Florida & Georgia & Alabama DUer pls check in.

[irisblue]

[CottonBear]

1. The unrelenting wind is very strong and it's raining here in Northeast GA.

There are leaves everywhere. The wind is at a low grade, continuous roar.

Local area public schools are cancelled today and tomorrow. The University of Georgia and other Northeast Georgia area colleges and institutions are also closed today.

I am hearing sirens right now. I think most everyone that is able to do so is staying home and off the roads.

We have a lot of steams and rivers and there is a prediction of flash flooding.

My aunt from Jacksonville, FL is staying in Atlanta with my cousins. There is an historic level of storm surge and flooding down in Jacksonville so I think she'll be staying a while.

My dog hates the rain.

Y'all stay off the roads and indoors if possible!

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Same here in East Point, nr ATL airport. Steady rain, gusty wind. Fingers crossed.

[CottonBear]

3. It's amazing that this storm originated in Africa!

Nature is so incredibly awesome and powerful.

Stay safe in East Point!

I think that falling trees are the biggest hazards.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. Yep, trees. City in a forest is pretty accurate. Neighbor have had some limbs crash.

I'm sure I will not go unscathed.

[Awsi Dooger]

5. I'm still in Orlando area...we never lost power

I'm so glad I drove up here from Miami, where my home is without power and trees are down all over the place.

Last night everyone in my sister's family went to sleep -- or tried to -- but I stayed up and watched Irma through a second floor window for 5 hours. Irma's northeast wall made basically a direct hit over our Winter Garden area but fortunately the eye was disorganized at that point and winds down to low category 2/high category 1.

Trees tilted sideways under constant stress from the same direction but none of them fell. It's a new community and I was impressed at how well designed everything was. Everything felt so solid. Even the choice of trees was superb. That couldn't have been accidental.

While walking the neighborhood this morning you basically couldn't tell a storm had gone through.

There is curfew until 6 PM. Now I have to juggle variables while returning to Miami. I need the roads to be passable. Also obviously I'd prefer power to be restored in my area but that isn't an absolute must. I'll drive at midnight again to defeat the tendency.

Oh, I have to say the local weatherman here was fantastic. His name is Tom Terry. Far superior to Bryan Norcross at any point of his career. I kept the live stream on my computer throughout and watched/mostly listened. Terry picked up on the more eastward track about 8 hours before the official sources relented. He spotlighted every community in the area and put up graphics indicating what they could be expected to face. For example, Terry projected peak winds in Winter Garden at 2:07 AM.

I've never seen anything that specific. It was almost exactly correct.

Terry deserves a national gig.

[CottonBear]

8. It's amazing you didn't loose power!

Hope your place in Miami is OK. Safe travels back home.

[cwydro]

6. Here in NC, we're having very heavy rain. Started about five this morning.

Some gusty winds, but we're going to be spared anything scary.

At this point, I'm just glad I live on a hill.

Friends in Charleston say they're getting quite a blow. (SC)

[irisblue]

7. The storm track models I am seeing have the storm

on the~ West ~side of the Appalachian Mts. pushing the wind&rain into the Midwest. When Ike came through in 2008, we lost power in Columbus for a week. Always amazed me that a hurricane could mess up so far inland.