Hurricane Milton Thread

I’m seeing tornado warnings in Florida. If you’re down here, keep your eyes and ears open. (So far, fairly quiet here in Ormond.)

In reply to 03Panther :

Nothing I said was directed towards you, so I fail to see how it was rude to you.

I am gonna leave the rest of that alone though.

Not today. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

It's my fault.  I'll take an undetermined length of time out.  Probably as long as it takes me to get Bob to pee and poop on this walk in the rain.

I'd like to voice a concern. I have the Stihl ap battery system setup. It was very expensive. One battery is $300. They're 36v 7.2a. They've got some pretty big juice. 

Stihl does not make a worksite radio, or a charge station or any sort of any deal that lets me discharge these things like a 12v battery and charge other items or plug E36 M3 in. 

My Bosch 18v tool system has this. My noco battery box for my car has this. I HAVE GIANT BATTERIES I PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR AND ID LIKE TO USE THEM. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. 

Next time, how do I turn a pair of dead 55" micro led tvs into flashlights. 

I'm in Indian Harbour Beach FL, just northeast of Melbourne.  I'm on the second floor of a concrete building, so I feel pretty good.  It's about 3 football fields from the beach. Hurricane shutters are down and we're set to go.  This was the Atlantic Ocean as of 10:30am.  It's predicted to pass right over us around 8am.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Since Stampie asked, I deleted. 
 

I will ask nicer. I have never cussed at you, in any post. Please do not cuss at me. Thank you. 

The Waffle House meme?  Apparently its because they legit have a storm preparedness center that is run well enough that FEMA actually uses it as a metric for how bad a storm might be.

https://itsnotgov.org/emergency-services/disaster-relief/waffle-house-hurricane-response/

Mndsm said:

I'd like to voice a concern. I have the Stihl ap battery system setup. It was very expensive. One battery is $300. They're 36v 7.2a. They've got some pretty big juice. 

 

Stihl does not make a worksite radio, or a charge station or any sort of any deal that lets me discharge these things like a 12v battery and charge other items or plug E36 M3 in. 

Here ya go.

Pair this adapter (or you can probably just connect directly to the terminals on the battery with spades) and a buck converter to 12V or whatever you want for your other items. Don't forget fuses! Shoot, I'll be happy to make you a little system to do this out of spare pieces I have with USB and 12V powerport (cigarette lighter) outlets if you want and send it down to the Challenge for the future.

In reply to bbbbRASS :

Awesome stuff! Thanks. 

I got all my windows paneled up yesterday, that just left the door. I didn't have panels that would work, so I either Red Greened or Macgyvered it, not sure.  
My door opens inward, and with 150+ MPH wind outside I figured Milton would be rude and come inside uninvited. My buddy said to get a 2x4 and bolt it to the door frame from the inside. I figured that would be ok, but I thought I could maybe do better?  

I got a piece of 4X4, drilled an 11/16" hole in it. Then removed my peephole. Add in some allthread and nuts and washers, and voila! Now I'm tying into the cinder block, not the door frame. I think this will hold up better. 

In reply to DrBoost :

Love it! I may steal that in the future. I'll send you 5 forum bucks if I do. I may go with DrBoost door brace V2.0 and add a peep hole for our cats down low.

In reply to bbbbRASS :

Let me get through this and let's talk. I'm interested. 

bbbbRASS said:

Mndsm said:

I'd like to voice a concern. I have the Stihl ap battery system setup. It was very expensive. One battery is $300. They're 36v 7.2a. They've got some pretty big juice. 

 

Stihl does not make a worksite radio, or a charge station or any sort of any deal that lets me discharge these things like a 12v battery and charge other items or plug E36 M3 in. 

Here ya go.

 

Pair this adapter (or you can probably just connect directly to the terminals on the battery with spades) and a buck converter to 12V or whatever you want for your other items. Don't forget fuses! Shoot, I'll be happy to make you a little system to do this out of spare pieces I have with USB and 12V powerport (cigarette lighter) outlets if you want and send it down to the Challenge for the future.

You should make some for our upcoming trip as well...  

2:00 p.m. map. I don’t believe the track has changed. 

So, what’s the line, I’m not even supposed to be here today?

Originally I was supposed to be in California Monday through Wednesday for a press introduction, returning to Florida this evening.

When the storm started brewing, I looked at flying home Tuesday night on a red eye. Honestly, that’s probably better than leaving from SFO at like 7:15 a.m. It would have gotten me to Daytona Beach around 11:00 this morning. When things looked even worse, I decided to cancel the trip.

Just saw the update: DAB closed at 10:00 a.m. today, not reopening until Friday assuming all is well.   

DrBoost, genius to use the peephole.  Brilliant!

DrBoost said:

I got all my windows paneled up yesterday, that just left the door. I didn't have panels that would work, so I either Red Greened or Macgyvered it, not sure.  
My door opens inward, and with 150+ MPH wind outside I figured Milton would be rude and come inside uninvited. My buddy said to get a 2x4 and bolt it to the door frame from the inside. I figured that would be ok, but I thought I could maybe do better?  

I got a piece of 4X4, drilled an 11/16" hole in it. Then removed my peephole. Add in some allthread and nuts and washers, and voila! Now I'm tying into the cinder block, not the door frame. I think this will hold up better. 

It'd be a hell of a thing to bolt yourself inside your house with 10mm fasteners and instantly lose the 10mm wrench and socket. Nice job on using the big stuff.

In reply to DrBoost :

Absolute genius. 

You do have an impact gun charged with the correct socket on it sitting by the door, right?  And maybe a Cresent wrench as a backup?  And maybe a socket wrench with the correct fitting outside the front door, right?

I mean that is way cool and very smart.  I'm impressed!  Just thinking about emergency situations!

Wind is really picking up after steady rain all day. The fresh water floods being mentioned are concerning. There are a few newer developments near me and the retention ponds have been full after Helene. 

4:00 update:

Cool look at part of the reason for the forecast trend to continually push south today. This ridge of high pressure that's kind of a leftover remnant of the big swirling gyre that's already brought us crazy rain this week is basically forming a wall for Milton to ride on. So the good news for us is it's keeping it south of some serious population centers like Orlando and Daytona, but it's also creating conditions for an extended period oh high winds from the ENE shifting around to the NNE as the storm passes to our south.