Milton Strikes Brandon!

I overreacted to Hurricane Ian 6 years ago and boarded up every window for a disappointing near miss. I damaged my house with screw holes more than the storm did. Since then, we have had several hurricanes and tropical storms that also missed Brandon, a suburb of Tampa. Even Helena just 10 days prior to Milton slammed Tampa coast but Brandon is 15 miles inland. Blew a lawn chair over.

Naturally, I was not overly concerned about hurricane Milton. I think the 24-7 news for the days or a week it takes for a storm to develop and reach Florida only fuels the hype and paranoia. Really, watching a tropical depression form and move at 9 mph? Even watching baseball or golf is more exciting. However, Milton had a different feel to it. Record rapid development to category 5 and spaghetti models all converged on Brandon gave me pause.

It took me a couple years to use up the plywood I bought for hurricane Ian. I rebuilt a couple trailers and put a floor in the garage attic. Wife wanted it gone. So, I got it gone. Then I get a text from the wife: “Do we have any plywood?” Sigh.

Of course, the shelves were bare at all the lumber shops. I saw some guys loading up wood siding, which is basically nicer looking plywood. I ask a couple guys how much it was. No one knew, no one cared. A bought a couple sheets for 3 times the cost of plywood. I didn’t care either.

I even got lucky and found a box of Tapcon screws by the register. Screw shelves were bare too. Other prep included filling the tub with water, tying down EVERYTHING outside that could turn into projectiles, even garbage cans, and especially lawn chairs. I bought lawn soil to block the doors. Works like sandbags but I can use it on the lawn and garden after the storm. I don’t have a sand box.

The good news is Milton shifted south so instead of a 15-foot storm surge directly on Tampa, the winds blew the water out of the bay. Recall how flat Florida is. I can stand on a can of tuna and see Miami. The bad news is the strongest winds of Milton T-Boned Brandon. If you look closely just east of Tampa, you can see the red part of the hurricane centered over Brandon. Winds up to 115 mph. We lost power around 10:00 Wednesday evening.

I left a small section of the patio doors uncovered to see: Nothing. Totally black.

As some of my 13 readers might recall, we are working on hybrid aircraft propulsion. And we needed a truck to haul aircraft around to customers and airshows. It was only fitting to buy a hybrid truck or risk being labelled hypocritical. Our Ford F-150 Hybrid truck has 4 x 110 outlets on 2 circuits plus a 220-volt outlet and a 1.5 Kwh battery and built-in generator and invertor. I ran two extension cords through the garage: One circuit to the fridge and second for some LED lights, and phone/notebook power. Worked perfectly! We have essential power with some 30 gallons of fuel plus 15 gallons of back-up boat gas in the garage.

I just plugged in the extension cords, activated the circuits, and turned off the truck A/C, lights, and radio. The battery powers the house until it drains then the truck starts and runs on a high idle to continue powering the hose and recharging the battery. Then repeats. Effortless. Great for a few hours. But wait, it is four days later, and we still do not have power restored, and the power company says maybe 4 more days! And there is basically no gas in Tampa and mile-long lines and 2-4 hour waits to refill. Most gas stations didn’t have power to pump the gas, others ran out early.

Checking the truck gas gauge showed 1/4 tank after 4 days. Good for another day plus 3 days of gas in the garage. Good planning. And cold beer in the fridge. Oh wait, I drank it all. Bad planning.

I got up real early today and found a gas station open with gas and no lines. Filled 23 gallons for $71.47. Under $20/day for emergency power. And a LOT quieter than all the generators running 24-7 in the neighborhood.

If you have seen the news, you know how bad the Helena-Milton combo punch was. So, perhaps we were lucky. Just outside the evacuation zone, and just outside the flood zone. We had minor damage, and a tree just missed the truck. But now we are drying out. I added more gigabits to my phone’s hotspot. We have essential power. Water needs to be boiled due to overloaded or out of service sewer systems and we have been instructed to minimize flushing and showers. We won’t have power for a few more days. Lost some small trees and lots of branches. 3+ days of yardwork. But all first-world problems. Bonus: I get to use the BBQ grill every day!

My Dayton-Alabama trip to continue the Merlin fuel system upgrade installations and testing has been postponed. I need to be here for the family and the truck needs to be here for house power. I expect by Friday I can hit the road again. And I am getting a lot of work done working on the kitchen table thanks to T-Mobile and the Ford-powered coffee maker.

Cheers,

CHIP

Oh, and the hockey rink lost its ice!

Florida’s plan for federal funding….