Our Hurrucane Irma story - learning experience

[Safir]

Waited until after the storm to post this, but wanted to share out experience and thank a few friends who helped out...

Saturday morning things looked BAD, so we tore everything down to take it to my buddies house. He was out of the path of hurricane force winds and had 72 hours of battery back-up plus at least two weeks worth of fuel for his generator. We never lost power at the house, but that just goes to show how unpredictable these things can be 'eh?

These are "before" shots - two halves of the tank


This is what the tank looked like after we removed most coral and fish. one full-size blue cooler and one five-gallon bucket full of rock, colonies, and fish plus a five-gallon bucket full of bagged frags and colonies:


Brings new definition to "heavily stocked top-down reef"



First stop: Friend's established 90G. This tank was already well stocked, so our most valuable colonies and frags went into this tank and our two big tangs went in the sump. Most of the SPS you see is ours:


That tank was only able to hold a fraction of what we had, so we contacted a third friend who lived near them and had a generator. He had a newly cycled 60G and agreed to take what was left. This tank was empty of livestock when we arrived with an "instant reef." Many LPS colonies, SPS frags, a few nice mushrooms, ricordea florida, ricordea yuma, and my big zoa colonies, as well as orchid dottyback and two pairs of clowns, one caramel one onyx:


It was heartbreaking tearing down our tank - I had worked for years to get it to a point where I was really happy with out results. It hurts even more to know that it ended up being for nothing. We lost our three big (3-4") fairy wrasses in the move. Only coral loss so far has been two montipora colonies.

We returned home yesterday. The house and livestock we had to leave are all fine, and we brought the two large tangs back with us. We left everything else to avoid stressing it again before it could recover the move. We are discussing using this opportunity to reboot, remove some aggressive palys and rhodactis, and rework the aquascape before slowly rebuilding.

We are hosting the Tampa Bay Reef Club next month and while there won't be much to look at it will be a great opportunity to start a dialogue about hurricane preparedness and the steps we can take to protect our tanks and their inhabitants.

[kileydaddy]

On a good note, my 90 looks killer at the moment!

[Safir]

Got some nice acros and a killer scroll going on in there Thank you so much for everything you did for our family this weekend.

I just realized, all those acros I was obsessively flipping back over all weekend came from the area affected by Harvey at the beginning of the year - they've had a hell of a year dodging hurricanes.

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by kileydaddy

On a good note, my 90 looks killer at the moment!

Sounds like there could be a fight when someone wants to take their corals back

Good "teamwork" there you two..

[Safir]

I am prepared to take frags of "my" corals back in certain instances

Both of my fosters know they are welcome to frags of most of our colonies, and are first in line when the others "grow up"

One or more of our fish may end up staying as well, to avoid disruption of the reef when we try to get them back out.

Both fosters have fought offers to keep or frag anything thus far, so I may have to hide frags as we pick up

[d0ughb0y]

Originally Posted by Safir

It hurts even more to know that it ended up being for nothing.

well hindsight sure is 20/20.
I would not look at it that way. Just consider yourself lucky, for having good friends, and house not blown away.

[Safir]

We maintain we made the right decision, and are thankful that there was no damage to our property and minimal damage to our friends and neighbors.

[Ron Reefman]

Our Irma story: We just barely dodged a huge bullet!

Most important, we are OK, our house only lost a few shingles, our yard lost a couple of small trees and some other tree limbs and my 4 tank lost a few fish but that's all! And considering how close we came to losing everything, we are very grateful to Mother Nature.

You see, we're about 1.5 miles inland on a peninsula (Cape Coral just west of Ft Myers... closer to the Gulf of Mexico) and 9 feet above sea level. As Irma was to track up the east coast we would be fine, very windy, but fine. As the track migrated west over a couple of days, and as big as Irma was, the wind event looked worse, but still, we can survive a 100+ mph wind. But then the track migrated even further west and we were going to get the 125 to 140 mph wind. But we decided to stay and ride it out. But as Irma got close on Friday, the track moved a bit further west and we would now get storm surge of 1' to 3' above local ground level. Our house is about 2' to 3' above the street, so we might actually get some water in the house. We also became a mandatory evacuation zone so we evacuated to a friends house about 5 miles north and 15' above sea level. Saturday afternoon they adjusted the surge and our house was in a 3' to 6' above ground level surge. Now we knew we would get some water damage and maybe even some serious damage. Sunday Irma was predicted to go a bit further west and run up the coastline and the surge at our house was changed again, now at 6' to 9'. At that level we would likely lose almost everything. Even our friend's house became a 1' to 3' zone, but it was too late to move. Winds were already in the 40 mph range and it was raining very hard. Elaine and I just discussed the fact that we would assess the damage, deal with insurance companies and make the most of starting over. The financial side of it wasn't a big deal; we are retired and have a healthy nest egg. But who wants to start over in their late 60's?

