Hurricane Omar - 17 hours and counting

Check this .... http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/carb/loop-ft.html

Canned food...check
Cash...check
Drinking water...check
flashlights...check
candles....check
lanterns...check
extra gas and full tank...check
generator...check
radio...check
tie down everythign/clear patio...check
200' up and no plywood for sliding glass doors.....UHOH
bottle of chilled Grand Marnier in the freezer..check LOL

If this storm goes past CAT 2, im gonna head over to my friends house, more concrete, smaller wndows!!

OMAR is gonna flood the place out, im gonna be on bucket & mop patrol all night, this is gonna be interesting!

Make sure your friends and family have a secure place to ride OMAR out. Help others prepare!

Anything i forgot?

As a renewable energy guy, it pained me to buy a gas generator, but until i get my mobile solar generator down here, its gonna have to do for now!

I'll be doing updates as the day progresses, i have a great view of c-sted and buck island, im gonna see OMAR approach!

Good luck and be safe all. GET PREPARED!!!

Cory K.

Taking a break from preparations . . . just took down the hammock and moved some lose potted plants. Now we need to move the scrap wood that our neighbor has sitting out from building a deck (he thinks they'll be fine tucked into the corner but I'm not comfortable with that).

Goal wha yo ras doing up??????? I ga go wuk! Mel will call u

Cory: Make sure you have documents (passport, etc), any prescription medication (not a good idea for the booze until the storm is over- you will need your faculties), full tank of gas and good sturdy shoes.

I went to immunization and got a tetanus booster the day before Lenny--knew I was way out of date, and just in case...

Linda, I'm glad you and Ric will be at the hotel... I wish we had known about your cat, you could have brought her up here. One of our three cats is an indoor/outdoor cat and she is being a little pissy about having to stay in. All of the animals are freaked out, both dogs and two of the cats are pressed against my feet right now. I can no longer feel my toes.

We are as prepared as we are going to be... gas for the genny, plenty of food and drinking water, important papers and favorite books are watertight. It pays to pay attention to the old timers when making your hurricane kit. 🙂

Good luck, everyone!

In today's Avis the National Weather Service meteorologist said we will be getting "deep tropical moisture"

Last check of the internet before we take down our Broadband VI box on the roof . . . best wishes to everyone for a safe night.

Hi, this is my first hurricane. We have been getting things ready. Our old 2 floor building up behind cuzzins and subway off of back street on STT seems to be a fortress so we are staying here. Would you hunker down on the upper (flooding) or lower (roof gone)? Its not too late to do either one. Thanx for any advice.
- congasan

Good luck everyone.

I just drove from the industrial park near the airport to Mt. Welcome east of C'stead. Roads were holding up on the route we took which was East Airport road to 75.

The flooding in my basement apartment has begun, takes a lot of water for that to happen...I got my tenant a wet vac but of course when power goes out that option goes away and its going to get worse.

I decided to leave my Satellite Dishes up, hopefully that wasn't a mistake although as I drive around the island I notice that all dishes seem to still be up.

Wooden shutters are shut, food and water bought, hand crank flashlight/radio ready to go, batteries charged on everything chargeable and little 2 stroke generator also ready to go. This is my first hurricane, excitedly nervous here on Mt. Welcome STX.

Good luck everyone, lets hope nothing bad happens to anyone.

Sean

Just got home from the marina. So many boats came in. Poor guys that needed to work outside all day long.

Just got a view on the weather channel of St. Croix flooding. It looked pretty bad. But on the good side it looks like the storm continues to go further east. STT looks like 50 MPH winds or so. St. Croix a little more and more rain.

I just hope everything is OK as I am stuck here in San Juan.

Billd

Shutters are up, laundry done, state side shower taken!! All ready!!!

It's 10:50 and the Buccaneer is ready. All the guests have been moved to the main building and will gather in the lobby (safest place) at 11:00 pm to ride it out. About 70 guests and 25 staff. Our fall back position is the laundry and what we loving call the "dungeon" which is completely underground. Hope it doesn't come to that.

The greathouse at the Buccaneer is amazing. I'm sitting in my office on the ground floor, no windows and the building is not budging. But the noise is picking up as the wind gets stronger. I have a sleeping room right next to the lobby and I'm supposed to try to get some sleep, my shift starts at 7 am, but it's hard to relax. And the satellite is gone so no TV.

Weather Channel just stated Omar has been upgraded to a Cat 3

weatherunderground is showing 70 mph winds at buccaneer. also looks like the eye has missed the island by about 20 miles to the southeast, and eye should be moving away now. so hopefully what you have now is as bad as it will get.

Our wind gauge is showing 110 mph winds.

You must be reading it in km/h I've been following the Bucaneer's weathergauge here. Top winds of 80.5 mph

http://www.wunderground.com/swf/Rapid_Fire.swf?units=both&station=KVICHRIS5

6:10 am Thursday. Well it's all over. I finaly took a benedryl at about 12:00 and slept until 5. The hotel is still standing, a little damp and our trees have has a pruning, but it all looks pretty good so far. the one thing you can't describe is the noise!

A WAPA spokesperson on the radio said that you all lost power on St Croix at one point ("the plant went down" ) and that over here only some feeders (7) were out. We never lost power on the east end of St Thomas. Public Works called for road crews- I have a feeling the flooding was the big problem.

any other feedback from stt?

billd

Here on STJ (south side), we lost power only briefly and everything is fine. No worse than a bad storm, and better than after the four days of rain we had mid-September!

STT, power on, cable working, phones working, sun is out with some clouds & unless there is some damage somewhere from flooding - all is well.

Anybody on the east end of St. Croix. We are still in the states and heard that the east end got the worst of it.