Report from the path of Fay!

T

Tad and Toby Jackson

New member
C-Brats,
I thought you might want to get a first hand report from the path of Tropical Storm Fay.

We live on Merritt Is., in Brevard County, FL. Our home is on the west side of M.I. 1 mile south of the SR 520 bridge from Cocoa to M.I. The west end of our house looks out on the ICW at MM 77. We sit 12' above the river and have a seawall that is about 4' above the river. The Indian River is 1 mile wide at this point and the channel is about 2/3 mile from our island.

The weather report at 12:00 just placed Fay approx. 100 miles to the SW of Brevard County with a NE trajectory and a speed of 9 mph. The sustained winds on the coast (Cocoa Beach which is 4 miles to the east of us ) are 27 mph. The current forecast path has Fay exiting the mainland somewhere in Brevard County after 8:00 PM with sustained winds of 50+ mph. Fay has maintained her strength as she crosses FL, probably in part due to the CC rotation which is pulling wind across the warm waters off our coast and feeding the storm. The strongest winds in these hurricanes is on the NE and east sides, again due to the CC rotation.

We are all hoping that this is more of a Rain Event than a Wind Event as we can certainly stand to replenish the Floridan Aquifer which provides so much of the water we consume in Central FL. 50 mph winds should be manageable and tend to clean out those tall palm trees that we can't reach from the ground. Toby has a landscape company, so she will undoubtably be busy with clean ups after things settle down.

Now to the REALLY IMPORTANT facts. The Comfy Dory is resting under her Sunbrella Cover next to our workshop on her trailer. All hatches have been battened down and the plug is pulled. There is the probability that some pine cones will hit her as she sits under a tall pine, but I will just have to deal with that if one hits hard enough to do damage. We've got fuel for the generator and chain saws and a Hurricane stock of food and water if need be.

It's funny and it just goes to show you that you can never predict the course that Mother Nature is going to sling a hurricane on. For the last few days, all but one of the forecast paths put Fay on the west coast of FL. The old Scout motto still applies. "Be prepared"!

I will try and post a little later this evening as things pick up to keep you all "On the Cutting Edge"!

Tad
 
hello tad,
thanks for the update. i have in-laws that live in venice, fl. they appear to be doing fine. good luck with the pine tree. they tend to be soft and generally have a shallow root system. any further updates are always appreciative.
keep your head down, ice up the beer and you should be in good shape.
best regards
pat
 
Thanks for the update Tad and good luck to you. Thinking the storm was going up the west coast I elected to leave the boat in the lift. I hope I don't regret that decision as it appears we may be in for a blow in the NE. I just came in from the dock where I tied the boat down every way possible. After this is over it'll take me and hour to untie it. We've got our house generator all fueled up so hopefully power won't be a problem. The good side to all this is sunday I went fishing and kept a large sail cat for my crab trap. I baited it up Sunday evening and threw it off the dock. Seems like these approaching storms always make the blue and stone crabs active. Before leaving the dock I pulled the trap and it had 18 nice blue crabs in it plus 9 stone crabs. I don't think you could have stuffed another crab in it. We will feast tonight.
 
The best of luck to all who are in the path of the storm. This is a most peculiar storm, in that it has intensified over land. Most of the models now show it going into the Atlantic, and then taking the sharp Westward turn and coming back over land--Northern Florida or S. Georgia.

Tad, do you have a full boat cover over the C Dory or a cover lashed on a frame? Our experience is it is best to remove all canvas. The only exception that I have done to this is a full snap trailer cover I had on a Rinker 270--it had the lift the dot snaps at least every 12 inches--and many places every 6" and was designed for highway trailering to cover the windshield and cockpit--that withstood Ivan and a gusts of over 120 knots.
 