Well, just a few hours later as Irma was closing in on Naples (30 miles south of us) she unexpectedly jogged east and came ashore over Marco Island and through Naples. Then up I-75 and just east of our house and the house we were staying at. Just far enough east that although we didn't see the eye of the storm, we were in the western side of the eye wall and had 125 mph winds from the north. But all that movement to the east meant that only a couple of very small communities south of Naples (and mostly the Everglades) got the storm surge and our house was back to not seeing any storm surge at all! So in 24 hours we went from this could be bad, to this is going to be really bad, to this is going to destroy everything we own and back to, we can survive the wind damage! It was an emotional roller coaster. I deal with stress really well, whatever the end result was going to be, I'd just pick myself up and deal with it. But through the whole thing my wife was a nervous wreck!

Now we are home. All the hurricane shutters are stored away and the yard is fairly well cleaned up. We got power back late Tuesday afternoon, way before most other people. And that was a big deal for us as our generator failed and my tanks were at risk. Not to mention 90+ degree heat and no A/C! Now we are looking at a whole house propane generator and a new circuit breaker box that will start the generator and switch over automatically when the electricity goes off for whatever reason. And we lose power here maybe 2 or 3 times a year due to severe thunderstorms and serious lightning.

[Safir]

Ron - even with all the damage and power outages, I believe all of tampa bay pretty well mirrors your story - we're all hosed if a storm actually hits us.

Turns out in our area the worst damage was tuesday-wednesday-thursday as the Alafia rose 22 feet from all the runoff. large areas south of us are completely flooded. Luckily our neighborhood is 30+ feet above the river.

[RobZilla04]

Luckily no damage at our place either. Lots of downed trees, power lines, and missing shingles around the area. Glad I purchased a generator this year. Just like Matthew two days without power. Alternated running the fridge and tank (return pump, heaters, & wave makers).

[JTL]

We live in a small island/beach front community on the Gulf coast about 70 miles south of Tampa. Like Ron, with decided to hunker down and ride out the storm. As the weather reports came in the news became more dire. At one point the storm track was projected to pass right over us as a cat 3 or 4, accompanied by a 15' storm surge. Our first floor elevation is 15' despite on being a few hundred feet from the Gulf of Mexico. We taped the door seams and put sand bags on top of that. I really think we could have held back a couple of feet of water above floor level. Thankfully the storm rapidly reduced in intensity after tearing through Naples and by the time it got to us it was barely a tropical storm. There were many downed trees. A couple of weeks prior to Irma we has 2' of rain over a 4 day period, and the storm provided another 16". Simply too much water logged ground to support the trees.

We have been without power since Saturday afternoon. Everyone around has power so it will not be too much longer.

[anbosu]

Originally Posted by Safir

Ron - even with all the damage and power outages, I believe all of tampa bay pretty well mirrors your story - we're all hosed if a storm actually hits us.

Turns out in our area the worst damage was tuesday-wednesday-thursday as the Alafia rose 22 feet from all the runoff. large areas south of us are completely flooded. Luckily our neighborhood is 30+ feet above the river.

The Alafia being that high must have been crazy to see. I would guess at that height it would start getting pretty close to the underside of the 75 bridge, right?

[pfan151]

That sucks. Hopefully you can get it back to where it was soon. I bought a 15000 watt generator after the 2004 hurricanes just to be ready. Cost me $2500 but runs the AC so my tanks didn't have any issues. Definitely worth it for me just so I dont have to stress about the power so much every hurricane season.

[Safir]

I generally don't cross it on 75, but coming up lithia pinecrest by lithia springs it was flooded all the way to the main road.

This was taken from the se corner of the "River Crossing" neighborhood in Bloomingdale east - the river is usually about 100 yards away and cannot be seen through the trees

[BarIzoN]

Originally Posted by d0ughb0y

well hindsight sure is 20/20.

I would not look at it that way. Just consider yourself lucky, for having good friends, and house not blown away.

Consider it like a smartphone change... You stock your old one with stuff, and now you have the opportunity to start fresh!!

Move on and thanks God no one was hurt and your house still there...




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[BarIzoN]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

Our Irma story: We just barely dodged a huge bullet!



Most important, we are OK, our house only lost a few shingles, our yard lost a couple of small trees and some other tree limbs and my 4 tank lost a few fish but that's all! And considering how close we came to losing everything, we are very grateful to Mother Nature.



