A night with Hurricane Milton

Winds of change . . . 

Leave it to a hurricane to boot me out of my doldrums and make me write again.

Well, it’s actually my scorecard from the night Hurricane Milton roared past us. My lovely and brave wife Amy and I hunkered down in a safe house we rented in Palm Harbor, Fla. Only a few miles away from home, it was about 50 feet higher in elevation, so we’d have no storm surge issues there.

Radar imagery of Milton; the blue dot shows our location.

Our comfortable home in the Daventry Square neighborhood was in a mandatory evacuation zone, so with our dog Draco at our sides, off we went. When we returned, our house was undamaged for the most part. 

Draco surveying the scene from the rental house. It looks calm out there, but conditions were going to get much worse.

So, if you like, please come along and "enjoy" Milton with us! And don't forget about our hurricane experiences as told in the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter!

My scorecard:

Oct. 11, 2024

  • Got an extreme wind warning via our iPhones about 6:38 p.m. Through 9:30 p.m. The first time such a warning ever has been issued for the Tampa Bay area. Possible winds of 115 mph.
  • Power surge at 6:45 p.m. Came back on quickly.
  • Power off at 7:58 p.m. Back on, then off, then back on. Sigh. Might have been another transformer exploding.
  • Increasing strong winds. We relocated from the comfortable living area to the master bedroom, which probably offers us more protection from damaging winds.
  • Power off again at 8:05 p.m. Back on right away.
  • Another power “burp” at 8:11 p.m. Off then right back on. Again a minute later. Again at 8:13. Wow … power burp! I like that term!
  • Reading online that Hurricane Milton made landfall at Siesta Key, Fla. About 8:30 p.m. Another power burp. Still on.
  • Power off at 8:42. Back on in a minute. Crazy.
  • Yet another power burp at 9:03 p.m. I wonder why …
  • At about 9:15 p.m., we heard a bunch of booming noises outside. We went to investigate. On the pool patio deck outback, it appears the wind had blown a bunch of furniture toward the door. That’s all we could see. There could be other issues, but we can’t see. Power flickered again. And there it goes again, at 9:23 p.m. Whoa … wind!
  • Guess what? Power off and on. There it goes again. Again. We keep hearing bumping noises outside. Don’t know what, but it’s probably something on the pool deck. Big tree in the front yard seems to be OK. The wind is blowing it away from the house. I am so thankful for that.
  • Things were OK for a while, but yet another power burp at 9:59 p.m. Then a couple flickers. Another burp that booted me offline.
  • Power burp at 10:05 p.m. that shut down our TV connection and Internet connection.
  • I was checking the power outage map, and it shows we are among the fortunate. There are plenty of places right around us without power. And there it goes again — off, back on.
  • Yow! HUGE wind gust at 10:08 p.m. Blowing all sorts of things around outside! Then it settled. I have no idea of the wind speed, but I’m guessing it’s the worst gust we’ve experienced.
  • Another power burp at 10:10 p.m. Amy conjectures there may be something swaying and striking a powerline somewhere. Could be …
  • Power flicker, surge, off, back on at 10:18 p.m. Thought this was it, for sure. Glad I’m wrong. Well, wrong for a minute. Off again, the back on. Absolutely crazy. Wind still vicious! My dog is scared. We also continue to get flash flood warnings; they come with an obnoxious loud alert siren via iPhone that scares Draco even more.
  • Off, on, off, on, off again with the power. On then off. No, really. And at 10:24 p.m., it’s off. Really off.
  • “Is this it, finally?” Amy asks. Wind blows and blows; and man, it’s dark. Really dark! Too bad I can’t see the stars. 
  • Yes, the electricity was off at 10:24 p.m.
  • I’m down to a little more than half power on my iPad. I can’t use it to get onto the Internet without Wi-Fi. I have been saving the power on my iPhone in case we have no electricity for an extended time. So I may shut down my iPad to preserve its battery life. Yes, I will. I’ll return when I can.
  • That was the extent of my scorecard for the night. 

Right down the street from our home. We were so fortunate!


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