Keep any and all donations to local foundations.

The Red Cross are crooks. Changing their name to the Red Loss would be more appropriate.

Whey were terrible here in Houston as fas as first responders go.

Local and state merchants were terrific.
Even JJ Watt has raised over $30 million so far.

Thumbs down for Red Cross.

https://www.thepinkarmadillo.com/2017/09/08/texas-donate-red-cross/

My wife and I had tickets to fly out to Las Vegas this morning for a Grand Canyon tour but the Tampa airport shut down yesterday and all flights were cancelled. We weren't going to go anyway because we wanted to get back to the house as soon as possible to do a damage assessment and try to repair anything within our ability such as a leaky roof we could cover with tarps to cut down water damage and to fire up the generator to save expensive food in the deep freeze and refrigerator. We went through hurricane Charley in 2004 and didn't want a repeat performance. Charley was a strong category 4 when it made landfall in Punta Gorda. I had been through a number of hurricanes being a Florida native even going back to hurricane Donna when I was 8 years old but Charley scared the shit out of me and the destruction in Punta Gorda was extensive. We didn't have electricity for 3 weeks after Charley. I vowed, never again if I could help it so we loaded up the truck and set our sights on Savannah, Georgia. You know that old saying, "Man plans & God laughs." Well, my old and faithful Suburban started giving me transmission trouble so we settled for Ocala which is where I am now typing this message. The Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites off Highway 75 at exit 350. The power only went down once here for about two hours but otherwise the hurricane has only dumped a lot of rain and not much wind. Maybe 30 to 40 MPH. As I'm writing this Irma has been downgraded to a category 2 and we plan on going back down tomorrow. Hopefully all will be fine and all I will have to do is rig up the generator. My son lives near me and said the power went out around 4 PM. I contacted Frontier airlines and they refunded our money without any hassle which I was relieved to hear. The Grand Canyon tour will have to wait. As far as natural disasters are concerned I'm happy to say that as of now it looks like we dodged the bullet.

Thinking about you guys in Florida for sure.

Irma is mean storm, plus Jose is out there circling. Y'all be safe.

++++ What Ron said on Red Cross and I'll throw FEMA in there. They extract $1500 a year from me for flood insurance. Started out I wasn't in a flood zone two years later I was and it cost me $500 for a survey for the elevation certificate and $500 year for FEMA flood insurance. A few years later it went to $1000 a year. Several years later I stopped paying FEMA and told them to prove I was in a flood zone. Well they would'nt but my local insurance agent was trying to help and discovered I had not be in a flood zone for two years. So FEMA cheated me out of several thousands dollars for failing to disclose I wasn't in a flood zone. Well the next year they conveniently discovered I was in a flood zone and upped the insurance to $1500 a year! I'm looking for a way to pay my house off early to get out from under FEMA. And the crazy thing is I can buy a policy from an independent agent equal to FEMA coverage for $375 a year. They're all crooks!!!!

I'm done!!!

SKWEARpeg wrote:
MidnightJockey wrote:
My wife and I were vacationing in St. Maarten when we were hit by 220 MPH winds early Wednesday morning. After it calmed down a bit, we were taken off the island in a military evacuation operation and are now in San Juan Puerto Rico. The craziness and looting had already begun and we were both, thankful to be alive AND grateful to the US Air Force for their efforts to get us the hell out of there!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dpwu8DSbRs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N4Xzd5gzV8


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZYMjd7XZgk

I never cease to be amazed at the sheer power of mother nature, and the baseness of humanity, when they think they can get away with whatever they want. They were looting in Ft. Lauderdale today, also. Sneakers, instead of food and water.

The wind has been blowing pretty steady in the 25 mph range out of the north here, all day. The bay has been nothing but whitecaps, and we're several hundred miles away from the action. The bay is at it's lowest it's been all summer, because of the wind direction. Thankfully, it looks like it's laying down some. It's no comfort to thise who took it on the chin, but when this is over, there will be a lot of folks in the south end who will be happy it took the track it did.

Hope you and all the great members here made it through okay.

I think all and all, the state came out of it far better then many expected.

Good to see you post, Mark.

Bee Farmer wrote:
++++ What Ron said on Red Cross and I'll throw FEMA in there. They extract $1500 a year from me for flood insurance. Started out I wasn't in a flood zone two years later I was and it cost me $500 for a survey for the elevation certificate and $500 year for FEMA flood insurance. A few years later it went to $1000 a year. Several years later I stopped paying FEMA and told them to prove I was in a flood zone. Well they would'nt but my local insurance agent was trying to help and discovered I had not be in a flood zone for two years. So FEMA cheated me out of several thousands dollars for failing to disclose I wasn't in a flood zone. Well the next year they conveniently discovered I was in a flood zone and upped the insurance to $1500 a year! I'm looking for a way to pay my house off early to get out from under FEMA. And the crazy thing is I can buy a policy from an independent agent equal to FEMA coverage for $375 a year. They're all crooks!!!!

I'm done!!!


That is front pocket money compared to what lots of Florida homeowners have spent since a few politicians got paid under the table and the powers that be separated Florida from the other 49 states about a dozen years ago. (State Farm of Florida, Allstate Floridian, Citizens etc)

The few remaining insurance companies available *quadrupled* my windstorm rates because they were no longer sharing risk with the other 49 states. Did not matter that we helped pay for floods, wildfires, ice storms, earthquakes, tornadoes etc those other states had in the past.

Noah would have to build another ark for my elevation to flood. By the way the crow flies my proximity to a bay is too close. Those pinheads figure out how much the market will bear for windstorm insurance and bill you accordingly.

Since that time this has personally cost me way more money than I could have used to easily pay cash for a new Indian or one of the new touring Yamahas we have been reading about in the last few months.

Yes I have shopped around for multiple years from multiple companies and the homeowners insurance prices go way up from where I am at now

In 2001, the Seattle area had the Nisqually earth quake at a 6.8 magnitude. My home sustained chimney and wall damage. FEMA was at my house within a week and I had a check in two more weeks. I've had a good experience with FEMA.

Not sure why the government has to get involved in insurance. They don't have the best record for doing things properly and efficiently

They get involved because then they can start a "department" to oversee it. Then they can tax it.