The local news just reported that Mayport Naval Base is evacuating their battle ships and the Air Base is doing the same with their aircraft just leaving rescue helicopters in hangers. With that in mind I went out and untied all the lines and took C-FLE out and it's safely tucked in, in my back yard. I'll sleep better tonight. There was about a 1 foot wind chop on the ICW and we still haven't experienced any rain. Winds appear to be about 15 to 20. As far as Faye some are saying the reason she intensified over land was a result of the recent rains in South Florida and drawing moisture from Lake Okeechobee.
 
Good Morning Brats,

Well, we survived the night! Hurricane Fay (now called the "Jokester" by the local weather forcasters) is still with us. Reports this morning have the center of rotation over Cape Canaveral which is about 5 miles to the north of us and about 3 miles east of us. Sustained winds are rated at 44 mph and she is moving very slowly. Forecasts (HAH) have her moving north along the coast rather than offshore. As hoped for, she has been more of a Rain Event rather than a Wind Event. We had 5.3 inches of rain in the gauge this morning since yesterday morning. The wind is currently blowing north up the ICW at about 20+mph sustained. The Indian River has risen about 2' since yesterday at this time. About 3' below the top of our new seawall (courtesy of Hurricane Wilma in '05). The top of our 60' dock is above water, but the 12' x 20' ramp I built for canoes and such is under water. I hope I drove those pilings in deep enough. The main damage from the storm seems to have occured near the south end of Brevard County in a manufactured home community called Barefoot Bay along the coast of the ICW. Apparently a tornado went through yesterday about 2:00 and severely damaged about 50 units while injuring 3 people...non life threatening. 9,700 homes are without power this morning, again mostly in the south end of the county.
I'm sorry that I was not able to post again yesterday after my initial effort. I just returned home Sunday from a 4 day stay in the hospital where I had 2 surgeries in 2 days for an incisional hernia repair. This storm is truly like Deja Vu for me. Fade back to August of 2004. I went into the hospital for minor surgery to repair an incisional hernia (caused by surgery in May for a ruptured appendix). The Dr. had said that it would be an hour surgery at the most and I would be released that afternoon. After 3.5 hours of surgery and the removal of a 4" section of my small intestine and 4 days in the hospital, I was released the day before Hurricane Charlie came through. I was not able to do any preparation for the storm and had to sit and watch it swirl around us. Fast forward to August of 2008. I was admitted to the hospital last Thursday the 14th for "minor" laproscopic surgery to repair another incisional hernia related to the appendectomy. Again, supposed to be no more than an hour of surgery and release in the afternoon. Guess what! 3 hours of surgery on Thursday to separate adhered intestines and another 2 hours on Saturday to install a mesh patch and I'm released on Sunday ( 4 days again) to return home in the path of Fay with 7 new holes in my belly. I have been only able to watch the progress of this storm over the Indian River from my lounge chair while consuming quantities of pain medication. The good news is that I think they got it right with the hernia this time! I sure hope so as I don't think I can take another repeat.
I just went out and checked the river and it looks as though the eye has passed. The winds have shifted from out of the south to directly from the west which tells me we are on the back side of the storm. Good riddance for us, but I am sure others to the north of us will be dealing with the rain and wind for awhile.
Marvin, I'm glad to hear that you were able to take advantage of a break to get C-FLE off the rack and onto a trailer safely tucked away in your yard. As I remember, it looked like your property sat fairly low. It was somewhat hard to tell from your dock since the property sits so far away. Any problems with flooding there? It sounds as though you have the essentials (crab and beer) well stocked for you to ride it out.

Dr. Bob, thanks for the good wishes. This storm is indeed a peculiar one. Just shows how impotent we are in predicting the outcome from one of Mother Nature's natural wonders. The Sunbrella boat cover fits full length over the boat. It has bungee loops every 3'-4' and does a good job of keeping the boat clean although it does let some water into the cockpit area where the edge of the cover does not come completely over the gunnel. Nothing that a rinse won't take care of this weekend.

Thanks Capt. Pat. Glad to hear your in-laws did alright. I don't think Fay had the same characteristics when it came ashore as it has had while crossing the state and she was sure moving a lot faster on that side of the state. She has sure been a finicky one and I hope that is the worst we have to deal with during the hurricane season. Fortunately, we have not lost power through this storm, so the Heineken beer is resting comfortably at about 40 degrees in the frig. waiting the soothe the savage beast.

