Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum The hurricane cancellations begin

As Hurricane Irma takes a bead on Florida, clients are starting to cancel. They are leaving Florida for their other homes up north. Three canceled on Friday - leaving just a church with a weekend recital left. I doubt if the two on Saturday will hold, with the hurricane arriving Sunday or Monday. People seem to be preparing more this time, given the wind speeds we might get. I'll stay put, and board up - the third board up in 12 years. I've studs on the windows, and pre cut plywood, and simply bolt the plywood to the windows. Takes about 20 minutes. My neighbor has corrugated steel instead of plywood. I'm glad I trimmed the trees and cut back the perimeter last month.

Even if this storm misses Florida, it was hit somewhere, and cause massive damage if it maintains it's strength.

Let LORD keep ALL Florida's people
We shall pray to Irma get out forever and a damages less

A sentiment shared by many of us at PW and extending to all of our members potentially affected by this storm.

So updating - On Tuesday, things like bread, booze, canned meats, generators, flashlights, batteries have all been scarce at the stores. Thursday marked my last tunings till next Wed, and I'm not sure those will hold. If they let me on campus, I might tune at the University. I finally found white bread this morning after looking for three days. Gasoline has been on and off, but mostly in stock so far. I've been topping off my car every day. I've not seen people this nervous before a storm before. I've not seen stocking up like this before a storm before.

I heard from a fellow technician who lives 2 hours south of me. She made the comment "It's hard to contemplate that life as we are used to living it might come to an end this weekend". She will be sleeping in a closet Sunday night. That statement describes the nervousness out there.

People started driving north on Wednesday, and the highways are slow moving parking lots today, but the local roads are not bad. Kudos to our Governor Rick Scott who has kept gasoline stocked along the evacuation routes for those folks. I'm hopeful landfall misses Miami. There are plenty of rural areas west of Miami where landfall would cause little damage.

Our hurricane party consists of 7 people, 5 cats, and one dog. We are boarding up the house on Saturday. We have been told to be in place by 5 pm Sat, and the winds will start Sunday morning. We should have 100 MPH winds Sunday from 10 pm till daybreak Monday morning. I imagine there won't be much sleep had by anyone Sunday night.

The track could always change a bit - but the weather guys are getting pretty good at predicting these things now. I'll check back later !

Be safe, Bob.

I can't even imagine the anxiousness you must feel. Best of luck riding it out, Bob.

We haven't heard from you. Are you OK?

Hello everyone! Our power lasted till about midnight Sunday and our house was a island for a bit as the marsh came up towards the house. I had forgotten to clean the gutters and got soaked cleaning them after the first rain band hit. Top winds here were about 100 mph. A neighbor's tree fell on our shed but didn' seem to damage it. A tree fell across the drivway but we lifted it out of the way. No damage really, just yard clean up. Power may be out for days, but we have supplies. It's like camping - its an adventure. Schools may open Thursday. Our city Facebook page has 20,000 members so social media served to get folks help and pass information around. Hope others are doing well also.

Thanks for keeping us up to date!

Do people have generators? Around here, it is fairly common to have natural gas, whole house systems installed. Many folks just have smaller gas generators to keep the essentials running when the power goes out...


Ron Koval

I can't speak for all of Florida--- but in my small area on the west coast, 95% of the subdivisions do not have natural gas. Some have bought generators which they fuel with purchased propane tanks

While I always had natural gas for heat, clothes dryers, and stoves in Illinois, it's not common in the Orlando area. Most appliances are electric here. Two of my neighbors ran gasoline generators 24 hours a day, and the noise was very annoying at night as our windows were open due to the heat. Some folks have a whole house generator, which can power the A/C, well, and septic - but most have a 5000 watt or less that is good for the fridge, cell phones, and a few lights and fans. Our power was out for 37 hours, which meant no water ( I have a well) , no toilets (I have a septic tank), and no A/C. Very much like camping. We opted for propane lamps, and a propane stove. We are lucky to have our power back so soon, as 50% of Florida still has no power. Many traffic lights are out.

Power is out for sewage lift stations forcing raw sewage to back up into people's bathtubs, toilets, and sinks. They had to ask residents to flush as little as possible, to reduce the flow till power could be established.

Grocery stores, gas stations, and fast food places have begun to open today, though power outages are a big issue for some. My daughter worked without power at her veterinarian's office - folks who evacuated were picking up animals. They will have a generator tomorrow.

I've 3 tunings tomorrow, one canceled due to lack of power. Thursday's tunings at a school is a bust - the schools are closed till Monday. I'll try to get in the university, but that's also closed till Monday. They have their own power plant, so hopefully power and A/C were good.

We were lucky - some in mobile or manufactured homes had lots of damage. A friend had a tree fall on her car. The rivers are rising as I write this, and folks in flood plaines will get flooded over the next 10 days. Not to forget the keys - devastation down there.

I imagine tuning will increase as lack of A/C will de tune all the pianos. Hurricanes do have a positive economic effect for those who fix and repair the damage.

