You picked a fine time to hit us, Helene

[squibber]

I am vacationing on Longboat Key, Florida. We had to evacuate yesterday because of probable flooding.

We knew it was a gamble to vacation in Florida this time of year but we like the smaller crowds and the lower lodging costs. No biggie as we had 14 good days.

Luckily our future in-laws offered us their condo in Ave Maria which is west of Naples and 2 and a half hours south of Longboat Key. The winds are strong but not enough to rip roofs off and I doubt it will flood here. Not much to do so I am bored thus why I am posting this. Luckily I can watch tonight's game.

Ave Maria is an interesting planned community. It is a Catholic gated planned community of about 6,500 residents. There is a Catholic college here called Ave Maria University. They have a football team called the Gyrenes. I heard the offense only has one play. It's called the Hail Mary Pass. Haha! I made that joke up.

[Ed Vette]

We got evacuated out of Key West one year, same time. We were down for our Birthdays. Flights full so we rented a car and drove to MyJammy.

[LennG]

Stay safe Squib, you never know with these things.

[LennG]

What a storm this has turned out to be, over 100 dead. Insane.

When they order people to evacuate and the stupid ones just don't listen. We hear this all the time, yet this time it has proved to be a massive death toll for a hurricane.

[squibber]

What a storm this has turned out to be, over 100 dead. Insane.

When they order people to evacuate and the stupid ones just don't listen. We hear this all the time, yet this time it has proved to be a massive death toll for a hurricane.

I follow the Longboat Key Facebook page. Someone started a poll of how many on the island will evacuate and how many will stay. With about a hundred votes, one third said the will stay and ride it out.

[squibber]

Since it's slow...

Another reason I would not move to Florida besides the storms is the mosquitos. After the first day there I had about 50 bites. The weird thing is I did not feel one bite and I didn't see one mosquito. Some people around here call them "No See Ums". They can bite you any time of day. I don't care to put on mosquito repellent every day.

Shortly after I arrived in Florida my Facebook feed was flooded with prescription drug ads. Just about every drug you heard about was being promoted on my timeline.

[Ed Vette]

What a storm this has turned out to be, over 100 dead. Insane.

When they order people to evacuate and the stupid ones just don't listen. We hear this all the time, yet this time it has proved to be a massive death toll for a hurricane.

I spoke to a Key West Resident after a hurricane had hit the Island in a rare event for them. He stayed as many do. He said the water started coming in the house and then it started up the stairs and that feeling of dread knowing you have no place left to go but the roof, if you can even manage to ge there.

[LennG]

 On to over 200 dead and still many missing. Just terrible and worst of all, most of these deaths were probably preventable.

[squibber]

This video shows the degree of damage to the area we stayed at by Helene. Tons of sand everywhere.

https://youtu.be/1GNbL3qSejA?si=kpN75iPKAqrrnuLT