings and seen the panic when we were never impacted. Hurricanes don't like land. They need to suck up water to when there is a large land mass in the way, they usually turn to avoid it or weaken when they hit is. I feel that although we are pretty safe this far inland, we need to be a bit prepared, but we shouldn't be closing pools, rec centers and golf course 4-5 days before impact is expected.

It's a beautiful sunny day right now and the next couple of days are supposed to have a little bit of rain and wind. Yet several of the resident clubs that I attend are not meeting because the rec centers are closed. So yes, they pulled the trigger WAY too early.

Sorry for the rant. It's just my take on the whole thing.

WOW, a few days without golf, pools, etc., staff are staff and had time to prepare. I think they did a great job! The plan was put in place when the impact was 72 hours away. Again staff are safe, I can live without a few days of Rec and golf.

[Henryk]

Originally Posted by kansasr

Considering that 24 hours ago, most of the hurricane models still had Dorian heading towards us and that The Villages is now a bit too large for just a couple of people to go out and shut things down, they made the right decision. Hopefully they will pull back on some of the plans and we'll get back to normal more quickly. Enjoy your time off everyone. Visit a friend. Call a relative up north. Take a walk.

Invite your neighbors for a little wine and cheese.

TV is not overreacting; it is being prepared.