Tropical Storm Elsa Update

/ Marcia

As you can well imagine, we’ve been tracking the progress of Hurricane/TropicalStorm/HurricaneAgain(?) Elsa since the trajectory began indicating we might take a hit from this one. On the plus side, it’s not a storm as significant as many we’ve lived through, including Hurricane Irma (which is the one that brought an enormous tree down on our house.) At least, not so far. It started as a hurricane, got downgraded slightly to a tropical storm with 70mph winds, and has now crossed over Cuba to enter the Gulf of Mexico. This is the point at which storms often build up strength again, and it looks like that might happen at any time now. 

The storm is currently predicted to come ashore in Florida at Tampa (that big yellow dot in the middle of the pink area). The two blue dots represent Orlando, where Mark works, and Sanford slightly north of it, where we live. As you can see this projected path means we could get significant wind and rain, though nothing is certain. And it also looks like it could pass directly over my son’s home in Gainesville. So this is why we’ve been doing a lot of prep work, clearing up things in the yard that can become flying (lethal) projectiles, etc. 

I’ve lived through many, many hurricanes during my life, sitting hunkered down in the living room all night, listening to loud thuds on the roof as limbs and debris rained down upon us. I’m not unduly afraid (generally) but I never, ever scoff at possible consequences. Especially after Irma smashed our garage and car. I’ve always been of the mindset to prepare for the worst, and pray for the best. Once we’ve done all we can to be ready, it’s out of our hands. 

Thankfully, we just had the last of the dying laurel oaks removed from our property, so 100′ tall trees falling on us are unlikely, especially during a less powerful storm like this one appears to be. But then again, we didn’t expect our neighbor’s huge oak to fall on us, either.  (And when I say huge, I mean the trunk was about 6′ THICK, and the canopy engulfed our entire house, though the weight rested primarily on the garage, thankfully, or we wouldn’t still be here.)

The bottom line is, winds are expected to begin picking up today about 2:00pm, and the storm looks like it will come ashore at Tampa sometime Wednesday morning. Hopefully, it will still be a tropical storm and not a full hurricane, and the damage will be minimal to those in its direct path. But there is a high likelihood of power outages so if I disappear for a bit longer, that’s probably what’s going on. 

I do have a Ten Things guest tomorrow, and I HOPE I’ll be able to access the internet so I can welcome her, but if not, I’ll join in the conversation as soon as possible.

Thanks, folks. Any and all prayers and/or positive thoughts will be greatly appreciated and welcome, and hopefully, Elsa will mind her manners and go on her merry way without wreaking too much havoc.

Stay safe, folks, wherever you are! See you on the other side!

19 thoughts on “Tropical Storm Elsa Update”

    • Boy, so am I, Trish. I was thinking this morning that BOTH of those trees would have fallen across the roof right over our bedroom, had we not already gotten them down. It wouldn’t even have taken a really big storm to do it, so it was just in the nick of time!

      Thanks for all your positive thoughts and love. It’s very welcome! 🤗💗

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. Good luck! It’s looking we will get some of the remnants here later Thursday into Friday morning. Just how much will depend on its track, whether it passes directly over us as the likely track shows, or if it goes more inland or offshore.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • That’s the problem with hurricanes, isn’t it, Jeanne. Why can’t they stick to ONE plan so we know what to expect. Either we get careless thinking it isn’t going to impact us, and then end up in a mess, or we work ourselves into a frenzy getting ready, and the action heads elsewhere! EVIL, I tell ya!!!

      Good luck to you, too. I hope it leaves both of us unscathed! 🙂 ❤

      Like

      Reply

      • Thanks! And yeah. Living in the Norfolk, VA area, I’ve been through quite a few tropical storms and hurricanes, and it would be so nice to know exactly what the storm’s going to do and what to expect. But that’s Mother Nature for you.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  6. I’m so impressed, Marcia, by how you have readied yourself for this potentiality. And — by how you are emotionally prepared for whatever lies ahead. Your courage is amazing, my friend. Hang in there and know you are not alone. Prayers are on their way…. 💗

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you so much, Gwen. I’m not really all that brave, but I am used to these blasted storms coming along each year, and take them very seriously. Even a mild one can cause a surprising amount of damage. So, we do what we can. And then we wait. (That’s the hardest part. Not knowing what’s actually going to arrive in your own neighborhood.)

      Your prayers are gratefully accepted, believe me. I’m sending mine out, too, to everyone in the projected path of this storm. Here’s hoping Elsa fizzles out! 🤗 ❤

      Like

      Reply

Looking forward to hearing what YOU think! NOTE: If in doubt about leaving comments on this blog, please read the privacy statement in the menu at the top of the page.

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s