A QUICK AFTERMATH AND DAMAGE REPORT ON HURRICANE MILTON

[wood714]

When Helene came thru I had 71 MPH gusts, and a light shower rain. Power never so much as flickered.

Last night I had 65 MPH gusts, and probably 10 to 12" of rain. Power started going out just for a second around 0200. Went out completely at 0220. Since having my place built in 2004 I've lost power 2 times from storms. Each time it was out 12 hours almost to the minute. I waited till 1400 and fired up my gen for the first time ever to use. I've started it a couple few times a year and then shut the gas off and let it die. It ran about 2.5 hours, then the neighbor I let pug into it came over and told me the power was back on.

Drove around earlier due to boredom, saw lots of streets covered in water, 3 tree's down, and great multitudes of privacy fences tore up.

I feel must blessed to have had zero damage, and was able to eat a hot meal, and watch TV due to generator power.

Salisbury steak TV dinners are pretty good out of the oven...not so much microwaved.

I feel most bad for the people south of me. I've heard multitudes died from tornadoes.

 

[SMSgt]

I have often wondered why utilities lines are not put underground ?

$$$$$ $$$$$$$

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

I have often wondered why utilities lines are not put underground ?

Probably cost billions and billions for the power companies to do it and guess who they would pass the cost on to?

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

A non-event up here by the Georgia line 40 miles from the coast. We had a bigger impact when Helene went by.

 

[chief38]

Much more expensive to take all the old lines and bury them as opposed to just maintaining the old ones. When that formula changes, I bet they will bury them. Any new developments I've seen do have buried lines, however somewhere along the transmission line there are above ground wires.

I'd also think that the power going out happens at the transformer stations. I don't think that can be buried.

 

[pharmer]

No damage here. Power off 10:45pm-3pm today. Biggest problem was percolating morning coffee on my propane stove. Musta taken almost half an hour. I'm glad we took it seriously, less loss of life. Joe

 

[TX-Dennis]

Much more expensive to take all the old lines and bury them as opposed to just maintaining the old ones. When that formula changes, I bet they will bury them. Any new developments I've seen do have buried lines, however somewhere along the transmission line there are above ground wires.

I'd also think that the power going out happens at the transformer stations. I don't think that can be buried.

Exactly.

My neighborhood has everything underground, but there are still lines on poles outside the neighborhood, so it really makes no difference other than esthetic.

 

[oink]

Well the power came back on about 6:30pm. I'm not complaining at all. Previous storms we've been without power for 2 & 3 weeks.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

Tlawler , glad to see you and the family are ok . Have you heard from Erik ? We didn't lose power , didn't get a chance to try out my new setup . Good to hear all of us so far are ok . Denver Don , I know where you're at , every time I go to the F-I-L's house in Spring Hill I go through the big city .

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Chief you DO understand that if you weren't so prepared you would be without power for weeks. Tickled to death you came out so well. LOVE IT when you have a hurricane coming and it turns into a shoo shoo. That is what happened to us with Francine. We prepared for the worst and got the best.
People who have never lived through one will never know that even if damage is minimal, the power outage is the worst. No Air Conditioning and then.....the mosquitos move in
Now we just have to wait to see how bad we get screwed by the insurance companies when it's time for renewals

 

[chief38]

Chief you DO understand that if you weren't so prepared you would be without power for weeks. Tickled to death you came out so well. LOVE IT when you have a hurricane coming and it turns into a shoo shoo. That is what happened to us with Francine. We prepared for the worst and got the best.
People who have never lived through one will never know that even if damage is minimal, the power outage is the worst. No Air Conditioning and then.....the mosquitos move in
Now we just have to wait to see how bad we get screwed by the insurance companies when it's time for renewals

You are correct Caj! That's why I always stay prepared - lol. BTW, you are also correct about the Skeeter's. Our community is normally free of mosquito's for the most part as they spray once every week at night. I can only assume that because of the winds, mosquito's are transported here from other areas and will bug us for a week until they spray again. People who do not live in the tropics or subtropics don't really understand AC is not an option here. While up North it may be a "luxury", here it is a necessity for all but a very short clip at a time.

BTW, I noticed some of the Skeeter's were wearing Sombrero's - lol!

 

[AJ]

Cleaned up about 1500 -pounds of limbs and branches. 8+ inches of water in back yard (sump pump draining that). No damage to the house. 16 confirmed (so far) tornados in the county. Six dead in a manufactured community at the south county line. In Indian River County, had gusts to 70MPH and sustained at about 35mph or so. Dodged the bullet! Family has lived here for over 110+ years in this area and it is one of the worst so far due to the tornados. 2004 was the worst for damage.

 

[Mike 139]

Milton caused a lot of damage including 17 Deaths and 38 tornadoes…Left a lot of debris and still over 1.5 million without power…
When Andrew hit, several Homes were completely demolished, especially the Country Walk subdivision where there were several Deaths.

We were working Alpha/Bravo 12 on 12 off, and and A lot of failures were due to inward opening Front Doors blowing open allowing the storm inside and blowing off the Roof…The roofs were 3/8 plywood attached to the trusses with short nails/ staples…Shingles the same….