I just talked to my brother who had surgery in Houston today, so that is a sign of how quickly things can get running again.

Quote:


Bob, I had a basement flooding problem here a few years back. My home, a re-purposed old grocery store, sits lower than all the other homes on my street, so it would be at street level for people to shop. When we had too much rainfall, my basement flooded out... mostly raw sewage from my neighbors' elevated homes.

I had a check valve installed when I had my old terra cotta sewerage pipe replaced. This allows the waste to flow out, but not back in. Since I was having about $10,000 worth of work done, it only increased the cost by about $150.

(Edit: I didn't even know there was such a thing as a sewage check valve until my plumber told me.)

If you are ever going to have significant work done to your sewerage system, this might be worth investigating.

Glad you're OK

Thanks, Joe for that. The other suggestion from the county was to open your sewer clean out, and the sewage would, in theory, come out of the clean out pipe, outside your house - much better than backing up inside.

As far as me, I'm on a septic tank, so I avoided the back ups others on the city sewer had.

With everything else you are probably dealing with, I'm glad that at least you don't have to worry about sewage in the house.

Stay safe. I hope things return to normal quickly.

We have 500 Electric Utility workers stationed at the Mall in a camp of sorts. They have portable showers, portable toilets, food, and drink. The camp has a team of support people who provide meals, and such. Townspeople are donating drinks as well. Utility workers are sleeping in their trucks, or they can get bused to a hotel, depending on the workload. The football stadium at the University is hosting 1000 National Guard Members who have various tasks. That's the reason this week's football game is cancelled.

I woke up this morning to a Facebook post - a senior citizen community of manufactured homes needed food and water. I rounded up several cases of water and cans of food from the house and went to the clubhouse. I found about 30 senior citizens who had slept on pool deckchairs at the clubhouse due to lack of A/C and power at their homes. I was part of a parade of townspeople bringing in food and drink. That's what's happening here - those who can help are helping those in need.

Many folks are getting frustrated with the lack of power and A/C and those with the means are finding hotel rooms till power returns. Our Publix grocery store is still under generator power, and received some stock last night, so bread, butter, milk, and other staples were in stock today. Some banks are foregoing 3 months of mortgage payments, but the 3 months not paid is due all at one time in a balloon payment in January. This is a trap for those needing money for home repairs - January will come, and they might not have the balloon payment needed.

The disparity in fortune is great. Those with power, A/C, and water are able to go through the day in relative comfort, while the 1/3 of residents and businesses still out of power are miserable. In our area, very few have major damage to homes, unlike the coastal areas and the Keys. The power grid needs major repair - replacing poles, removing fallen trees, and re-stringing wires before everyone gets power back.

I have to say that help for those who needed it has been quick to arrive - Officials have learned from previous storm responses and have applied the lessons here. Things could be a whole lot worse.

In many municipalities check valves are against the building code. If everyone used them the sewer mains would back up with serious damage. Still, people do put them in, especially in cases like yours where you are lower than your neighbors. Municipalities haven't had to crack down because most people don't know about check valves, and so sewer drain overflow still is rerouted into people's basements and bathrooms during heavy storms. Regarding the power grid, I read that 21,000 electricians have come to Florida's rescue. These are high voltage experts working for municipalities and power companies, as part of a nationwide consortium of workers capable of restoring power stations and power lines to functionality. They arrive with their government trucks, lifts, tools, and parts. I don't know if they get FEMA reimbursement for the cost of all this, but without this nationwide system of help (including electrical crews coming from California), Florida would take six months or longer to restore power on their own.

There are overflow valves, which look like mushrooms, which keep the overflow out of the house but allow sewage to come out if the system is taxed.

There are still complaints on Facebook about sewer overflows and pleas for residents to reduce the flow of water down the drains. I imagine the county will learn from this and install generators at each sewage lift station or otherwise make sure the power connection is secure. The post office still lacks power, and a video surfaced of postal workers in the dark, sorting mail by headlamps, wearing big smiles! Stocks of food and gas are improving, and in my county only 11% lack power - an amazing job by power crews this past week! Most Schools start back Monday, after a week off. Some schools were used as shelters.

Facebook has been a crucial avenue for communication. The Fire Chief, Police Chief, and Mayor have been able to post information, answer questions, and push though help where particularly needed - all because we have a very active Facebook community here. We lost power, but most had internet access though their phones, and the new age of social media turned out to be very helpful.

When the streets are flooded the sewer collection system is flooded and surcharged and even if the lift stations had power they could not keep up with the infiltration. Also, it is likely that the wastewater treatment plants are also flooded and or without power and the treatment plant is likely the lowest in elevation.
If your sewage is getting out of your home without backing up it is because of your elevation above the flood but it is not getting to the treatment plant and likely not even into the collection system.
Most likely all of the flood waters are contaminated to some degree.
I always thought that a back flow valve would be useful in a home that is lower than the collection system and requires a pump to get the sewage into the collection system.
But I do not always have faith that the designers of collection systems and the people issuing permits to always get it right.