Our thoughts and prayers are with the millions who are being, and will be, affected by this huge storm that is bearing down on the FL, GA and SC coasts. Our forum has many members who will be under it's influence, and we pray for their safety and well being. Those along the FL coast are being pummeled tonight, and the GA and SC coasts are under the gun for tomorrow and tomorrow evening. Hundreds have lost their lives due to this storm already before it reached the US mainland, and we pray that there are no more. The evacuation traffic coming inland past my home has been astounding, as many try to escape the chaos. The well being of our friends should be foremost in our minds at this time, IMO.

We hope to soon hear from our members, who post here regularly and that live in these areas, that they are safe and healthy in the aftermath.

SRH

Hope it doesn't get too rough at Hillis' Store, Stan.
JR

I agree with Stan's post above.
Jim

I agree- Mavis's younger sister Blanche and her husband Stan live near New Port Richie. We haven't heard from them in 4 days, and have our fingers crossed for not only them but all others in The Southern States affected by Matthew- Same thoughts for you and yours Stan- where-ever you are in the Peach Tree State. Stay well, stay safe. RWTF

We have 15 hours before the worst of it is predicted to be off the coast of Savannah. We have bags packed and are minutes from I-16 to bug out if thngs change with the prediction. I'm 14 miles from the ocean and on the same high ridge that Oglethorpe picked to settle Savannah. Tornadic activity is usually on the NE side of a hurricane and the we expect to be ticked by the western side. We will have power outages. Once it passes Savannah, evacuees will not be permitted to re-enter; only Georgia Power and First Responders will be allowed back in.
Have big SUV; will travel. Gil

Praying for the people along coast. Bobby

Good luck to all. Local motels here are full of FL folks. Nothing wrong with bugging out. Who needs the misery.

Hurricane Hermine messed up my fishing shack on the Gulf a few weeks ago. Now the beach house on Jekyll Island is in for it with Matthew. Property damage is all manageable, life's not...Geo

Hope everyone weathers the storm well. Will keep them in our thoughts and prayers. You are right things can be replaced but it is so hard to replace memories. It is the little things lost that are so missed.

We are in western Duval Co., Jacksonville. approx 30 miles off the coast. We have everything fastened down. Lost power as I type this. Been raining for 24+ hrs so ground is saturated. Sand here will not support tree roots so even large trees will go over with a bit of wind. All power lines are overhead and trees are not kept trimmed back so any wind is an issue. I don't foresee any major problems here but closer to the beach and Intercoastal could be. Wind is picking up now.

Safe for now in Florida,

John & Deb Eurom

I had a friend's vintage Winchester for 30 years (he sold it to me for $40 as kids). I sent it back to him last year so he'd have a family heirloom at Port St. Lucie where his home is next to the waterway and a few miles from the beach. He's riding it out. No word yet.

I just got back from boarding up the family beach house in Cherry Grove, SC. We can see NC from our deck just beyond the Little River Inlet. The hurricane is looking like a near miss or hit. I'll just have to wait it out.
I chained our small boat to a tree with lots of slack and the drain plug out. 25' fishing boat got trailered to Asheboro. My truck is full of things that wouldn't like a salt water bath.
I checked our seawall at high tide Wednesday. The yard is 2 ft above sea level. The storm surge is expected to be 3-6 ft. If it get to 10-12 ft, the house becomes a boat. All electrical breakers to the bottom of the house are open in case of flooding.
The thing that gets me is that there were very few people doing anything to prep. Boats are left out on floating docks, boats sitting on trailers in driveways, very few homes boarded. I guess our neighbors are in for an education. I served on submarines. We always said when prepping for sea, "It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it a not have it." I treat storm prep the same way. It's better to waste my time protecting what I can than to do nothing and wait until it is too late.

Joe
Back in Charlotte (Till Sunday)

Hurricane parties are only fun when the pucker factor is low...Geo

My sister-in-law was in the FL panhandle for Hurricane Ivan. A survivor of a hurricane party reported that everyone looked out the window and saw the trees going down in the water. It was too late when they realized it was their house floating 20 ft up on the surge. Some of them didn't make it after the house came apart.
I like mother nature, but times like this, I choose not to trust her.

I did take advantage of the trip back to stop by MidSouth Guns in Wagram, NC. I picked up a 2005 vintage Poli 12 Clays SxS. 30" screw chokes. That is a different thread. I may call it Matt.

