Dear Treepers, 
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.
We are blessed and thankful to be unharmed and safe. Unfortunately, like thousands of others, our home took major damage.
The roof could not withstand hours of 140 mph winds. The front side of the storm had weakened it, and the backside had compromised it. There are multiple structural failures all around my neighborhood.
We have no power, water, or internet etc. All my time today will be spent working on debris removal, temporary patches, and simple recovery survival.
However, all will be okay.
All my love,
Sundance
Crap. Sorry.
Excellent!
Praying for those affected by Ian.
The storm is headed to make landfall south of us (NC), we’re expecting about 6″ of rain. No worries.
Luckily it will not be another Hurricane Hugo. I was living in Charlotte NC when that one hit. Trees down everywhere, roofs badly damaged across the city and no electricity for almost two weeks.
❤️
Please take this as being sincere.
We have a lovely suite in our home that we leave unoccupied and available for family and friends only.
We are a long ways off, and just over the Canadian border.
However we are only 30 mins from Bellingham (Washington) airport.
If any Floridian seniors can make it, they can have the suite for a couple of months.
No charge, internet and extras will be provided.
It is the least we can do for any CTH supporter.
Cheers!
2 comments from Canadians in a row Dekester. Your offer is very generous to our like minded friends in the USA.
I guess you were also stuck in the “most polluted air in the world” for a week or two as the headlines indicated due to the forest fires from the U.S., Hope and near Manning. Previously purchased air filters etc. helped me minimize the health dangers but it looked like a truly dark and dystopian world outside from where I live. The smoke covered a huge area of the province. It seemed like we’d been transported to Hades.
The unfortunate Floridian victims of the storm have a difficult road ahead for awhile but most are impressively “steadfast” and strong people.
Yes there were a number of areas affected by the fires, and air quality was poor.
However here on the coast life pretty much went on as normal.
Our offer is sincere, and t we can make our contact info available through TCTH administration.
We look at Blaine Harbour ( Washington) from our street so any American will feel at home.
P.S. we are dog friendly.
Cheers!
And it’s OK now to travel back and forth across the Border w/o Covid hassel, right?
Yep. Turdeau has been backed into a corner and has capitulated.
You are a very kind hearted soul, Dekester! May God bless you in your generosity!
He does every day…
Cheers!
What wonderful people you must be. God Bless you. Luckily we here in NE Florida are OK. Again, God bless you.
Not everywhere. St. Augustine’s got some bad flooded areas….again.
Just a Heads Up for people not familiar with this area who are thinking of taking Dek up on his generous offer:
This would be a Great. Vacation.!!!
Lots to explore, great weather.
Highly recommend if you’re in need of a place to escape to for a couple months and want a beautiful adventure!
Are the Ferries running as usual up there, Dek?
Yes..running as per usual.
So generous, kind and loving to strangers!
Funny thing is CTH supporters don’t feel like strangers.
Cheers!
I just made a donation that ends in “.58 CAD to the Last Refuge” due to the exchange rate. (different e-mail) sundance is free to use it anyway he wishes of course but I hope it will help with his recovery efforts.
I hope a full recovery will occur much sooner than probably seems possible today for sundance, Ad rem et al at CTH at this difficult time. Thinking of you from afar.
We love you right back, SD! Prayers for you and your family, and all who are going through this nightmare. God Bless you!
Retired Magistrate here: For those of you familiar with Sanibel Island I just viewed photos of the aftermath of Hurricane Ira. There are still some structures standing along with numerous palm trees. At the end of the island there is a lighthouse. When we used to vacation at Sanibel many years ago I discovered the best shelling was down by the lighthouse. The good news is the light house withstood the hurricane and is still standing.
Damn!! That was a bad one. Prayers for fast repairs and getting life back to normal.
How to help – – here are sites and charities helping Florida and South Carolina recover from Hurricane Ian
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2022/09/how-to-help-here-are-sites-and.html
Thank goodness you and yours are ok. Been checking in all day to see if you and all of your preparations enabled safety. It did. So much appreciate your letting all of us know you, your family and hopefully all of your neighbors are ok.
Sorry, didn’t realize you are in FL. Thank goodness that you and your family are ok, prayer up and hoping the best for you and those affected.
That’s not the news I wanted. My prayers for you and all people facing the big clean up. Blessings friend.
