Michael is expected to be a "major" Category 3 or 4 when it comes ashore. Now if you don't know Category 3 will take many roofs off and uproot many, many trees. Category 4 is 10 times worse and will destroy many houses and commercial buildings, take out almost all the power supply, and leave us all in the dark with no power, many with no water or shelter...and that's for those of us that aren't actually on the coast.
At this moment, it looks like Michael will come ashore to the east of my home. Now, "the east is least and the west is a mess and dead on is just that!"
How far to the east Michael will come ashore is still up for debate, 2 days out. If it's 10 or 30 miles east we'll still get much, much, damage. If it's 30 to 50 miles east, damage will be less and more scattered. If it's more that it'll be bad for a few, but not too bad for most. OTOH, if it comes in west it's bad, very bad, 50 plus miles out!
I'm hoping it'll be far east, but I fear it will be right through my front yard. I'm praying for all the people to my east, even while praying we'll be spared. God knows this is hard.
I've got most of my prep done. My hurricane box is filled with non-perishable food and I've filled a bunch of clean gallon milk containers with clean water. I've got a new bottle of propane for my camp stove. I've charged my batteries, tablets and laptop. I'd consider making a visit to New Orleans or Jackson MS, but with Mom and Synde's cat, I don't think I can go.
I wish I'd bitten the bullet and had a whole home generator installed, or at least bought a portable generator...although, I've always doubted how much they help. Natural Gas has always stayed on here, through Dennis, Ivan, Katerina, Opal, all of them, so gas would be good for a generator to keep HVAC and electricity up.
I'm hoping the roof stays on and doesn't spring any leaks. It's 14 years old with a 20 year warranty, but the roofer is long gone and the warranty won't be any good if it fails.
Well, at least, the weather reports say we'll have a cold front coming through post Michael to drop temperatures by 10+ degrees. If power goes out, and stays out, maybe we won't die from the heat/humidity. Yes, heat/humidity kills, especially the very old and very young.
Anybody who reads this say a prayer for us all and wish us luck.
