Tropical Storm Fay

Fay has decided to be a tourist, taking a leisurely stroll through the state, and is now following A1A up the coast.



I can't believe this thing is still hanging around. We had some 40-50mph winds last night, maybe gusts of a bit more, and a lot of rain. From 2:30 to 3:30, it was eerie and quiet as the eye grazed us, then the far side of the eye-wall hit us strong after 3:30 and it was wind and rain.



Kids slept through the whole thing and woke up a little early (they fell asleep early with the darkness last evening).



Still have power and internet, though I've seen the lights dim once or twice. Our cellphones have been out since yesterday afternoon at about 3pm, though, which is odd and annoying. During Hurricane Wilma we had no power or internet, but the cellphones were fine.



The canal is just under two feet over normal. Leaves and palm fronds everywhere. Hickory nuts everywhere. Small twigs and branches everywhere. No destruction, though. I can see boats just fine in the marina down the river, houses look fine, no shingles missing anywhere.



Latest report is Fay heading up the coast, maybe strengthening over the Atlantic, but a lot more wind and rain for us from Fay's southwest corner.

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Tropical Storm Fay

I think the rain is worse than yesterday. Not in wind, but in vast quantity. The rain totals are saying 25" since this started, maybe 5"-10" before it's over tomorrow. Our neighborhood is wedged between two rivers, so all our rain is going downhill and away (we're at least 12 feet above water level) so we have no problems, but our city is flooded pretty badly right now. We might get some refugee friends and family tonight if the flooding continues.



Meanwhile, Fay loves the space center so much, that the 2pm update gave 50mph winds, with the storm moving 0mph -- sitting right on top of us.



Still have power, though it's flickered a lot. Still have internet, though I've seen the bandwidth drop to a crawl, and my connections keep resetting themselves. I haven't had more than 20 seconds of phone service for 24 hours, with the exception of a friend checking in around 5:30 yesterday. I haven't been able to get a call or SMS out at all.



This was supposed to miss us, so I was a little relaxed about it when it started. Luckily we have plenty of food and water and milk and beer and wine and vodka. I will do a couple things differently next storm. Before this started, Christey asked me if we should fill up the car with gas, but I figured we'd be okay. We're certainly not driving anywhere now, but I'm wondering about supplies once the storm passes. I probably also should have got a supply of cash -- with all the phone problems, I'm not sure what the ATM or credit card/debit situation is going to be like at stores. We won't have a problem, I'm sure, but if this had been a Cat1 or Cat2 hurricane doing what Fay is doing, we might have had some supply problems.

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My lawn sprinklers just started. I suppose I should go shut them off....