This is A1A in Pompano Beach very close to where my parents live
Downtown Fort Lauderdale
Downtown Fort Lauderdale
8:10 p.m.
"Hurricane Wilma hits Florida harder than expected; FPL’s electrical grid suffers extensive damage from broad swath of hurricane and tropical force winds; FPL asks for customers’ patience as repairs may take weeks."
I took this clip from the FPL (Florida Power and Light's) webpage. My brother is continuing to stay with AD and her family. My mom and Dad have a propane gas grill and plenty of bottled water. They still have water in the house but have been asked to conserve it and of course they have to boil it before they use it. I am still waiting for pictures, but my mom said it truly looks like winter with no leaves on any trees anywhere. She also said that she doesn't know how the mobile home parks in Broward faired, including the one that we grew up in. School is cancelled tomorrow, and my mom is not sure what is going to happen with Doormark where she works. Apparently there was damage there -- she is not sure of the extent. My brother has also been told that his gymnasium now has a sunroof. We aren't sure what this means either. In addition, the Kit's had roof damage, and Jb tells me that the roof is leaking quite a bit right now. I will continue to post updates as they become available. The pictures included above I got offline.
12.30 p.m.
Well the storm is officially over. Apparently I was mistaken about the tree in front of Jb's house being down. Apparently it is only 2/3 down and the base is still standing. The biggest issue now is that out of 4.5 million Florida Power and Light customers, 3.1 million, including both of our families (not sure about my brother) do not have power. With temperatures in the 70's until Wednesday, that isn't too bad, but it will be in the 80's on Thursday. They are saying that it could take weeks for power to be restored everywhere. So if you don't hear from my parents immediately via email, don't stress. You can reach them on their house phone. Also, it may take a bit for me to get pictures up as I don't know how long before they will able to send them to me.
11:45 a.m.
Just got a call from my dad, and he said the storm is over. They were going to check on a neighbor friend but have been outside. He said that a third of their trees look like they blew up and 1 in 6 have no leaves left but other than that, all the houses and structures are intact. He is taking some pictures now and as soon as they get power, he will send them to me so I can put them on the blog. They have also talked to my brother. He and AD are fine but I haven't talked to them yet. We are waiting on cofirmation from Jb's family that all are accounted for. I also am going to call Joan in a bit.
10:30 a.m.
Finally got a hold of my mom on the land-line. She said a tree fell earlier and now it is up on top of a van. She said that their screen blew out on one side which is nothing major and that the lights outside of the houses are rolling around. She said it is "pretty bad" but that it should all be over in an hour. My brother is with his girlfriend AD, and I haven't been able to reach him yet.
10:15 a.m.
Hi all -- it is now 10:15. I spoke with my parents at 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00 but now cannot reach them. Jb finally reached his dad's cell phone. Apparently they are in the worst of it right now. John said the front yard looks like kindling and the huge tree with a treehouse in their front yard is down. However, they do not believe there will be any structural damage. They can also see (through a crack in their boarded up windows) that there is a powerline down. Gabbi, Ray, and Grace are also staying with them. As for my parents, I cannot reach them right now. The last time I talked to them they said that there were a lot of trees down and they were not going upstairs because it was rattling so much but downstairs was fine. I will post another update when I hear more.
7:00 a.m.
Hi all -- it is 7:00 a.m. on Monday. If you get this, in the next few hours, please pray for all our friends and family in south Florida. The eye is going to be going over Broward county where they live in the next 1-2 hours. Jb's parents have already lost power. I am calling my parents on their cell phones every hour or so and so far, they still have service.
Thanks everyone!
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