Hurricane Frances

[Cowtipper]

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT06/refresh/AL0604W5+GIF/300858W5.gif
Some of you might be aware of the current situation in Florida with an oncoming hurricane that is twice the size of Charley from a few weeks ago, and possibly could be even more powerful as well.

Pretty much all of Florida will be impacted by this storm. I am at no exception since all forecasts show that the eye is coming straight for my house. I got lucky a few weeks ago when Charley shifted, but this time doesn't look like we're going to have any luck.

I'm still hoping that things are going to end up okay, but I have a mandatory evac for 8am tomorrow. Before I head to bed tonight I'm going to start packing up some of my computer equipment and financial details so I won't lose anything in case the worse case scenario is likely. This might mean that I will be MIA for a while

Anyway, I just wanted people to know. If you live in Florida, don't play games with this one. Ensure that you have a safe place to go, and go. Nothing is worth losing your life over... except maybe my mp3 server. It's got a lot of stuff, but it's a very small box so it's easy to stick in my car

[Jairyn]

d'oh!

Be safe bro. ^_^

[Ashval]

I second that. Take care of yourself, CT.

[Boinky]

And you may ask why I don't wanna move out of Wisconsin?

Get outta there and let the damn thing mess up the beaches and weather men's hair or something. Well maybe it'll make a beeline for Cuba instead. Or get lost in the Bermuda Triangle? Why's it just gotta swallow boats & planes!?

[Highlander]

That is why I looove NJ.... Its nice and quiet here.

[Demongirl]

That is why i love detroit...but it's definately not my idea of nice and quiet.

take care of yourself, o tipper of cows, we expect to see you back here soon.

[Highlander]

Yeah, be careful down there.

[Cowtipper]

It slowed down some and it's going to come to my house sometime Sunday morning. I'll be going tomorrow to a friend's house to hang out.

There will most definately be power outages considering my location. If you wanna check out where I live, do a search for Ocala and look on some maps. Then look at the storm path. Then again, I can pretty much say that anyone in Florida is going to be affected by this.

I've got my leathers and my rawhide gloves. Got some rope in the back of my car. If I see it coming by, I'm gonna ride it, and I'm gonna tip it. Yep.

Get 'er done.

[Bruuse]

I know the feeling Cowtipper. I live in Pensacola, and even here the people are going crazy due to frances. Personally, Im not that worried, as I dont think we will get much of the hurricane force winds unless it heads more west, instead of NNW. Ive been thru a few though, so I know about what to expect.

So take care of yourself, be careful.

[Cowtipper]

THE WIND AND STUFF IS REALLY LOUD SO I HAVE TO TYPE IN CAPS TO MAKE SURE YOU CAN READ IT.

Just kidding.

Major damage across Florida, in case any of you aren't aware. We have spotty power outages, and I believe about 60,000 customers are without power in my county alone, although don't hold me to that number.

I'm one of those without power. I do have a house, though! Which is comforting... all my star wars stuff is still on its shelves.

My road is really bad. There were 7 huge trees that fell and pulled down power lines down my road. About three of the poles cracked in half and are laying next to each other. Last night most of the trees were cleared out, and they started work on the power lines in our area, but the back end of Frances came in so things kind of halted.

It's definately weird being at home without power. I finished up Neuromancer finally, and started in on The Gunslinger: Dark Tower I, so maybe I'll get pretty far in all of that by the end of this week, or before the power comes on.

In case any of you happened to be interested and stuff.

[Mummu]

just read today that the next hurricane is already no its way to florida.

[Tacz]

CNN said that families without power should stay tuned for safety instructions. I'm dead serious.

[Cowtipper]

Well I just got word from Progress Energy, my power utility company, that they are heading down south to take care of those counties as a priority. Which will leave me without power for over a week. They won't even look at our county until they fix the other ones.

Have fun without me guys I'm sure my bad jokes were cramping your style anyway

Hay, yous guys need to show up at GSP partays more and show da love. Tell bad jokes, or make fun of me because I'm not there and I'm without power for a while. If you think of some really good ones send them in forum pm to me, I'll get them eventually!

[Tacz]

But AO without Cowtipper will be like FFXI without... well... It'll be like FFXI.

[Nexeus]

I was in ATL when it "hit"... pfft wind and rain what ever... Florida got the best of it I know, so I wish them luck and well wishes guys.

[Otori]

just read today that the next hurricane is already no its way to florida.

Hmm, ya, looks like Ivan is gonna follow almost the same path. Damn, I pity you Floridians, for the lack of actual crazy-cool storm damage, you usually just get waterlogged to hell. Now, here in Oklahoma, when there's a tornado comin, you got about 2.88 minutes to figure out your priorities:

(1) Liquor...check
(2) Katie, you got the emergency stash of liquor?....check
(3) The Kid?....check
(4) The Cats? 2 outta 3 is cool...check
(5) Ow the 3rd Cat is attached to your leg?! cool.....check
(6) The WTF its a 4 on the Fujita scale tornado extra backup Liquor stash...check
(7) Holy ghafhsdjhufauhushfs, ok the roof is still there!
(8) Ok, the electricity is off, but all 3 cats are still attached to my head, so lets go back in and read a book.

We don't get much warning with the twisters in the midwest, but we try our best to be prepared.

[Cowtipper]

Tornado's are pretty bad beasts of nature, that's definately for sure.

The thing about Hurricanes is you're not limited to just the 70-140mph gusts of wind and torrential downpours which create major flooding. They also create tornados, and the ones we had during Frances were very spotty. I had two in my area, and I'm getting reports that Frances created approximately 72 or more across all of Florida. The thing that sucks about them is that they hop like crazy. You'll get devastation in one area, they'll pull up, and touch down again a little bit away.

I had a friend in Atlanta who actually lost power thanks to Tropical Storm Frances. I'm glad you guys got something, I was hoping those in the other southern states wouldn't feel left out on all the fun we were having! I hear Texas was pretty wet though.

Don't get me started on the cats, Otori. I have four of them and had to round them up for their first trip to stay at another house other than mine. If you've ever seen that video with the guy that has the cat on the leash, and it twists itself around his leg and bites him near his package... that's just a small sample of what it took to get my cats over to a friend's house. Then, they hid under a couch the entire time. They're all bad ass when at home, like kings of the jungle, but three little girls mang, that's all it took to put my cats in their place.

I was told that little girls were monsters, I had no idea.

[Tacz]

One thing lots of people dont understand is that tornadoes and hurricanes aren't dangerous because THAT the wind is blowing. They're dangerous because of WHAT the wind is blowing.