Joe

I was at Fort Polk when Camille hit Pass Christian. Went down on a 3 day pass and couldn't believe the devastation. This was the site of the infamous apartment Hurricane Party. Only remnant of the party was a concrete slab.
I've been in two hurricanes wherein the eye came overhead and the calm is something to experience. They weren't ferocious hurricanes compared with Andrew, Hugo, Camille, but the wind blew and the sh*t flew.

Gil

I am a very long away from you all but I wish you all the very best of luck.
Stay safe,
Toby Barclay

Well at least the Governor of Florida shows some common sense after the idiots in new Orleans disarmed their citizens after the hurricane there!
Jim

http://www.guns.com/2015/05/22/gov-scott-signs-florida-emergency-concealed-carry-bill/

Gil, if you think Camille was bad her evil sister Katrina was much worse. I'm about 150 miles inland from the MS gulf coast and can not imagine how bad it was on the coast given how bad it was here. Katrina was much worse than Camille cause the coast had been heavily developed when Katrina hit and there was much more sh*t to fly or get washed away.

Mike

I loaded the family guns into the truck this morning and left the island at noon. Chilling on Columbia, SC at a family friends home with a glass of Dickel. Ready to head back first thing in the morning. Might not be allowed back on the island at first, but I will be at the front of the line. Have the chainsaw in the back of the truck and will get back to the house one way or another he other.

God bless and good luck to you. I hope you find everything ok!
Jim

Got a friend at Port St. Lucie on another board. He said the initial thrust had passed, not too awful, but was waiting for the storm surge.

[i][/i]Mike, Camille had recorded sustained winds of 175 mph. As for Katrina, I spent a week near Kiln, MS shortly after it hit with a group from Savannah "Pickin' up the Pieces.". On a rest day, we took a day trip into NOLA and was astounded at the damage along I-10. Also got see what used to be Waveland, MS, along the coast. One of the volunteers at the camp drove a riding lawn mower from either SC or Ga. Gil

Lost power at 2-3 am. Wind howling but does not sound like train.
Dog's bladders tied in knots but can't go outside until sunrise -need to be able to make sure no problem with a down power line

I hope the worst of it has moved on from your area Gil. Stay safe.

We lost power, too, at about 3 a.m. It came back on at about 7 p.m. Nothing worse than about 3 hours of yard work to be done. Plenty of time to do that, we got about 5" of rain so we won't be putting any harvesting equipment back in the field any time soon.

We've got some refugees from Savannah staying with us. They can't get back home to Savannah until law enforcement allows traffic back past I-95.

No problema, SRH

Backwoods Quail's web site says they will be open on Monday. That should mean the Fall Southern SXS is good to go. Hope to see a bunch 'o you there - anyone need anything spun?

DDA

Here’s the aftermath in my neighborhood after Matthew passed nearby early Saturday a.m. The first photo is of a “greeting” I put on my front door when the storm roared through. Some neighbors had folks knocking on their doors to see who was at home and who wasn’t after the evacuation order from the Governor. We had 17” of rain in parts of the city during the run-up and when the storm went by. I’m 14 miles from the coast and the eyewall was 12 miles off the coast when it was Cat. 2. Our neighborhood had sustained 55 mph wind and 71+ gusts. Tybee Island our nearest beach added about 20 mph to the above. Driving through town showed trees felled in a SSE direction as the wind blew from the NNW when the wall passed Savannah. The second photo is of a huge white oak that toppled into a sweet gum tree 75’ from my home. The third photo shows sweet gum limbs on top of a neighbor’s ragtop Seville and Range Rover 100’ to the right of my home. Fourth photo is Power Line Construction Co. employees from Victoria, TX. We owe a debt of gratitude for the power companies from other regions which flocked into Brunswick, Savannah, and other parts of the lowcountry. I should have power tonight as the crews were reinstalling transmission lines behind my house. Having homes in close proximity helped shield homes from an unfettered wind blast.

Glad to hear you made it through more or less OK Gil.

GLS,
Odd( in other cases I would saw funny)you mention Camille. I took my company(D Co., 43 Engr. Bn. Const.)there from Ft. Benning. Bay St. Louis and Waveland were my AO, to open Lines of Communications (roads/streets)and what ever my electricians and plumbers could do to help the city get power and water back. The photos I saw of Katrina in Waveland, looked like Camille. Today they were showing photos of flooded Lumberton NC. While at Ft. Bragg, I hunted at White Oak, very near there. People there and South Port as well as Baldhead Island also need our prayers.
Mike