Jim,

Glad you're ok. Take care of your family first. Time will heal. God bless.

Well said, warren. For sure.
Walker

My Mom in Tallahassee is also out of power, but hanging in there.

Pap

Pap,

Please report back when Mom is back on the grid. Hope all is well.

Thanks Warren. We got power back last night. I believe most of our area is powered up by now but not everyone. Next is trying to figure out what can be done for those in the hardest hit areas. As far as I can tell, at this time ordinary folks would likely just get in the way of the official responders. So, maybe contributions to relief organizations like the Red Cross are probably the best way to help. Hope your mother has power now Pap!

PS -- Just to be clear, when I said most people in "our area" are powered back up, I just mean Tallahassee/Leon County. There are large areas to the southwest of us that will likely be without power for many more days if not weeks. A friend of mine who was down at Mexico Beach this past weekend checking out what was left of his place there said that as far as he could tell there was no power and nothing open between Mexico Beach and I-10.

Mom got power at 9 last night. Thanks to all.

Pap

My brother is in Lynn Haven, about 5 miles from where the eye went, he has a house, with twenty something holes in the roof where a pine tree landed and is waiting to see if it will have to be demolished.He and his family are safe , they evacuated.

I have a friend that does insurance assessments who is down in Panama Beach and Mexico Beach. He has been sending dash cam videos as he makes his way through the devastation. The news stories and photos do not truly capture the damage.
A good time to make that contribution to the Red Cross or any of the others that you might support.

Are all of you totally enamored with The Red Cross? Just because politicians tell me to donate to them holds no H2O with me. Perry & I (& now just me) always donated to 2nd Harvest. 100% of donations go to help. With The Red Cross..."Proceeds"...go to help folks. Doesn't their CEO make 3.5 million a year or some such crap?
Just sayin'...Capt. Chris

Not criticizing or defending anyone's choice or "no" choice.
I also have friends that donate their time and resources to the Red Cross and make the trips to set up emergency shelters and food distribution points at domestic disasters. Similar to the insurance assessor, they often sleep in their vehicles, donate their time, and dig into their own wallets to help. I got interested in the Red Cross when Elizabeth Dole was in charge, and it just is easy for me.
The Red Cross is only a suggestion.
Whoever you support could probably use some help right now.