❤️🙏😇 Prayed for days for you all and my relatives (in their 80s and 90s) who (Thank the Lord!!!) survived, but also had major structural damage. Continued prayer for a speedy rebuild, return of electric, etc.
Thanks for letting us know you’re OK, Sundance.
A memorable minor, and I mean really minor, hurricane. It might have been one for ten seconds?
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/07/25/Hurricane-Bob-walloped-South-Carolinas-ritzy-coast-with-92-mph/2248491112000/
I was in a downtown Charleston hospital that in those days, one could see Charleston Harbor…and I don’t remember any “walloping”.
and I don’t remember any rain or winds. Up and about, debating on naming the new baby boy “Bob”…(we didn’t).
I was looking out a window to the northwest and remember those periwinkle blue storm clouds…mixed with sunny skies.
So, there was drama then in weather reporting. No one I knew of lost power or had any damage. I know it rained a few days before, good old fashioned rain, no crazy winds…Just a memory now.
Praying for all who are yet to be affected by this feisty Scotsman.
Another tidbit:
Ian is of Scottish Gaelic origin and is the Scottish version of the name John. It comes from the Hebrew name Yohanan and means “God is gracious” or “the Lord is gracious.” Ian can also be spelled Iain. The name is imbued with a sense of history and Scottish heritage, while also feeling fresh and lively (googley).
You and you’re family are safe and that’s all that matters. Thank you for letting us know. ❤️🙏
Wishing you and yours a speedy recovery process…
So, very sorry to hear of your loss. A roof is major damage. Blue tarps are better than nothing but not adequate. I pray that none of your walls suffer water damage.
My prayers are with you and your family. It is a great loss, even though not nearly so great as losing people or pets.
Thank you for the update, Sundance, and I am so relieved to know you and your family are okay. Roofs can be fixed, streets cleaned up and restored, and lost or damaged items replaced, but our dear friends and families cannot!
I am thankful to report that on the east side of FL where my son and grandchildren live, they too have weathered yet another storm, with debris and water in ditches and down the streets. Very minor in comparison to those directly in it’s path.
God Bless you all, and our thoughts and prayers will be with you during the coming day’s of cleanup.
Belated good thoughts to Sundance and all in the area.
Praying for you and yours and all impacted, as well as those in South Carolina–stay safe and be blessed, in Jesus’ Name, Amen and Amen!
Godspeed Sundance. Please let us know if we could help in even a small way. You have our e-mail addresses. Thank You!!!
Even with money supplies are difficult to get after a storm. Tell us what is needed and where to ship or bring it and we can try to make it happen. Tarps? Freeze dried foods? garbage bags? tools? other supplies?
Insurance institutions don’t lose long term.
Premiums are adjusted, deductible excesses increase, the actuarial numbers don’t lie.
They must be quietly ecstatic when the people rebuild using exactly the same building methods and standards as got blown down last time.
No they’re not. In fact, they generally insist that you build it back stronger than before. A big enough catastrophe can wipe out their business. And insurance companies perform an extremely valuable service to the rest of us.
” they generally insist that you build it back stronger than before.”
Apparently not effectively by the look of west coast Florida….a place that has not ever seen a hurricane before.
“A big enough catastrophe can wipe out their business.”
Yes, but not if they correctly lay off the risk with the international re-insurers. They are essentially bookmakers.
The west coast of Florida has seen more serious hurricanes than anyone can count, there just weren’t people with a written language to catalog them..
“a place that has not ever seen a hurricane before.”
I thought the sarcasm was obvious….. but this is an American site.
Sundance, Sorry your house took so much damage. Hopefully you have hurricane insurance. We in NE Florida, north of Jacksonville and just below the Georgia line have been lucky as the storm has gone out to sea. We are also on the left, port side of it which is far better than being on it’s right or starboard side where most damage is done. I will say prayers for you and yours the same as I know many other treepers will be doing. God Bless and keep the faith.
Prayers for you & your family Sundance. Prayers for everyone affected by Ian. Please let us know how we can help YOU!
I’m thankful you and yours are safe and so sorry about your damage. I hope you are able to have it repaired quickly.
Ian has finally started hitting here in SC. I’m 20 miles inland, northwest of Charleston, and I swear we have much less wind right now than we did all day. I don’t expect that to last but won’t mind at all if it does. .
