Sunday

 

We returned our 36 inch drain and ordered this 48 inch linear drain. I haven't had time to open it.

Our neighbor woke up to a flood Saturday morning, unrelated to the hurricane or other weather. A shut off valve under her vanity popped off sending a stream of water gushing into her house and out the garage. John and I were preparing to go for a run/trike ride when the daughter came running, "Help, help. The house is flooded and we don't know where the shut off valve is." I hopped up and located it immediately and shut it off. I found the source of the leak and placed a bucket under it while the water slowly stopped. There were 2 inches of water in the bathroom and an adjacent room. There was a water trail through the bedroom carpet, into the kitchen, and out the side door to the garage. I fetched our shop vac, taking time to empty the canister from our debris and swap out the dry filter for the wet one. I vacuumed for about 45 minutes, getting about 30 gallons of water up. I emptied our 6 gallon vac 5 times. The daughter used towels for the kitchen and garage. Within an hour, they had the mold and water rescue folks at their house, which is amazing considering the thousands of residents in Pinellas County who were damaged by Helene's flood waters. I think I read 12,000 homes significantly damaged or uninhabitable.

We read an article on oven-baked hamburgers, so we gave it a try. Pretty good on fresh-baked sunflower bread.

Now, we await Milton, another soon-to-be hurricane in the gulf heading our way. 

8:00 a.m. Sunday forecast

As of 8:00 am Sunday, it's predicted to be a weak category 3, landing somewhere between Perry Florida in the big bend region and Marco Island in southwest Florida. We are located very near the center of the cone of probability.

The most likely track as of 8:00 am Sunday is for Milton to pass just south of Pass A Grille barrier island and cross the southern tip of St. Petersburg and pass through south Tampa before heading to Orlando and south of New Smyrna Beach on the Atlantic coast. This path is about 25 miles to our south, putting the most dangerous winds and storm surge into Tampa Bay and away from us in the northern part of Pinellas county.

11:00 a.m. Sunday forecast

The 11:00 a.m. Sunday forecast is improving for us. The cone is moving south, situated between Cedar Key to almost the tip of Florida. We are still very near the center of the cone, but 75 miles from the center is better than 25 miles.

The center of the track now passes between Sarasota and Venice, well below Tampa Bay.

The 2:00 p.m. Sunday forecast is about the same.

The track now passes near Wauchula and exits near Palm Bay.

The path hits south of Sarasota, about 65 miles south of us.

5:00 p.m. forecast

The 5:00 forecast shows Milton moving back north slightly.

The center path now runs directly into Siesta Key,  just below Sarasota, above Wauchula, and exiting below Cape Canaveral. Siesta Key is about 65 miles south of us.

8:00 p.m. forecast

unchanged