The Official Hurricane Frances thread...

[Tim G]

Thursday, September 2, 2004 1:32 pm EDT

12 counties are now under advisories,
watches, or severe weather warnings.

Northern Brevard County
Southern Brevard County
Hardee County
Highlands County
Indian River County
Lake County
Okeechobee County
Orange County
Osceola County
Polk County
Seminole County
Sumter County
Coastal Volusia County
Inland Volusia County

 

[speck76]

Britannia and all Thompson flights to Sanford have now been cancelled. No alternatives are being arranged. Put basically they have opted to tell people they have lost their holiday rather than arrange flights for Monday. Refunds will be offered if they are unable to convince you to holiday elsewhere.

Currently not too happy.

Looking at the alternatives now. Unfortunatley when I contacted Britannia earlier today they told me to contact the tour operator, the tour operator knew nothing (they have to rely on the airline informing them). I contacted them again after Speck put up the notice that the airport was closed and Britannia / Thompson just kept giving me "a different number" to call. I eventually got through to someone who said the holidays have been cancelled.

It's now too late in the day to get through to other companies as they have all gone home.

Much like the hurricane....this really blows.

Hopefully you can still make it over at some point!

 

[Just A Big Kid]

My hopes and prayers go out to all who are staying in FL during this. Let's all hope ya'll can make it though this one without any fatalities.

 

[Kadee]

Barnum, That is awful! Is there a chance you can reschedule? I am so sorry that this is happening to you, but I have to add that I'm sure you will be glad that you are not in FL when this thing hits.

 

[Atta83]

Well the pressure seems to be going up. From what they are saying with this it is uncertain if this will continue to rise. She might hit the high and turn to a northwest position. But the eye keeps getting smaller and smaller. Yesterday her eye was 32 miles wide, then she went to 28 miles wide. This morning I read that it was now 23 miles wide...YIKES!!!

I'll keep telling ya what i hear when i hear more of an update!

 

[ogryn]

Looks like the airlines have buggered you Barnum! I'm sorry, that just plain sucks. Can't you get them to fly you to NY, and then connect when things are open again, for example? (well I guess you'll have to wait until 0900 tomorrow I guess! )

 

[doc_holiday3500]

So for a guy who knows very little about hurricanes when, is this scheduled to hit land, and how fast does it move up the coast? And I know it's tough to speculate but how much damage could Disney World actually sustain?

Whatever happens I hope everyone and there homes come out of this ok.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Sorry to hear about your troubles barnum--hopefully you can get things worked out soon.

People are going CRAZY here in West Palm Beach. It's getting ridiculous, IMO, but I understand that we haven't had a major hurricane here in years, so many aren't used to this stuff. Everyone is acting as if a major asteroid was on its way.

 

[speck76]

Airlines serving Orlando International Airport will cease operations there at noon on Friday as Hurricane Frances approaches.

The airport advises passengers departing before that to arrive at the airport at least three hours early.

Orlando International is also coordinating with emergency management agencies as it secures equipment and airport structures for the storm.

 

[Atta83]

So for a guy who knows very little about hurricanes when, is this scheduled to hit land, and how fast does it move up the coast? And I know it's tough to speculate but how much damage could Disney World actually sustain?

Whatever happens I hope everyone and there homes come out of this ok.

As of right now they are not sure, the weather people are looking at friday night to saturday evening. But where they are not sure, there is the high that "might" help out and send the system up north. And right now the hurricane is moving very slowly at now of 13 miles an hour which can make more of a mess. She is moving NWN. Then depending on where it hits land only then might know how much damage might happen to the WDW location. I hope I helped answer your questions a little.

Right now I just checked and she has a closed eye now with it being 19 miles across.

I just hope something good happens to send her out to see........come on high pressure do your thing...

 

[doc_holiday3500]

Thank you Atta83 I appreciate the info, one more quick question is a smaller eye good or bad? I'm assuming bad.

 

[speck76]

The local projected path

 

[MrPodar]

So for a guy who knows very little about hurricanes when, is this scheduled to hit land, and how fast does it move up the coast? And I know it's tough to speculate but how much damage could Disney World actually sustain?

Whatever happens I hope everyone and there homes come out of this ok.

Here's another recent projection on timings and windspeed:

Frances is a much larger hurricane than Charley, so most of the state will start receiving rains and moderate wind several hours before the eye arrives.

It's tough to say how much this will effect the Orlando area, as Frances will probably begin to lose strength once it gets over land. However, if Charley was any indication, I imagine you'll see the usual downed trees, broken signs and loss of electrical power throughout the area.

On the map above, I work where the "G" in "Gainesville" is printed, and I live where the "s" in "Gainesville" is printed.

Hopefully everything will be ok.

- Skip

 

[tigsmom]

speck, thanks for all the updates. barnum, what can I say? I know how much you have been looking forward to this trip, can you reschedule at all?

No storm chasing guys...we love to see the pictures, but we care more about your saftey. :kiss:

 

[barnum42]

Aparently an airline is going to divert to Tampa on Saturday. Looking at the projected path that still seems a bit dodgy.

As for rescheduling - I am limited by my annual pass, which expires 20th September, hence the timing of this trip. I have emailed Disney to see if they are felling generous and can give me a five day extension on it, in which case I could try for a Saturday flight next week.

I would phone, but from reading about 45 minutes on hold, I don't think I could afford the intercontinental phone charges

 

[HauntedPirate]

Yes, I would implore anyone down there to get the hell out. Something about this hurricane makes me very uneasy, I just can't explain it. You are definitely in our thoughts, stay safe!

 

[speck76]

Aparently an airline is going to divert to Tampa on Saturday. Looking at the projected path that still seems a bit dodgy.

I would not worry about flying into Tampa. Not only does Tampa rock, but they also have a history of being very lucky when it comes to hurricane misses.

 

[cindy_k]

Currently in the Wilderness Lodge Villas.
The CM's tied up all the lights along the walkways, so they won't swing in the wind.

We are checking out of here tomorrow morning and moving to Saratoga Springs Resort for the weekend. We originally had a studio and were checking out on Sunday and flying back to New York.

Looking at the forecast for the storm we doubt we will be able to fly out on Sunday so last night we upgraded the room to a 1 bedroom (if we are going to in the room for a while, we wanted more space), and today we added a night so we are now checking out on Monday. Southwest changed our flights to Monday evening for no charge.

Hopefully the airport will be back open by then.

Hang on tight everyone... (maybe it will miss us )

 

[Atta83]

Thank you Atta83 I appreciate the info, one more quick question is a smaller eye good or bad? I'm assuming bad.

From what i can tell and have been told, yes...

Also, Frances is twice the size of Andrew if that gives you guys any thought on how big this storm is....

 

[barnum42]

I would not worry about flying into Tampa. Not only does Tampa rock, but they also have a history of being very lucky when it comes to hurricane misses.

9:00 am tomorrow I'll be on the phone.