Saturday Update for Hurricane Irma

The forecast does not look good for Southwest Florida. The most recent prediction has the eye of the hurricane moving directly over my area. This can change. It is still too early to tell.

At this time, I am planning to ride out the storm. So far mandatory evacuations have not been issued for my zone. I am in zone C. I am ready to evacuate if the officials call for an evacuation of my zone. I have everything set out on the dining table and could be out the door in under five minutes with everything I need. There is a county storm shelter near where I live.

You will hear a lot on the news about storm surge. At this time, my area is expecting a storm surge around three to five feet. The further south you go, the higher the surge is expected to be. Areas south of Fort Myers may experience a fifteen foot storm surge! Even though my property is only one mile inland, it is on high ground for this area. Current surge prediction levels would not affect my property. This is important to remember. Again, if officials call for an evacuation of my zone, I will leave.

This morning I finished up the last few details of securing the house. I moved all the patio furniture and potted plants into the garage. The pool deck is completely bare. I reinforced the garage door with some leftover 2x6s. I took the screen doors off the pool cage. Usually they get wrenched off the frame by the high winds, so I figured I would remove them. If it looks like we are going to take a direct hit, I will cut out the screen panels to try and save the aluminum pool cage structure. Most likely I would lose the pool cage either way, but it can’t hurt to try!

The area is a ghost town. Everything is shut down as we wait for the arrival of Irma. The big box stores closed yesterday at noon.

We are expecting tropical storm force winds this afternoon and evening. It will slowly build through the day tomorrow. We expect the hurricane to hit sometime last Sunday afternoon. For now, we just wait to see if the track will change.

The beautiful thing in all of this is how my heart is peaceful. I am grateful for the lessons God has taught me through the years regarding stewardship vrs ownership. Being a steward, and letting God own the house, frees me from any concern. I’ve done all I can as a steward to prepare his property for the storm. The rest is up to him.

I stay in touch with friends from church who are also riding out the storm. These are dear friends of mine, and I am grateful I can be here to help if they need it. This is the perfect time for the body of Christ to band together and weather the storm.

I have a reputation of being an adrenaline junkie. This does not mean I take unnecessary risks. I hope these blogs have convinced you I am being extremely careful and taking great precautions. I continue to carefully monitor the track of this storm. I will try to update as possible. I appreciate your prayers and concern.

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