First of all my beef was the comparison of the â�?��?plightâ�?� faced by Kermit and the real challenges faced by the people of Florida. His â�?��?woe is meâ�?� tale, however jokingly he says he may have intended it, was a poorly timed and blatant search for attention all too typical of the poster who clogs countless threads with his mostly useless, self-centered drivel. This thread specifically started as a well wishing thread for the folks directly in the past of the then Category 4 storm. The people to which this thread was intended was in real danger of losing their entire home and possibly the lives of their family and friends. It starts downhill with Kermitâ�?��?�s â�?��?holy poop weâ�?��?�re going to dieâ�?� comment and degenerates further into a juvenile exchange of getting intoxicated. If CEGâ�?��?�s resident immature poster can suck it up to start a heartfelt thread of concern in a regional forum very far away from his own youâ�?��?�d think Kermit could do the same. That was obviously too much to ask of him.

Hmm, geography, geology and flooding; did you know that when Albany flooded due to a hurricane in â�?��?�94, Alberto IIRC, it received over a foot of rain? Americus flooded too, after receiving over two feet of rain. As of Saturday afternoon the most rain recorded in the Frances impact-zone of Florida was just nearing that. (How far south is that again???) When the Southeast was hit with flooding in â�?��?�98, (when 2,000 people in Elba, Alabama made national headlines because they had to be urgently evacuated after a levy failed) it was due primarily the unusually wet winter where grounds were already saturated. You probably recall the *slight* blizzard that year? There has been no such accumulation of rainfall (or snow) in the Southeast this summer, in fact double-checking the almanac for that region indicates that rainfall is nearly 10â�?� below normal for the year. Your biggest threat from Frances comes from flash flooding and quite frankly there is hardly a region in the US immune from such conditions. I agree that two or three days of heavy rain in this region probably will result in flooding, but it will be localized and hardly on the scale of the devastation faced by Florida at the moment. Which gets me back to the whole point of my first post, the folks in Florida are/were facing real, massive, life-ending threats on an incredible scale; any impact on South Georgia would be miniscule in comparison and Kermits attempt to conjure up such (and make light of the danger in Florida) was ridiculous.

In the end what was a nice, meaningful gesture begun by the unlikeliest of sources was ruined by an immature punk, trying to show what a big boy he thinks he might be because he���?�s gone off to college and can drink without mommy knowing.




Glad you folks in FL have fared better than anticipated and hope life returns to normal ASAP.

I THINK you are just trying start crap with me. Anyways, everyone in the SE-CEG knows when I'm kidding. We are a humurous group down here. Sorry that you aren't like that. Also, my concerns for my fellow SE-CEGers are more than you will ever know. I offered my place up if anyone needs it and I also offered to help anyone in Florida in any way I can. I'm very serious about this.

I know damn well that Florida is getting hit hard. I only was trying to simply show that where I live may also get some serious flooding too. Research Albany's flooding some more both in 1994 and 1998. It really hurt the city and required lots of work to rebuild and save buildings (some of which I helped with). But yeah Florida is gonna be hurt a lot more, doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that.

And I'm sure my mommy knows I drink. That doesn't have any effect on my caring for my fellow CEGers.

Quit focusing on my post count (I could care less about it, reset it or something).

If you don't like the ways things are in the SE forum, stay outta it. I have met many of these people and would do almost anything for any of em.

You wanna start [censored] with me, just PM me. Leave it outta this forum.

Every CEGer in Florida I'm sure knows how much I hope everything turns out good for them. I'm sure they also appreciate your well wishes. And I'm sure many of my posts are immature. I don't really care. Internet posting isn't what life is about.

Ross and I have both been a part of the SE GA region (him in Albany and now Statesboro, and I've been in Savannah) for quite some time now, so I think we know a thing or two about the weather down here, as evidenced by Ross' previous statement.

I for one care incredibly for the residents in Florida, particularly a lot of my family is down there. I have no problem with anybody coming up if they need a place to stay, and right now any facts of flooding for the rest of the area is irrelevant for two reasons:

1. Florida has the most to worry about right now.

2. I don't care.

I don't know how you guys do it where you're from, but SE CEG is run the way we want it to be run. If you don't like it, then it's your choice to leave because nobody's forcing you to stay.