I am feeling much better today than I did yesterday, so I hope to be able to post this afternoon with an update from the backside of the storm. Thanks for the good wishes from everyone and we will talk at you later.

Tad
 
Good Morning Brats,

Well, we survived the night! Hurricane Fay (now called the "Jokester" by the local weather forcasters) is still with us. Reports this morning have the center of rotation over Cape Canaveral which is about 5 miles to the north of us and about 3 miles east of us. Sustained winds are rated at 44 mph and she is moving very slowly. Forecasts (HAH) have her moving north along the coast rather than offshore. As hoped for, she has been more of a Rain Event rather than a Wind Event. We had 5.3 inches of rain in the gauge this morning since yesterday morning. The wind is currently blowing north up the ICW at about 20+mph sustained. The Indian River has risen about 2' since yesterday at this time. About 3' below the top of our new seawall (courtesy of Hurricane Wilma in '05). The top of our 60' dock is above water, but the 12' x 20' ramp I built for canoes and such is under water. I hope I drove those pilings in deep enough. The main damage from the storm seems to have occured near the south end of Brevard County in a manufactured home community called Barefoot Bay along the coast of the ICW. Apparently a tornado went through yesterday about 2:00 and severely damaged about 50 units while injuring 3 people...non life threatening. 9,700 homes are without power this morning, again mostly in the south end of the county.
I'm sorry that I was not able to post again yesterday after my initial effort. I just returned home Sunday from a 4 day stay in the hospital where I had 2 surgeries in 2 days for an incisional hernia repair. This storm is truly like Deja Vu for me. Fade back to August of 2004. I went into the hospital for minor surgery to repair an incisional hernia (caused by surgery in May for a ruptured appendix). The Dr. had said that it would be an hour surgery at the most and I would be released that afternoon. After 3.5 hours of surgery and the removal of a 4" section of my small intestine and 4 days in the hospital, I was released the day before Hurricane Charlie came through. I was not able to do any preparation for the storm and had to sit and watch it swirl around us. Fast forward to August of 2008. I was admitted to the hospital last Thursday the 14th for "minor" laproscopic surgery to repair another incisional hernia related to the appendectomy. Again, supposed to be no more than an hour of surgery and release in the afternoon. Guess what! 3 hours of surgery on Thursday to separate adhered intestines and another 2 hours on Saturday to install a mesh patch and I'm released on Sunday ( 4 days again) to return home in the path of Fay with 7 new holes in my belly. I have been only able to watch the progress of this storm over the Indian River from my lounge chair while consuming quantities of pain medication. The good news is that I think they got it right with the hernia this time! I sure hope so as I don't think I can take another repeat.
I just went out and checked the river and it looks as though the eye has passed. The winds have shifted from out of the south to directly from the west which tells me we are on the back side of the storm. Good riddance for us, but I am sure others to the north of us will be dealing with the rain and wind for awhile.
Marvin, I'm glad to hear that you were able to take advantage of a break to get C-FLE off the rack and onto a trailer safely tucked away in your yard. As I remember, it looked like your property sat fairly low. It was somewhat hard to tell from your dock since the property sits so far away. Any problems with flooding there? It sounds as though you have the essentials (crab and beer) well stocked for you to ride it out.

Dr. Bob, thanks for the good wishes. This storm is indeed a peculiar one. Just shows how impotent we are in predicting the outcome from one of Mother Nature's natural wonders. The Sunbrella boat cover fits full length over the boat. It has bungee loops every 3'-4' and does a good job of keeping the boat clean although it does let some water into the cockpit area where the edge of the cover does not come completely over the gunnel. Nothing that a rinse won't take care of this weekend.

