Here’s a direct report from my correspondent in Plantation Florida concerning getting a link out of Boca Raton.:

I’m in Plantation, FL west of Ft. Lauderdale. I don’t think I can get to Boca but I have pictures from our neighborhood. I’m running my wireless off power from my neighbors generator.

I don’t think the network news is doing this storm justice. Broward County is a mess. If they don’t get power back to some basic necessities soon there will be big problems. Just heard a local story of a nursing home that is running out of fuel for their generator and FPL can’t let them know when they will get power. Apparently since they are not a hospital they are not a priority.

Many seniors down here need ice for their meds. My 84 year old mom just left town with friends to stay with my uncle on the west coast of FL until we get power back to her condo.

The best FPL can tell us is that everyone will have power back by 11/22.

The only thing going for us right now is we got some cool weather. But by the middle of next week we are supposed to be back up to highs in the mid 80’s. When it gets hot the tempers will get short.

There are very few gas stations open. They have gas but no power to pump it. Lines for gas are 3 to 4 hours long, but that’s only if you can find a station.

FEMA ran out of ice and water yesterday in Dade county. They promised they were flying in more water and ice overnight, but no one trust them.

By the way, I’ve downloaded the TWIT’s from this past week so I’ll have some entertainment when I’m not cutting tree branches. — Dale H.



  1. RTaylor says:

    It’s becoming more apparent the preparedness needs to be refocused on a community and personal level. Everyone needs a stash of potable water and food for at least a week. It doesn’t have to be fancy food, you can live off Ramen noodles and Spam a long time. Communities could provide backup refrigeration for insulin or other meds that needs refrigeration. Too many people are caught unprepared and are collapsing the system. You can’t always count on state and federal agencies to be there within a day. We have lost the idea that neighbors and communities are responsible for one another. There will always be a need for federal response in large disasters, but the locals know their needs better than a beltway bureaucrat.

  2. Jon says:

    True. My GF goes to school there and lives in Dade county. Her apartment was without electricity and hot water until Thursday. And they are the lucky ones, the utility company pretty much just said they won’t restore power to all for another 3 weeks or more.

  3. Adam says:

    At least they are able to download TWIT

  4. KRIS says:

    It’s not an Presidental Election Year! That’s why the victims of Wilma are being treated just like the victims of Katrina.

    Last year Florida and South Carolina were prepared with water, food (MRTs), recuers, and the National Guard!

  5. Shana says:

    It’s not a Presidential Election Year!

    Do a little research about how prepared Florida and the Carolina’s were in Aug. & Sept. last year. A few months before Bush & Co. once again stold the election! 🙄

  6. Jon says:

    Highs in the mid-80’s and they’re going to be cranky? Shoot, I leave my air conditioner at 80 in the summer in Missouri. Yet more proof that people aren’t meant to be living in large numbers along the gulf coast. Turn off the A/C and see how many stay.

    I was stuck down there at my brother’s house last year during Jean. It was hotter than the mid-80’s but everyone got by. What a difference a year and much more media coverage make!

  7. Pat says:

    RTaylor

    I understand what you say and mean about people aren’t prepared for a disaster. The point is that people are urbanized and mentally prepared to just go to the store whenever they run out of toilet paper. As for medicines, how many plans will let you stock up a month’s supply, especially those needing refrigeration? Most foods today require some home processing requiring heat. Even staples like bread stuffs have a shelf life. Most of society would be totally lost if they needed to fend for themselves.

    Here in the mid-west, we get the odd tornado, blizzard, or ice storm roaring through. I have prepared a small survival case that would last a few days. After that, we would need outside assistance. In Florida, they have already been a week and may be another three weeks before all is back to normal.

    Not an election year? Good point. However, people hit by a natural disaster need OUR help and the best way to provide it is through the government. The governments must be prepared for these events. Charities can not do the immediate action or the scale required.

  8. faustus says:

    we need to “rethink” life along the gulf like restoring the wetlands rather than condos and getting ppl out of areas where they never should have built in in the first place. what has surprized me about this hurricane season is ppl expectations of what government can and should do for them. many ppl in N.O. didnt evacuate for stupid reasons like they did want to leave pets but expected the government to come save them.

  9. Alsatia says:

    Wait, wait, wait. Are you guys seriously telling me that you think that SC was given extra hurricane supplies in order to buy votes for Bush in the election?! Oh, goodness. I live in SC and I can tell you right now that this state is **so** strongly Republican that it would take a Republican candidate for president getting caught nude in an abortion clinic screwing another man while lighting a Bible on fire in order to be defeated for president in this state. (ugh…what an image….sorry!)

    Regarding why SC and FL might have seemed overly prepared in years past when compared to other places: In the past 15 years, SC was hit by Category 4 Hugo and FL by Category 5 Andrew. Speaking as a survivor of Hugo with the cheaply printed T-shirt to prove it, once you live through one of these things, you will never in your life forget what to stock up on, how long it takes to get electricity restored, and how freaking hot it really is down here without the AC. In my city, the exact same local government officials are in charge that were here for Hugo, and they know intimately what is needed, what to do, and what to tell people, thus more preparedness.

    I have tried to explain a major storm’s aftermath to people who have not survived one, and I have concluded that if you didn’t live through it, somewhere deep down, you just don’t believe it. Pat, you’re quite right that we’re so used to just going to get “it” from “the store” that people who have never stayed during a hurricane are not the best prepared people. You can always tell who they are. They are at the store the day before the storm hits, wondering why there are no can openers, bottled water (not even distilled), canned food, bread, duct tape, plywood, sterno, and lantern fuel to be had anywhere. They don’t even think to go to the gas station until they drive by one and see the lines. I grew up 10 minutes from downtown Charleston and I literally went back to school the day the electricity was back on at my house. It was 17 days later, and I lived in a 1 story brick ranch in the middle of town. We were very very lucky to get it back then. With a major storm, that’s just the way it is. (FEMA opened their offices here *after* that, if I remember correctly. That outfit has been broken for a long freaking time. Of course, when the World Series earthquake happened a couple weeks later, I seem to remember hearing that FEMA was open for business within 48 hours–a little criticism used to do something about problems apparently.) When that Pres Bush “flew over” Charleston, including my house, he didn’t land at all to talk to survivors. And so I got to stand in the back yard watching my very conservative federal civil servant / auxiliary police officer father flip him the bird as his helicopter flew by.

    Ah, the joyous memories of childhood….


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