BMR -- Thank you for your genuine concern for those where the real devastation would be occuring if Frances had not gone limp on us. Many of us here were leaving our homes Thursday fearing we'd come back to nothing.

No rest for the weary, it seems, though, as once we make it back to Melbourne everyone may be fidgety about Ivan churning our way.

OK then, we're back on topic.The storm has passed my area, the eye just north of West Palm (although it sat just off the coast from my home for a day or so). The amount of rain was mind boggling, but the effect was relatively minimal thanks to the beach sand that much of Palm Beach County is built on. Just minor damage to the 5 homes of my family, mine having been hit hardest with its northern exposure. Turns out the electrical feed was completely ripped from my home, weather head & all, when a neigbors tree branch fell across the lines.How to get home is the big concern now. Gotta get electricity working in the major Interstate corridors so the gas staions can pump fuel & keep food cold. I could fuel up in GA, but if I get stuck in traffic, I burn off my fuel before I get home & I'm stuck on the road with no where to stay. I could sleep in the car, but I can't put my family through that. Soon as the all clear is given, The Brothers plan to drive back to begin repairs & most of the women will stay behind until Ivan passes & things are more stable down there.**sigh** What a hassle.

I made out very fortunate. I had power the whole time and never even lost Direct TV. There are a few trees around here ripped up or dammaged, but thankfully nothing major.

If any of the Florida guys need anything let me know. Just call or PM me, my phone is hit and miss as far as a signal goes, but I'm here if you need me.

Tour De Force - I'm right off 95, about 2-3 traffic free hours north from West Palm, if you need a place to stay, rest, or eat let me know.

Glad ya'll are ok. Sucks you have damage though and still gotta see what Ivan is gonna do.

Floridians shouldn't have very much to worry about with Hurricane Ivan on the way; its projected path is well south of the Keys and even Puerto Rico. The US destination for Ivan is Mississippi and Louisiana. Unfortunately, Ivan is set to be yet another Category 4 hurricane when it makes landfall.

We can only hope it misses Florida and doesn't do too much damage wherever it does land. I don't really believe in forecasted hurricane paths too much anymore.

Hence the reason I said shouldn't instead of will not.

let there be light!!!!!, i just got power back on its been out for 24 hours. i hope others down south are doing well, being without power sucks. hope youll have generators for those who dont have the power. stay safe. we are pretty much done with the storm but now we have twistys poppin up all over town. it sucks. let it be over. STAY AWAY IVAN!!!

We made out pretty well, too, unlike many others in our neighborhood. Where many of the 10-15 year old homes in the area that had not had recent roof jobs were stripped clean down to the decking on their east faces, we suffered only a dozen or so broken tabs, no exposed felt, and no water damage.

Only other carnage is about half the screen panels on the birdcage are ripped out or punctured...but the structure is fine. Of course, the pool is now the gathering place for a fine assortment of oak, indian hawthorne, coleus, shingles, and a number of other tree, shrubbery, and roof from somewhere east.

A bit of a mess, but I'm more than happy to suck it up and start the cleanup -- many of those around me were much less fortunate.

cool - glad to hear y'all made it back down there to find things relatively intact. how bad was the traffic on the way back? didn't get stuck in any of those 15 mph logjams, did you?

i suspect we got *maybe* an inch or two of rain here yesterday...nothing more than a stiff breeze and a steady drizzle, really. guess it decided to stay in georgia for the most part instead of riding I-65 north to b'ham.

hope ivan changes path and decides not to continue the attack on florida!

Originally posted by blake:

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cool - glad to hear y'all made it back down there to find things relatively intact. how bad was the traffic on the way back? didn't get stuck in any of those 15 mph logjams, did you?

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For the going up and coming back trips, we departed late night/early morning. It's a pleasure to have all 3 lanes of I75 to yourself at 2AM. Gassing up was drama-free on the way back, at least as far down as Ocala, where we parted ways with I75.

I95 traffic got a little tight on our final DeLand-to-Melbourne leg yesterday around noon, after visiting Ashley's folks. But it never crawled.