Thanks Capt. Pat. Glad to hear your in-laws did alright. I don't think Fay had the same characteristics when it came ashore as it has had while crossing the state and she was sure moving a lot faster on that side of the state. She has sure been a finicky one and I hope that is the worst we have to deal with during the hurricane season. Fortunately, we have not lost power through this storm, so the Heineken beer is resting comfortably at about 40 degrees in the frig. waiting the soothe the savage beast.

I am feeling much better today than I did yesterday, so I hope to be able to post this afternoon with an update from the backside of the storm. Thanks for the good wishes from everyone and we will talk at you later.

Tad
 
Tad sorry to hear about your medical problems but glad you made it through the storm okay. Those hernia's can be a bear to get corrected. You never really know what's in store when they put you to sleep. I went in a couple years ago for a simple out patient procedure to remove a kidney stone and awoke in ICU on a ventilator.

My property is very low and in addition to being located on and island my house is on a little peninsular and only about 8 feet above sea level. We are about 2 hours away from high tide and the tide is about 2 feet from the top of the dock so I suspect it will cover the dock and deposit marsh grass and flotsam in the yard as it usually does. The winds and rain haven't really been and issue yet. The 300' of marsh grass between my front yard and the ICW is complelely covered. Local news has been showing two sailboats that washed up on the beach and have been pretty well destroyed by the wind and surf. I saw one report that and elderly couple try to weather the storm in a houseboat and it broke loose and they had to be rescued.

Last night we heard a bunch of comotion outside and the neighbors 3 pit bulls had gotten out and were killing my daughters cat. This is the third time I've had to deal with this so I called the cops to see what my options were to stop this. I won't put in print what they off the record suggested when they came out to investigate. While here they said that a panther and her cubs had been in the area killing animals. It apparently had migrated in from the adjoining wild life refuge. In the 34 years I've been here I've seen every form of wildlife but never a panther.

The latest news I've seen is they are predicting the storm to go back across the state starting around St Augustine. Hopefully this route will deminish it's intensity before it reaches our friends in NW Florida.
 
9:00 PM Update for Fay

Winds have been steady all day from the west @ 20+mph with gusts to 30+ after the eye passed this morning. Prior to that, when I woke up this morning the wind was coming out of the south as the circulation had passed to the east along the coast in the early hours of the morning.
It has rained off and on all day with heavy rains coming horizontally at times. I have not been able to get out and read the rain gauge this afternoon or evening, but seems to have been 3"-4" more since this morning. I see television reports that there has been as much as 25" in the Melbourne / Palm Bay area and widespread flooding is occuring. Many roads in those areas are also reported closed with some municipal sewage pipes backing up on the barrier islands. The highest point in Brevard County is only 74' above sea level, so there are many low lying areas throughout the county. We are currently in the bottom bands of this storm and it is still strong, but hopefully it will pass overnight.

Tad
 
11:30 AM:

Winds blowing from the SW at 35 mph sustained with gusts to 45 mph. It rained off and on all through last night with the rain coming in horizontal sheets at times from the west directly at our seawall. Moving in from the SW, the waves do not create so much of a backwash wave, but wash past. The rain has let off since earlier this morning...I just looked at the radar and shows a definite break in the rain, but the wind will be here until whole band passes. The rain gauge only showed an additional 3.1 inches this morning, but given its location in the bushes, the horizontal rain and the amounts fallen in nearby areas, I would put our rain total for the last 2 days at 5.3' yesterday and 5'+ up through this morning. I can't remember this much rain in such a short time, even with the 3 hurricanes that we experienced on the east coast in 2004. Too much of it becomes runoff rather than seeping down into the aquifer. I understand that they are experiencing Fay to the north in Volusia and Flagler Counties and the adjacent inland counties. Good luck Marvin! You will probably be getting some of the outside bands if she turns to the west as predicted by our infallible forecasters. I hope your docks and home fare well. This one is taking a long time to get where she's goin!

