My ultimate hope is that no one is adversely affected by Hurricane Frances. However, if anyone is affected, may the effects resulting from Hurricane Frances be as minimal as possible.

For anyone who is affected by Hurricane Frances, please post in this thread and let us know that everything is okay.

Leave it to Canarsie to set up the best spot for this type of news.
We are in the Coastal Evacuation Zone and this afternoon will be heading for an inland Marriott to ride out any problems.
What we see (if only from the window of the restaurant at the hotel) will be reported right here.
Good luck to everybody else in the way of the storm and let's hope that nothing really big happens.

Just saw the satetlite at weather.com...I'll definitely be praying for you!
And yes, keep us posted on how things go.

Thanks, Canarsie! I was amused when one of my co-workers who is based in Chicago asked me what I am doing for Labor Day weekend.... ^

Thanks for posting, monitor. I was thinking about you last night and then again this morning as I watched the hurricane on televisions. My brother and his wife, and my niece and her husband, all of whom live in Orlando drove over to my sister's house in Englewood last night. I think my brother got a little freaked out when the eye of Charlie went right over his house, so he is not hanging around for this one.

Hope you and Franny have a relatively easy trip west and escape any property damage.

Monitor: Thanks for posting....... hoping all is well with you & Franny, especially after "escaping" Charley last month. Our thoughts are with you....

delacpa & Betty

We are sitting locked down in a hotel room at the Marriott North in Fort Lauderdale where the view from our sixteenth floor room is of the sun shining on the skyline of the city as it prepares to set. From time to time, a burst of wind comes up, the sky darkens, and it rains. So far these episodes have been followed by a brightening such as we have now at approximately 745PM.
This hurricane has been taking its own sweet time getting here (if it is in fact coming here) and we can see from the nonstop television coverage that it has almost come to a stop over the Bahamas. We hope that it makes up its mind what to do before terminal cabin fever sets in around here. The whole region has been closed down now for more than 24 hours and there is actually no place to go and nothing to do other than catch up on some reading and check out FT every few hours.
The real event will be when the power goes down, and if this thing hangs around for a long time, it will prevent the power company from getting things repaired and it could be blacked out around here for quite a while.
On a more pleasant note, the manager of the hotel has left the concierge lounge, which as per general Marriott policy is usually locked on weekends, open to provide a hangout for the Platinum and Gold Members (there are not very many) and access to the computer (which seems to be having some operating problems at the moment). Last evening in the lounge, we met a businessman from near Dallas who had brought his wife along on this trip and they found thenselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Regardless, they were of good cheer and we went to dinner across the street with them at one of the last restaurants to close up for the duration. Maybe we will drum up a bridge game later on with them, since they have told us that they play.
As long as the electricity lasts, we will try to keep you all posted.
Thanks again.
Franny & Bob

My thought and prayers are with anybody near or in the storm.

Dan

Best of luck to anyone down in FL.

Many friends and family in southeast Florida. So far, thank goodness, everyone's okay, no serious damage (FLL area), just sitting tight and waiting for Frances to pass.

But now with Ivan on the way, it doesn't look good if they get hit again. Hope the next one turns far to the north before it gets close to any landfall. Enough is enough!!!

bj-21.

All of my Floridian family members have checked in and all that they lost was power and a few more trees. My nephew in Orlando has now lost more than 20 of his pre-Charley/Frances 30 trees.

monitor are you home again? We are thinking of you and Franny and hoping that all is well with you.

Looks now like Dorlee will be experiencing a bit of Frances tonight.

Neither Frances nor Charley did any damage to us. My daughter, who lives in Clearwater, lost power for a short period of time, but fortunately, they did not have damage.

Now we watch Ivan......

It appears that most of the FTers who were under the gun are OK, but we still need to hear from Traveller in Melbourne and, although we know she is safe, we hope that dedehans has a place to go home to up there in Indian River County.

Finally got cable (and hence, cable modem) back this am. All OK; no structural damage. Lost my beautiful mahogany trees and a guava tree, but fortunately they didn't fall on anyone's car or roof. The one in the backyard did take my neighbor's fence with it, though. Several neighbors had roof damage and one neighbor's tree went through their roof. The trees in my front yard fought the good fight; Frances peeled them apart limb by limb. Upon her return, my neighbor said that my house now looks like a Halloween haunted house, the trees look so eerie.

I fared much better than some friends. I'm one of the rare few who have power; most have been without for 5 days so far with no end in sight. Several friends are now camping on my couches so they can enjoy the AC and hot showers. One friend who lives on Flagler Drive lost his sailboat...and we read in the paper today that their 30-story condominium building may be condemned due to structural damage. They had just finished a year-long gut and remodel of their condo there...

Grocery stores reopened yesterday and a few restaurants reopened last night, although they couldn't seat anyone after 8 pm due to the curfew. Gas, water and ice are still scarce; am making ice deliveries to friends without power as fast as my icemaker can manufacture them!

All in all, we were VERY lucky. That said, I have been through many hurricanes, but this was one of the worst (nothing is as bad as Andrew) because it was neverending. Usually hurricanes blast you for a couple of hours, then move on, but this pounded us for more than 24 hours, preceded and followed by tropical storm winds. Thank heavens it lost strength and came ashore as a Cat 2, with gusts in the Cat 3 category. Cannot imagine what shape we'd be in it had stayed a Cat 4.

I, too, made it through the storm okay. Was without power, telephone, & DSL for a bit, but they've finally returned to service. For a couple days my cell phone wouldn't work either, but I realized that if I drove west, I could hit a working cell tower. The only problem was I couldn't recharge my cell phone without electricity.

The issue now is food. The grocery stores that have gotten their power back had to throw out all of the items that were "temperature compromised" (meat and dairy products). The canned goods were gone long before the storm began and haven't been re-stocked. Until shipments arrive in the grocery stores, there is virtually nothing substantial to eat. I haven't had any protein in about a week now; I'm living mostly on pasta, bread, & cereal.

Since it appears Ivan may be coming this way soon, I hope the shelves get re-stocked before the weekend. Most people have gone through their hurricane supply by now and may not be able to replenish items in time for the next storm. It will truly be disastrous if Ivan hits the areas affected by Frances.