Hurricane Ernesto

[oneupper]

Just wanted to tell fellow Floridians that the projected track has shifted towards the East and now it is expected to hit the peninsula between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Please prepare and be safe.

[Dom Heffner]

There goes my homeowner's insurance.

[SandyD]

You know, friends of my parents live in a 3-story house in an area that had 8-10 ft of water. Their first floor (which was like a basement) and second floor are not livable. They're living on the third floor. They're in the 80s, and simply want to sell and move somewhere else in the area, but no one is buying.

Their homeowners was about $2k pre-K, but has is now $4.2k. That's homeowners insurance, which didn't have a lot to pay out because their damage was almost exclusively flood damage.

Insurance issues are making it hard for people to buy/sell and even rebuild.

Hope Ernesto comes ashore before it strengthens too much, and moves quickly back out to sea.

[Gainesville Red]

Haven't I waited for college football long enough?

Hope it putters out somewhere on the way.

[oneupper]

Hopefullly it weakens over Castro...er.. Cuba.

From what I've read it's a small storm, so damage should be very localized.

[Unassisted]

Meanwhile, most of Texas (except a dozen or so coastal counties and greater El Paso) is mired in an 2-year long drought and could really use the rain from a tropical system.

Over here, Ernesto.

[oneupper]

Ernesto has weakened over Haiti. Now a Tropical Storm, expected to strengthen again before hitting Cuba.

[SandyD]

I really feel sorry for those people on the islands. They get slammed every year, and have no place to evacuate to.

[oneupper]

I really feel sorry for those people on the islands. They get slammed every year, and have no place to evacuate to.

Don't feel sorry, living on the islands is worth the hassle.

[RFS62]

The path keeps moving East.

The good news, it won't have as long to strenghten after it crosses Cuba. The bad news, it's headed right for Miami again.

[Heath]

Don't feel sorry, living on the islands is worth the hassle.

Dude - you might want to duck.

[oneupper]

TS Ernesto was a DUD here in South Florida. No problem at all, except for a lot of nervous people, plenty of TV coverage and two days without school for the Kids.

The Storm has re-strengthened and is heading for the Carolinas...
Good luck to those of you up there..

[RollyInRaleigh]

Looks like it is going to hit somewhere between Charleston and Myrtle Beach this afternoon. Looks like we'll get some wind and rain here in Charlotte. Already 8,500 folks without power in our area from strong storms the past two days.

[deltachi8]

Just returned from Disney World and after much hype, oneupper said it best, it was a dud. I was up yesterday at 5AM stressing over our return flight (645 PM) checking the weather, Delta Airlines, the news. While Southwest and I belive Airtran cancelled flights in and out of Orlando, other airlines flew with no problems.

It was strangely quiet. We were at MGM Studios and it seemed like no one was there...no rain from 9 am until we got on the bus to the Airport at 4PM. The airport seemed empty - zero, seriosly, sero people in line at security at 4:30 PM.

Hope those in the Carolinas are as lucky as we were with regards to this storm.

[Crash Davis]

Looks like it's looping around us here. We've had a lot of talk in Savannah this week, and it's been off and on rain all day...but I haven't seen too much high wind. Maybe we'll get that later this afternoon. We should at least get some good surfing out of Ernesto.