Many Treepers have been providing support to Samaritans Purse; and we can confirm the faith-based recovery workers are all over southwest Florida. We’ve shook hands with many of the Baptist Men from all over the Southern U.S. that have traveled into the state to assist in the region.  They are great people who are especially important as they go into some of the areas often forgotten as the media focus is on the immediate coast.

♦ A Poke in The Ribs – yesterday, as we were exiting a convenience store, AJ poked me in the ribs and nodded toward a guy at the gas pump leaning on the edge of his truck bed in a praying position.  The truck was towing a trailer with the traditional gear of a pool service, yellow chlorine containers, skimmer poles and vacuum hoses etc.
No words needed between us, we’ve seen that stance a hundred times. “Hey, brother, you ok?”  “How ya making out?”  In the seconds between the next word, you know… you just know… it’s something about the eyes.
Pool-man Mike lives in an inland area, south Lehigh Acres, and services customers in Bonita Springs.  We never thought about pool-man stress til that moment. Family ok, but house is wrecked, no power, and can’t quit working because he can’t lose his accounts.  Many of his customers are without power, and he’s trying to keep their pools from turning into fancy concrete ponds.  Many are a mess with debris.  Strong work ethic.
“No power?” … “You got a generator?”… “etc.”?
Nope, and pool-man Mike has no time to focus on his own needs because he’s got to keep the business afloat.  Kids at home, school is cancelled next week too; momma stressed and also working.  They need to work, everyone does.
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When dealing with crisis there’s a delicate space between between joy (celebration) and guilt perhaps never more understandable than the moment when power is restored to your home, yet you are thinking of those still waiting; those still suffering.
Power returned today to casa del Sundance thanks to assistance from three Michiganders, two West Virginians, one Pennsylvanian, and a salty fellow from Gainesville Florida -super smart starfish thrower- with a seriously well designed, and custom engineered, narrow profile track and bucket lift.
Darn I wish I had taken a picture of that gear (phone was dead). It looks a little like this, but is smaller (about size of mini-bobcat); compact and seriously purposeful.  Incredible build and functionality with terrain tracks, generator and a narrow profile; super maneuverable.
With this gear we’re able to squeeze down the easement space between rows of powerless houses, and put the bucket operator into tight spaces clearing fallen trees from under, around, and over the space were power line crews need to travel.  Effectiveness is quadrupled.
♦More fuel is now available.  This is a major improvement. Approximately 50 to 75% of gas stations now seem generally well supplied and it doesn’t take more than a few drive-bys to find fuel.  Stores beginning to resupply, and more people returning to SWFL.
I’m actually amazed at how many residents evacuated, then stayed away for so long.  The neighbor to neighbor communication seems to be the contact to bring them back; with many choosing to stay out until power is restored.  This is significantly different from prior Hurricane impact events.  Usually people return quickly (48-72 hrs); this time a much larger percentage of the population choose to remain in a holding pattern (wherever they evacuated to) awaiting information.
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As I shared yesterday:

[…] With most hurricane power outages you can find something, usually a tree, that has actually severed the top power line on a neighborhood grid. If the tree is massive, with or without taking down the pole, the tree has to be removed first. If the power company has to remove a tree before they can restore power to an ordinary residential neighborhood, they drop the priority to “some later time”, and move on to quicker repairs… Ergo most of those without power, end Day #3 (September 13), will not see power until their rotation on the tree removal list comes up; sometime around the end of the month (two weeks away), or later.

A case in point.  Check this one out:

You can click on that image to make it massive.
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This is a great picture:

Heck, that’s a blessed picture.  Bigly.

