the few photos I saw looked like a war zone. 
According to NYTimes, damage was extensive but not nearly so bad as St-Martin. Cuba reported 10 fatalities. The storm surge swept 600 yards into Havana. Tourists giving high marks for the rescue efforts.
According to some reports, 90% of St-Martin structures are gone, France Macron to visit Tuesday, sending an additional 250 troops and a hospital ship will be making way on Tuesday as well.
I have 2 brothers and several friends in Florida.
My youngest brother lives in a rural gated community south east of Tampa. He reports no damage and still has power. One of his sons lives one block from the Manatee river. He reports minimal damage and has no power. The other son lives in a condo on the bay and was evacuated. He has not returned yet.
My other brother lives in rural Palm Beach county west of Lake Worth. He has some damage, fence torn down, trees toppled, shed smashed by a tree, and has no power. Some older houses in his area lost their roofs.
Friends in Orlando report more serious damage, but the phone conversation was not totally intelligible and ended abruptly in a loud hum (landline). No cell call gets through.
A friend in the Ft. Lauderdale reports roof damage, downed trees, some flooding, no power and impassable roads.
My youngest brother lives in a rural gated community south east of Tampa. He reports no damage and still has power. One of his sons lives one block from the Manatee river. He reports minimal damage and has no power. The other son lives in a condo on the bay and was evacuated. He has not returned yet.
My other brother lives in rural Palm Beach county west of Lake Worth. He has some damage, fence torn down, trees toppled, shed smashed by a tree, and has no power. Some older houses in his area lost their roofs.
Friends in Orlando report more serious damage, but the phone conversation was not totally intelligible and ended abruptly in a loud hum (landline). No cell call gets through.
A friend in the Ft. Lauderdale reports roof damage, downed trees, some flooding, no power and impassable roads.
I have a friend in South Florida with relatives in Cienfuegos Cuba (pretty far south of ground zero). Phone communications between the US and Cuba are normally iffy, but zero now.
I was in south Florida when hurricane Andrew destroyed south Dade county.
Several bands of armed looting gangs were making matters worse when the word got out the the National Guardsmen patrolling the streets had "blanks" (makes a bang and cycles the gun but fires no bullet) in their guns.
The gangs started robbing the Guardsmen for their assault rifles. Within a day the TV showed some gang members who "accidentally fell down" then "accidentally fell" a few more times. One maybe "accidentally" hit his head on the hood of a cop car. Some Guardsmen might have carried some unauthorized ammunition. The looting continued, but became far less widespread.
This crap always happens. The worst stories were the gangs robbing and shooting rescue workers after Katrina hit New Orleans. Reveals the true worst examples of the human race.
I was in south Florida when hurricane Andrew destroyed south Dade county.
Several bands of armed looting gangs were making matters worse when the word got out the the National Guardsmen patrolling the streets had "blanks" (makes a bang and cycles the gun but fires no bullet) in their guns.
The gangs started robbing the Guardsmen for their assault rifles. Within a day the TV showed some gang members who "accidentally fell down" then "accidentally fell" a few more times. One maybe "accidentally" hit his head on the hood of a cop car. Some Guardsmen might have carried some unauthorized ammunition. The looting continued, but became far less widespread.
This crap always happens. The worst stories were the gangs robbing and shooting rescue workers after Katrina hit New Orleans. Reveals the true worst examples of the human race.
Here are a few videos from the resort on the northern end of Captiva Island Florida. This island is only a few feet above sea level and saw extensive damage from hurricane Charlie, which was a much milder storm.
I am surprised at the lack of severe damage. I have seen worse from unnamed summer storms. We were supposed to be headed to this place tomorrow, but we can't reach anyone at the resort by phone, and I'm sure that the power is still out. Either way, the roads through Florida are likely to be jammed with evacuees returning home.
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The beach cam from the center of the island is back up, and also looks quite normal. It's a rather nice day.....except no boats, jet skis or other watercraft in the water or people on the beach.....I take that back, at 5:04 PM I saw 2 people walking south on the beach.
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I am surprised at the lack of severe damage. I have seen worse from unnamed summer storms. We were supposed to be headed to this place tomorrow, but we can't reach anyone at the resort by phone, and I'm sure that the power is still out. Either way, the roads through Florida are likely to be jammed with evacuees returning home.
YouTube
YouTube
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The beach cam from the center of the island is back up, and also looks quite normal. It's a rather nice day.....except no boats, jet skis or other watercraft in the water or people on the beach.....I take that back, at 5:04 PM I saw 2 people walking south on the beach.
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Don't believe the hype! The damage is not bad at all. Yesterday we drove down the middle of Florida from Gainesville to Ft Myers - all on the back roads. Yes, there is wind damage with a fair number of large oaks broken or pushed over. Mostly is was trees in soft, wet ground pushed over from the wind. Down south, all the felled trees point south and you can really see the wend direction. There was water across only two places in over 250 miles, and that was passable.
We saw some flooding of camp ground up at the top of the Peace River and that was about it. No wind borne structural damage, no cars or boats blown away, no trailers or RV destroyed, not even a potting shed knocked over. Power was out in many places, but we got electricity restored here last night just in time for dinner.
That's it, really. A lot of trees pushed over, broken branches, localized flooding. And still very little gasoline. Just before the storm hit, my neighborhood was projected to get 6-9 feet of storm surge flooding. We got nothing, not as much as an inch and the river and canals never overflowed.
All in all, the state was very lucky. Or the whole thing was vastly over-hyped.
We saw some flooding of camp ground up at the top of the Peace River and that was about it. No wind borne structural damage, no cars or boats blown away, no trailers or RV destroyed, not even a potting shed knocked over. Power was out in many places, but we got electricity restored here last night just in time for dinner.
That's it, really. A lot of trees pushed over, broken branches, localized flooding. And still very little gasoline. Just before the storm hit, my neighborhood was projected to get 6-9 feet of storm surge flooding. We got nothing, not as much as an inch and the river and canals never overflowed.
All in all, the state was very lucky. Or the whole thing was vastly over-hyped.
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