Tad
 
Glad you made it through Tad. It's about and hour before high tide and the water is even with the top of my dock and about 50' from the house. Fortunately my house is about 3' off grade so we should be okay. The power went off about and hour ago. The jack outside blew and I live on a dead end street so it will probably be days before the power company responds. I've got a hot stick and could reset it myself but for now my generator is providing everything we need. Two years ago I installed a 7 KW propane generator system and right now I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Had the 125 gallon tank topped off yesterday and it took 30 gallons. They charged $213.47 talk about price gouging. They've got a 50 gallon min delivery so thats what I had to pay for. Winds are gusting in excess of 40 MPH and the city has closed many of the bridges. The rain is sort of sporadic it comes down in sheets and then stops for a while. I don't know exactly how many of inches of rain we have received but I've got a fresh water pond in the back yard and expect to see catfish swimming down the driveway any minute. Everything is well here as long as the computer doesn't go down. I've been using the time to route my trip to NC for the gathering.
 
I got this photo from a Florida friend showing the "wind damage" from Fay.
Faywinddamage.JPG

Lots of rain though...
:lol: :lol:
 
ccflyer":31pt60pv said:
I got this photo from a Florida friend showing the "wind damage" from Fay.
Faywinddamage.JPG

Lots of rain though...
:lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

Is that a tipped over beer can!...if so...that's alchohol abuse!

My daughter and potential future son-in-law (PFSIL) are headed to Tampa tonight. I can have them bring more!
 
Marvin,
Sounds like you are prepared with your generator system. I have a 5KW unit that I have to roll up to the house and then put a cover over it and run a 4 way box through a cat door. Basic I know, but I can power up the essentials. I'm sure that you wish that you still had an extra 2' in floor elevation right about now though.
The wind is still blowing steady down here. The end of the band just has not passed and it looks like if the storm turns west, we will still be in the band. Not so much rain right now, but still the same steady wind. It's amazing that you are being hit by the same storm 150 miles or so away.
Take care tonight and keep your powder dry!

Tad
 
marvin4239":2hroxup4 said:
Glad you made it through Tad. It's about and hour before high tide and the water is even with the top of my dock and about 50' from the house. Fortunately my house is about 3' off grade so we should be okay. The power went off about and hour ago. The jack outside blew and I live on a dead end street so it will probably be days before the power company responds. I've got a hot stick and could reset it myself but for now my generator is providing everything we need. Two years ago I installed a 7 KW propane generator system and right now I'm pretty happy with the purchase. Had the 125 gallon tank topped off yesterday and it took 30 gallons. They charged $213.47 talk about price gouging. They've got a 50 gallon min delivery so thats what I had to pay for. Winds are gusting in excess of 40 MPH and the city has closed many of the bridges. The rain is sort of sporadic it comes down in sheets and then stops for a while. I don't know exactly how many of inches of rain we have received but I've got a fresh water pond in the back yard and expect to see catfish swimming down the driveway any minute. Everything is well here as long as the computer doesn't go down. I've been using the time to route my trip to NC for the gathering.
Click to expand...

Hey Marvin,

Just wondering how you are makin' it on your side of the river. Over on the South Bank we have been very fortnate. Still have power. No wind damage. Just wet.

We're heading into work for a bit. Then maybe out on the river :D Just kidding of course.

Hope all is well.

Joel
 
Joel my cable just came back on but power is still off. Tides were pretty high but not as high as the storm last year. Only damage we had was the globe on the porch ceiling fan came loss in the middle of the night and crashed to the floor really getting my attention! I took a couple pics of the tide and will post when I can. One of my buddies has a 45' sailboat in his back yard that broke loose and came to visit. Beach combing will be really good.
 
Most of the flood damage around Jacksonville seemed to be in the somewhat inner city areas where the drainage systems are inadequate and hampered by all the limbs and leaves blown from the trees. As far as little critters the fire ants are murder in my yard right now. Any limbs in the yard are covered with them. We did have small tornados following the storm. A nursing home flooded and had to be evacuated of over 100 patients some by boat but they didn't report any injuries. Things are getting back to normal but still no power.
 
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