Spare a thought for @Lookout and family

PL54 · October 2014

RedChaser said:

Alex Wright said:
has anyone heard from Lookie et al?
According to his profile, last active at 6.53pm
http://forum.charltonlife.com/profile/1/LoOkOuT

Zero flags ! That takes skill.

RedChaser · October 2014

PL54 said:

RedChaser said:

Alex Wright said:
has anyone heard from Lookie et al?
According to his profile, last active at 6.53pm
http://forum.charltonlife.com/profile/1/LoOkOuT
Zero flags ! That takes skill.

Who me? Cheers. :-)
Edit; Now waiting for some smart a*se to flag me. :-0

LoOkOuT · October 2014

Wahey! I'm alive!

Thanks for the concern and well wishes. It's been a rough week!

We had house damage with the first hurricane, Fay, which hit a week ago on Sunday morning. It was billed a tropical storm and not much attention was paid to it. Unfortunately, it was a little more and hit in such a way that it wreaked a fair bit of damage. Five houses on every side of us lost substantial parts of their roofs and other such damage. We were lucky in the respect, though we lost part of a boundary wall.

Meanwhile, full hurricane Gonzalo continued to build up to a Category 4 (out of bloody 5!) Hurricane to the south of us. Hatches were well and truly battened down. Gonzalo struck on Friday afternoon. I haven't been through a hurricane like that since I was a kid, where the atmosphere was electric and there were no responsibilities on my shoulders! Tropical storm conditions began on the Friday afternoon, lasting 27 hours in all. Gonzalo marched right over us. Not to the east, or west, but right over us! The house shook for three hours until the "eye" passed. In Bermuda parlance, it was "a bit brisk!" During the eye, which lasted about an hour, the night was still with sea air. Then the second half! Not sure if Scott Parker gave the half-time team talk, but things went to a whole other level as wind directions reversed and Gonzalo proceeded north. For us, the back end of the storm, a further four hours, hit very hard. The pressure in our house was immense, with every window and door seemingly shaking in different directions. By 2am, things had calmed down to moderate (by hurricane standards) winds and we were able to rest.

Two things seemed to work in the island's favour. Firstly, Fay cleaned house and knocked down anything that was a bit "loose", whether hedges, trees, branches, rocks, walls, windows or roofs. And secondly, Gonzolo passed right over us. The strongest winds are in the Eye Wall, or the sphere around the very centre. In the centre of the hurricane, there is no wind. If the storm had been to the east or west, even a few degrees, we would have endured sustained eye wall winds that would have created much more deadly damage. Instead, we had a bit of respite and the strongest winds were mitigated just enough by this.

Thankfully, we live to fight another day.
A

Bermuda_red · October 2014

No major injuries reported during storm, so assume LookOut and family are safe. I will try to contact him. Some are still without power and some houses lost roofs etc. A frightening experience, especially on the back of a direct hit from a tropical storm the previous weekend. A category 3 hurricane with sustained winds in excess of 115 mph is no fun, the power is incredible - I boarded up every window that doesn't have a shutter on it and just hoped for the best. Our house was shaking - we endured hurricane force winds (sustained winds of +70mph) for close to 8 hours. Fortunately we received some respite during the eye, which was 40 minutes of instant total calm right in the middle of the storm - a surreal experience. Then all hell breaks loose again as the eye wall moves on over you.

I know CA was off island for storm.

ross1 · October 2014

It must be exciting living in the Caribbean

ValleyGary · October 2014

Called Faye, so big it did a bit of damage to your house and glad to see the back of it come Sunday afternoon. We've all been there!!!

Glad your ok.

Bermuda_red · October 2014

ross1 said:
It must be exciting living in the Caribbean

We're not in caribbean! We're 650 miles east of the Carolina's.

Just saw LoOKOut's post. Glad all is well!

lancashire lad · October 2014

glad you are all safe and sound, good luck with the clear up

Draizetrain · October 2014

ValleyGary said:
Called Faye, so big it did a bit of damage to your house and glad to see the back of it come Sunday afternoon. We've all been there!!!

In that case I was once hit by Hurricane Judith...

ShootersHillGuru · October 2014

Glad to hear from you Lookie.

DaveMehmet · October 2014

ValleyGary said:
Called Faye, so big it did a bit of damage to your house and glad to see the back of it come Sunday afternoon. We've all been there!!!

Glad your ok.

I wonder if he battened down her hatches?