(09-06-2017, 12:51 PM)StroudCrowd1 Wrote:

(09-06-2017, 12:46 PM)FBT Wrote: Right now it looks like it will be taking almost the same track that Matthew took last year, and could be a strong CAT3 or a CAT4 hurricane as it passes off the coast.  We saw what Matthew did to the coast between Crescent Beach and Jacksonville, and then the damage it caused in the Carolinas, and that was a weak CAT2 by the time it got to us.  If this is a stronger version, we're in for a significant storm to deal with early next week.  Living in an area where we have oaks that are 75-90 feet tall, and prone to falling over in winds like this,  We are high ground, so I'm not worried about flooding, but we've got a water oak sitting about 15 feet from the front of our house that leans over it.  It held up well for Matthew, but if we start seeing sustained winds above 75 mph here, odds are pretty good that some part of, or all of that tree will be on my roof.  We lost 2 older oaks in our back yard last year, one of which simply snapped in half from the winds.  I've still got more than a dozen trees in the back but only 2 threaten the house.  I'm not too concerned about those trees since they have deeper root systems.  

As far as predicting it will hit anywhere, it's impossible to say anything.  Yesterday it was potentially going into the Keys, then curling back around in the Gulf and coming back across the state.  Earlier today it was going right into Miami and splitting the state.  We're still 5 days out and the cone is more than 200 miles wide.  The hope is that it will continue to shift more to the east, and not track along the coastline as tightly as Matthew did.  

Storms like this are certainly a boon for retail sales of things like water, batteries, canned goods, lumber, and other dry goods.  I went and gassed up all my stuff, and ran the generator with a load to make sure everything is ready to go.  We'll hunker down unless told to do otherwise.  We were fortunate with Matthew to only lose power for a couple of days.  There were areas around us that didn't get their power restored for a week, making cleanup difficult.

If the tree falls on your house, do NOT use Big Ben's tree service. Had oak fall on rental property few weeks back and they charged 6K to get it out of there, and that didn't even include getting stump out, which was on neighbors property. Also, do NOT use Champion roofing for any roofing repairs or tarping. They billed the insurance company $2,500 to tarp a roof that included an hour of labor and it has been a fight ever since.

These companies will gouge the crap out of you in "emergency" situations. It is sad.

I've got a tree guy and a roofer I deal with.  Hopefully I won't need either, but if the tree does fall, it'll be a small fortune to have it removed.  I thought about having it taken down, but my house faces east, and it's the only thing that keeps the electric bill from exploding because it keeps shade on the house until late in the day.  Plus, even my tree guy wants $4k to take that monster down.  So, we just have it limbed up and keep it maintained hoping that that will be good enough.  

I love it post-storm when the "tree surgeons" come out of the woodwork to clean up.  My neighbor had a tree that split in half during Matthew.  The half that came down came close to a privacy fence they have.  By the time these "tree surgeons" were done bringing the tree down, they'd also taken down his privacy fence, and a playset they had in their back yard.  Buyer beware.  Neither would have been at risk with a real tree company (not Big Bens...they're charging prices to cover the cost of their overhead with all the big trucks and heavy duty equipment).

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