When I retired, none of the local builders wanted to build a house to the than new Dade County building Code…said You don’t need that here, we don’t get bad storms….

When I did owner- builder on the house, did concrete block with tied re-bar around the perimeter and every 4 ft.going up to tie beam poured solid with concrete….Truss straps were set in the concrete anchoring the trusses. 5/8 4 ply plywood hand nailed to the trusses, O/C Shingles with nails.Exterior side of Block, 16,000 Brick top to bottom….360 degrees.
2018 re-roof with peel n stick and O/C Duration Shingles with SS nails….Would have gone with metal roof ,but screw fasteners at the time, didn’t protect the neoprene washers and required frequent replacement..Now, they have improved washers and the screws have an umbrella over the washer…



Nothing, except a Concrete roof, will protect in a Tornado….



I had bought a 9 Horse Power Coleman generator…Has a cast iron Yamaha engine and We lived off that for 3 weeks in 2004…Ran the Refrigerator,Pump, lights, TV, Paddle fans and 5 gallons would get me 11 hours of Power….Made Coffee on the back porch with Coleman gas stove…The Girls got a little evil when the hot water finally ran out….I shut everything off and sent it to the water heater..a little better than warm, and we were good to go…Have Non- Ethanol Rec. 90 Marine gas ,treated with Stabil Marine formula stabilizer……half ounce per 5 gallons….The Mower and ATV run great on this, as does the Generator. None Ethanol fuel also does not rot the fuel lines from the Tank to the Carb…Hopefully we’re done with Hurricanes this year..Stay Safe.

 

[AJ]

I had bought a 9 Horse Power Coleman generator…Has a cast iron Yamaha engine and We lived off that for 3 weeks in 2004…Ran the Refrigerator,Pump, lights, TV, Paddle fans and 5 gallons would get me 11 hours of Power….Made Coffee on the back porch with Coleman gas stove…The Girls got a little evil when the hot water finally ran out….I shut everything off and sent it to the water heater..a little better than warm, and we were good to go…Have Non- Ethanol Rec. 90 Marine gas ,treated with Stabil Marine formula stabilizer……half ounce per 5 gallons….The Mower and ATV run great on this, as does the Generator. Hopefully we’re done with Hurricanes this year..Stay Safe.

I have a 7000 Watt Honda Blackmax. Got it from a friend when he put in a whole house Generac. He never used the Honda other than to start it once, it has electric start. Paid him $400 for it, a good deal in my book.

We have underground power here now. The power was out for 45 minutes late Wednesday night. Other than that no problems.

 

[SMSgt]

Power distribution here has improved greatly since the hurricanes of 2004. Before that, I had to reset the clocks almost every day when I came home. The hurricanes knocked it out for weeks. Since then, power has gone off only a couple times during storms, usually less than an hour, mostly bonks long enough to kick the clocks off. During Milton, it kicked off about 4 times, each less than a minute. Not even enough time to get up for a flashlight.

 

[tlawler]

Power distribution here has improved greatly since the hurricanes of 2004. Before that, I had to reset the clocks almost every day when I came home. The hurricanes knocked it out for weeks. Since then, power has gone off only a couple times during storms, usually less than an hour, mostly bonks long enough to kick the clocks off. During Milton, it kicked off about 4 times, each less than a minute. Not even enough time to get up for a flashlight.

I’ll attest to that! With Charley, we were without power for 23 days, after Ian, 8 days, and after Milton, it was just a little over 24 hours. My wife is upset, she just got back from a gas run with 20 gallons for the generator, but power came on while she was gone. No biggie, I told her, I’ll just keep adding it to her car until it’s gone.

 

[AJ]

I’ll attest to that! With Charley, we were without power for 23 days, after Ian, 8 days, and after Milton, it was just a little over 24 hours. My wife is upset, she just got back from a gas run with 20 gallons for the generator, but power came on while she was gone. No biggie, I told her, I’ll just keep adding it to her car until it’s gone.

I have 25 gallons in the garage now for the generator. It will go in the cars and the mower as needed. Won't be wasted.....

In 2004 we were without power for 9 days from Frances, then about a week later Jeanne hit and the power was out for 8 days.

 

[hsguy]

An interesting story and concept. Helene and Milton put this net-zero, hurricane-proof community to the test. The lights stayed on as everything else went dark | CNN

 

[oldbrownhat]

An interesting story and concept. Helene and Milton put this net-zero, hurricane-proof community to the test. The lights stayed on as everything else went dark | CNN

Impressive.

"... And, in the event of a worst-case scenario, Sueann insisted on getting life preservers..."

"...But these features come at a cost. According to the community’s website, the homes are selling for $1.4 million to $1.9 million, compared to other new homes in the area priced for at least $600,000.."

As Shakespeare wrote, "Aye, there's the rub."

 

[hsguy]

Yes, very expensive but it seems to be a one off project and I wonder if more were built economy of scale might reduce prices? Seems an excellent prospect for enterprising people as this seems to be a successful proof of concept. I also wonder what their insurance premiums are as compared to ground level coastal homes? If insurance will actually be available to the ground level coastal homes in the future.