Disasters in 2017
Below, some classmates tells us how they affected them
From Doris (Meister) and David Locke
Hi NeCaHi Family:
Irma passed through our area on Sunday. We're here at St Andrews Estates in Boca Raton, FL. We are five miles inland. The facilities are well prepared. We have a hardened air-conditioned hurricane shelter onsite and generators to keep basic services in each building going. Since we have skilled nursing and assisted living quarters on campus we get priority by FP&L restoring any power outages. Our commercial kitchens can prepare 600 meals at a time and have emergency power to keep refrigeration and cooking equipment going.
Our staff did an outstanding job keeping us safe, informed and fed.
Broward County, where we lived before coming to St Andrews, issued a mandatory evacuation order for all residents east of Federal Hwy - US 1. This included Hillsboro Cove where we once lived. Given the projected path of the storm up the center of the state, I don't know where anyone would go to find safety.
We experienced Category 1 winds most of Sunday afternoon and miraculously we didn’t lose power. Cable TV and Internet were restored on campus by 10 p.m. Monday. Also, our car was not damaged.
It’s going to take Florida a long time to recover.
If there is any advantage to a hurricane, it is that you get plenty of advanced warning?
Stay tuned… ☹
From Barbara Bender Howe
Irma came through our community (Maitland) in Central Florida with howling winds and much rain! My son was here with me and we were prepared for the power outage and put candles and flashlights into service on Sept. 10, the night the hurricane hit! We were without power until the afternoon of Sept. 14 and were relieved when the air conditioning kicked in and relieved us of 92 degree temperatures outside and near that in the house! Not comfortable but we feel very fortunate because there are still many with no power as I write this on Tuesday night (Sept. 19).
Outside of emptying my refrigerator and freezer into the trash and looking for someone to replace my pool enclosure screen, we fared well. People along the St. Johns River are fighting rising waters with some having water in their houses and an occasional alligator swimming by; but, we are on dry land and are looking forward to normalcy in our lives soon.
