The hurricane had a direct hit at Sarasota, Florida about 9 p.m. last evening. Within a few minutes, we lost power. But, we knew the eye was 60 miles south of us. That was a critical bit of information for us. We knew the wind and rain would be strong but not the same as having a direct hit. It had rained all day with some wind but almost immediately the wind and rain came in like expected. The ground was already saturated and the back of our condo began looking like a river.
We have new storm doors and windows but only wind proof up to 77 mph. Milton came into land at 120 mph. We expect the wind around our condo was close to 100 (at least gusts were that high). Ron spent two days preparing the windows and doors so only the patio door leaked (underneath and from the top). We piled up old bedspreads that I used for packing around mirrors and furniture when we moved last year. There was nothing more we could do without power so we went to bed. We could hear the wind and rain pounding on the windows. I awoke a couple of times and checked to be sure the sunroom was not flooding. Ron said he also got up twice and checked it.
When I woke at 7 a.m. hardly a leaf was moving and there was no rain. The sun came up and it has been a beautiful day but the wind came up strongly again. It was good for me to spread out the bedspreads over the lawn furniture so it could dry. When I can, I will wash them to use again for some purpose. They certainly came in handy this time.
My next door neighbor said they had the same problem with their back door and several other condos had rain come in also. It hit our end of the building first and water poured down the wall, causing rain to come in from the top of our doors.
Leigh Ann and Tatum never lost power in Tampa but she did have a window in her guest room to blow out. They put a mattress and furniture against it to prevent flooding.
We spent the day without power but opened windows so we had a very comfortable day. We did some clean up.
We are just hearing that another storm could potentially form next week. It is just too soon to know but Florida has been beaten with storms this year.
Thanks to all who wrote and asked about us, phoned and even offered to come get us. But, we did not feel we were at great risk as we were not in an evacuation or flood zone. Traffic was at a 2 mph leaving to drive north the last two days before the storm. Gas was low at many gas stations and hotels were full so we could not risk being stuck along the road in the storm. Almost all of our neighbors in our building decided to stay for the same reasons.
We are blessed. We are thankful. We are doing fine but hope we don't have to go through this again this year.
With love and much appreciation!