If anyone with with an analysis background has the time to run some stats, I’d love to see what your results would be to overcoming this fuel problem and the duration of it.
teekay has some initial thoughts:
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Did you ever read that little story about the kid walking down the beach throwing starfish in the water, when the old man says he can’t save all of them, so why bother?  Well, that a parable for Day #2 in Irma’s impact zones.  That parable also explains why this follow-up is reaching y’all well after midnight on Sept. 13th.
[Hurricane relief work is a little like keeping a farmers schedule. As I understand it, the work schedule of a farmer extends the necessary shift until the job is done, which has entirely nothing to do with a clock…]
I said yesterday I thought that 50% of the residents of South Florida might be home.  I was wrong.  That estimation was overstated. Maybe a third of the regular residents were home on Day #1 – a few more showed up today (Day #2)…. and based on south-bound traffic observed, a whole bunch more are in in route tonight.
They ain’t going to like what awaits.
First things first.  Yes, we found fuel – it took driving past 47 empty gas stations to find one open with fuel.   More than 100 cars (easily) were around the block for this station at 8am.  We dispatched a volunteer to wait in line, and went about doing what we could w/out fuel, SCOUT.  Three hours later 40 ten gal cans caught up with us.  Oh, and another station opened around noon.
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We are on the road headed back in to coastal SWFL now.  We have immediate wellness checks and assessments to conduct.  I will touch base later.
At 500 AM EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 28.9 North, longitude 82.6 West. Irma is moving toward the north-northwest near 18 mph (30 km/h) and this motion is expected to continue through Tuesday. On the forecast track, the
center of Irma will move near the northwestern coast of the Florida Peninsula this morning, cross the eastern Florida Panhandle into southern Georgia this afternoon, and move through southwestern Georgia and eastern Alabama tonight and Tuesday.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 75 mph (120 km/h) with higher gusts. Additional weakening is forecast, and Irma is expected to weaken to a tropical storm this morning and to a tropical depression by Tuesday afternoon.
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There are millions of people without power throughout central and south Florida. As a consequence people are turning to broadcast livestreams available from local media on video platforms.  Here’s two livestream media sources for Tampa and Orlando:
♦West Coast –  Tampa, Bradenton, St. Pete (Manatee and Hillsborough Counties) via ABC Action News:

♦Central Florida – Orlando, Lakeland, Orange, Polk, Osceola, Citrus Counties via WFTV News 9:
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My apologies to those who have written complaining that CTH is not providing the comprehensive coverage of political news.  Unfortunately, home base for all current research consists of three duffel bags, a laptop, generator and a well suited 4×4; loaded with power tools, emergency kits and assorted roughneck supplies.
I will make every effort to return to political research and analysis – as soon as current logistics, community safety and overall concerns with safety/instability are abated.
Fortunately Hurricane Irma is weakening rapidly as the storm made contact with the Florida peninsular at Marco Island.

At 500 PM EDT (2100 UTC), the center of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 26.2 North, longitude 81.8 West. Irma is moving toward the north near 14 mph (22 km/h), and a north-northwestward motion with an increase in forward speed is expected by tonight, with that motion continuing through Monday. On the forecast track, the eye of Irma should move near or over the west coast of the Florida Peninsula through Monday morning. Irma should then move inland over northern Florida and southwestern Georgia Monday afternoon.
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The northern eye wall of Hurricane Irma is going to impact Marco Island (the Southern point of Collier County), within the hour.  Now is the time to move into your interior safe room for those in Collier County.    Collier residents will have about 2 to 3 hours of peak damaging winds beginning  about 45 minutes from now.
At 200 PM EDT (1800 UTC), the center of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 25.6 North, longitude 81.8 West. Irma is moving toward the north near 12 mph (19 km/h), and a north-northwestward motion with a further increase in forward speed is expected later today, with that motion continuing through Monday.
On the forecast track, the center of Irma should move near or over the southwest and west coast of the Florida Peninsula later today through tonight. Irma should then move inland over northern Florida and southwestern Georgia Monday afternoon.
Maximum sustained winds are near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Irma is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. While weakening is forecast, Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane while it moves near or along the west coast of Florida. (link) (more…)

Today is a good opportunity to reference the conversations we have discussed about this in the lead up to today.  In 1960 Hurricane Donna drained the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers during her NE turn toward Jacksonville.   Ironically That was September 10th, 1960.  The tidal flows will play a role in the pending Storm Surge.
Tampa Bay, moments ago:

The top of the storm is moving water away from the gulf beaches and barrier islands in proportion to the timing of the tide.  However, all of that water -along with the water carried by the storm’s energy, will come back in with the backside of the storm.  And if that times with an incoming tide….  The results are a fast and widespread storm surge, even up river as all the water piles up.
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