You see, we're about 1.5 miles inland on a peninsula (Cape Coral just west of Ft Myers... closer to the Gulf of Mexico) and 9 feet above sea level. As Irma was to track up the east coast we would be fine, very windy, but fine. As the track migrated west over a couple of days, and as big as Irma was, the wind event looked worse, but still, we can survive a 100+ mph wind. But then the track migrated even further west and we were going to get the 125 to 140 mph wind. But we decided to stay and ride it out. But as Irma got close on Friday, the track moved a bit further west and we would now get storm surge of 1' to 3' above local ground level. Our house is about 2' to 3' above the street, so we might actually get some water in the house. We also became a mandatory evacuation zone so we evacuated to a friends house about 5 miles north and 15' above sea level. Saturday afternoon they adjusted the surge and our house was in a 3' to 6' above ground level surge. Now we knew we would get some water damage and maybe even some serious damage. Sunday Irma was predicted to go a bit further west and run up the coastline and the surge at our house was changed again, now at 6' to 9'. At that level we would likely lose almost everything. Even our friend's house became a 1' to 3' zone, but it was too late to move. Winds were already in the 40 mph range and it was raining very hard. Elaine and I just discussed the fact that we would assess the damage, deal with insurance companies and make the most of starting over. The financial side of it wasn't a big deal; we are retired and have a healthy nest egg. But who wants to start over in their late 60's?



Well, just a few hours later as Irma was closing in on Naples (30 miles south of us) she unexpectedly jogged east and came ashore over Marco Island and through Naples. Then up I-75 and just east of our house and the house we were staying at. Just far enough east that although we didn't see the eye of the storm, we were in the western side of the eye wall and had 125 mph winds from the north. But all that movement to the east meant that only a couple of very small communities south of Naples (and mostly the Everglades) got the storm surge and our house was back to not seeing any storm surge at all! So in 24 hours we went from this could be bad, to this is going to be really bad, to this is going to destroy everything we own and back to, we can survive the wind damage! It was an emotional roller coaster. I deal with stress really well, whatever the end result was going to be, I'd just pick myself up and deal with it. But through the whole thing my wife was a nervous wreck!



Now we are home. All the hurricane shutters are stored away and the yard is fairly well cleaned up. We got power back late Tuesday afternoon, way before most other people. And that was a big deal for us as our generator failed and my tanks were at risk. Not to mention 90+ degree heat and no A/C! Now we are looking at a whole house propane generator and a new circuit breaker box that will start the generator and switch over automatically when the electricity goes off for whatever reason. And we lose power here maybe 2 or 3 times a year due to severe thunderstorms and serious lightning.

Glad to know you, your family and house went well...

So, how about your tank?

No power, no generator... Hoping for the best!




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[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by BarIzoN

Glad to know you, your family and house went well...

So, how about your tank?

No power, no generator... Hoping for the best!

Our 4 tanks lost power Saturday mid afternoon according to a neighbor who didn't evacuate. I got back home late Monday morning. So 40+ hours without power at that point in time.

I moved all the corals that were important to me, into the main display tank and added 3 battery powered bubblers and stirred up the water by dipping in a big pitcher in and dumping the water back into the tank. My generator ran for about 20 minutes before it died, so I did get some circulation from the sump to the tanks and back. After that it was just bubblers and some manual water movement for the next 30 hours. And not even any manual stirring of the tanks from 6pm Monday till 9am Tuesday because we stayed with a friend who had power and A/C. Tuesday afternoon we got power back (I love our city's electric cooperative, LCEC). So many people near by in Ft Myers and other cities who have a different power company (FPL) are still without power.

I lost 3 tangs, a pajama cardinal, and a mated pair of neon gobies along with a 5 to 10% of my snails. A couple of corals are quite stressed and we'll see how they do over the next couple of weeks. Hannibal the red Hawaiian Reef Lobster survived and so did my new clownfish and all my other critters (anemones, sea cucumbers, serpent stars, urchins, porcelain crabs, feather dusters...).

All things considered, the tanks did very well. And if Irma had stayed 20 miles to the west, as predicted, I would have lost everything to a nearly 10' of storm surge! This was my 2nd major hurricane to hit near us that came from the Gulf of Mexico and they both had very erratic paths. I'll never trust the NHC tracking guidance again! They should take the center line out of their 'Cone of Probability' altogether, make the cone wider and only guess... I mean predict 3 days out. They suck at doing more than 5 days.

[SawCJack00]

I wish I was so lucky. I live on Ramrod Key. We were in the eye of the storm when it made landfall in the Florida Keys. My neighborhood is basically destroyed. I kept the tank going for 5 days after the storm, but ran out of gas for the generator and lost everything...

[JTL]

Originally Posted by SawCJack00

I wish I was so lucky. I live on Ramrod Key. We were in the eye of the storm when it made landfall in the Florida Keys. My neighborhood is basically destroyed. I kept the tank going for 5 days after the storm, but ran out of gas for the generator and lost everything...

Sorry for your loss. Those of us that thought we were going to take a major hit are feeling very humble and thankful.

[BarIzoN]

Originally Posted by SawCJack00

I wish I was so lucky. I live on Ramrod Key. We were in the eye of the storm when it made landfall in the Florida Keys. My neighborhood is basically destroyed. I kept the tank going for 5 days after the storm, but ran out of gas for the generator and lost everything...

That’s sad. Sorry for your loss, and hope a quick recovery for you and all the people from the Keys...


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