My sister is in Mount Pleasant on a tidal river. That will teach them to be rich, lol! Another sister is on Daniel Island but a couple floors up in an apartment and my daughter has a second floor apartment as well. I think we’ll all be okay but I hope the tiki torches and other stuff that my neighbor couldn’t be bothered to bring in from her yard don’t hit my house.
Best wishes to all who have been through this already and who are still to be affected
Thank the Lord everyone is okay. Houses and property can be replaced and rebuilt, lives cannot. Very glad all are safe. To all Treepers out there, you are not alone. Many here are praying for you and the Lord is walking with you.
Isn’t that amazing….. something like 47 thousand linemen?
Sundance, I live in the Tampa Bay area, if you need something you cannot source local, I would be glad to help out.
Best,
Craig
I love y’all.
Keep going, and if I can help in any way – let me know.
when you walk your neighborhood or community.. study the houses that are still there.. they survived because of a practical reason.. look at their structural integrity..
when rebuilding your roof for example.. I’m sure metal “hurricane” straps or “clips” on every joint are a minimum building code requirement.
I’ve installed that and more in the houses I’ve owned over the years.. when I do I build and/or remodel them over existing code.. using heavier gauge metal.. like 1/8″ thick by 3″ 90 degree corner braces.. and use screws instead of nails..
to tie the roof down to the walls.. get the 1/8″ thick “T” brace straps.. and put them on every other wall stud.. or every single one of them..
I had always wanted to buy the upper superstructure of one of our salvaged offshore platforms..
first we simply cut off the whole top structure at the main legs above the waterline.. then pick it up and set it on the material barge..
my plan was to have them just set it down on my ocean front lot.. then pile drive the legs.. just like we did when installing new offshore platforms..
the first deck would already be at least 20′ in the air.. and I would even have my own helideck..
there would be no reason to evacuate for most any storm.. but if I had too..
the coast guard could land right on my roof..
“..when in doubt.. overbuild..”
you think big, Texian
wouldn’t have doubted it
So very, very, true. The lateral force and uplift design parameters in the FL building codes are more rigorous than the lateral forces for earthquake design in San Francisco. Wind forces can be immense. I have seen several on-site, post-hurricane reports which clearly illustrate the differences in structural integrity. Houses literally flattened and blown away right next to newer homes standing near unscathed. One appeared to be typical light frame wood construction, while another was a robust masonry exterior home.
Minimalist architect Mies Van der Rohe said: “God is in the details”. Indeed He is. Details and connections make ALL the difference … metal connections make all the difference.
Correct.
If the house “box” doesn’t distort it will stay up. Small fabricated steel right angle sleeves on the wall corners work well. As does bolting the roof to the slab with steel straps….cheap and effective.
They put up the same stuff and down it comes next time.
It’s as if insurance claims are far cheaper than competent construction….dunno, maybe they are.
Any word on Mar Lago? No pics near the compound! Trump Jr is ok so hope our Presidents home is as well. .
As much as we love Trump, de Santis has done a great job with zero sleep. He and his team deserve praise and even though we want Trump in 2024 i hope Trump Acknowledging RS and the Floridians in being steadfast to get through this disaster. The left is breathing heavily to destroy Floridians because of climate change…….and Trump and desantis are in their way
Surf camera at nearby Lake Worth Pier (next bridge south of Mar a Lago) showed fair weather, sunny, calm ocean, and light breeze at 4pm
We got this.
In the middle picture above, some of the houses are completely gone. I sure hope the occupants of those houses evacuated, before the hurricane hit!
May God bless you and your family and all of the victims Of this terrible storm.
The storm fooled everyone when it came in your area way too soon and Tampa was spared.
Will be praying 🙏 you can get things back in order sooner rather than later.
Take care!
Praying for you and yours.
Thanks for the update, Puddy! Glad to hear SD is safe.
Tex…..blessing to see you and hear from you!
We’re praying for all of y’all during this difficult time. Lots of respect for Lineman & the critical service they provide in often dangerous conditions. My Grandfather was a Lineman for 49 years here in Texas, retiring before the rollout of the boom truck. Always gone for every storm climbing poles with his spikes & strap. Had the scars on his forearms from the garage sale nails often left in the poles.
I’m so sorry. Prayers and positive thoughts going out to you and your family and your neighbors.
Can a specified donation link be setup ?
Into each life a little rain must fall. /sarc
So thankful you are ok. Let us know if there’s anything we can do. We will continue to pray.