[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by John_W

Channel 9 just had a reporter on the scene in Daytona Beach saying that Volusia County Police will arrest anyone who is out and doesn't have a reason to be out. Also they reported the Waffle House in Daytona Beach was open for business.

Going for waffles is a legitimate reason to be out.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

Anyone having fun yet? Anyone going to sleep?

People go to bed during a hurricane?

[ajbrown]

It seems that things are settling down. As much as the networks try to prop it up, I feel like we are OK <knock on wood>.

What I realize as I prepare for bed; it is 9/11. A day that will be with me and many others forever. I lost a friend that day. The spooky thing was I had a voice mail from him asking me something unrelated to 9/11 before he knew there was danger.

It took me quite a while to delete that message. The memory of that day lives forever with me and I feel so bad for the folks that lost so much...

be safe in the hurricane...

[John_W]

Channel 6 is reporting passage through TV between 1:30 to 2:30 and the eye is about 30 miles or so wide and eye wall wind speed still at about 95. I'm looking at Intellicast Radar right now, and the eye is crossing I-4 at Lakeland, which is due south of TV. At this moment the worse is the area between Lakeland, Kissimmee and Clermont.

Intellicast - Weather Active Map

[graciegirl]

We are o.k. here for now. Dear Lord the date is 9/11.

[Soxman]

We will get hammered through 5:00 and then winds until afternoon.

[Henryk]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

We are o.k. here for now. Dear Lord the date is 9/11.

Good morning, Gracie. Glad you're okay. We're fine, but forget about sleeping. I hear wind going through the attic. Can you see the lake from your house?

[big guy]

Originally Posted by rustyp

For those of us that are not there but own houses can you please post "factual" conditions of what is happening/observations in The Villages as this event unfolds. We can easily follow CNN and the like but would like to get a first hand perspective of reality in The Villages from our neighbors. Much appreciated. If of any help we had our house get flooded with 35000 gallons of water last year when we were not there. A story for another time. Yes we were devastated. But in hindsight the damage has been repaired and the house as good as or better than it was before the incident. It was stressful but it was only stuff and stuff did get fixed. Please be safe.

It's 2:33 am and this has been the longest week of my life. It has been a night of lots of noises.....torrential rain hitting the back windows first and now hitting the front. Lots of wind with some very strong gusts and that seems to be more often now. I have a rain gauge but no other meteorological equipment. We are. The eye of the hurricane will come through about 4:06 am. Icrr;

We just lost a tree but it fell away from the house.

Make that 2 trees, house is still fine.

[Henryk]

Originally Posted by fw102807

We just lost a tree but it fell away from the house.

What village are you in?

[Happinow]

It's 3:20am....I slept in the laundry room on an air mattress for about 1.5 hours. I'm up now and The eye will be passing over us soon with what could be 100mph winds. I do t believe I've had a night longer than this one. The rain keeps pounding the house.....thankfully we boarded the windows. I fear of losing part of the roof. I won't go back to sleep now until daylight and the eye passes. Nighttime makes things so much more difficult..😞😞😢😢

Originally Posted by Henryk

What village are you in?

Bonnybrook

[SKIMAN]

village of Sanibel abaco path still have power high gust maybe 65-70 mph at 3;48 am

[John Reis]

Thank you all for the updates. It is comforting knowing there is on site reports of the conditions. hoping conditions don't get much worse as the eye approaches.

[coffeebean]

The eye didn't come over us here in The Villages. We didn't get the worst of this storm, that's for sure. Living in the center of the state surely helps when dealing with these hurricanes. This is a monster of a storm and so far, it has pretty much been a non issue for us here in Mallory. Very thankful. Now let's see what things look like when the sun comes up.