The eye

Well I can cross being in the eye of a hurricane off my bucket list. I am about 5 miles east of Siesta Key, Florida. Power came back on late last night. I was as prepared as one could get. I used my generator and had 5 gallons to spare. I made the decision to put in a 6 circuit generator throw switch a while back so I didn't have to run extension cords everywhere. Well worth the $300 investment. Lost one of my two sheds, large oak tree out front suffered 60% limb damage, pool cage screens 50% blown out plus bent a little bit, soffits blown out here and there, pool is a mess, yard is a mess with debris everywhere. House is solid thou. Its all good now that the AC is on. Also still have a job on Monday. I consider my self one of the luck ones. There are others a lot worse off than me. Don't much care about the plight of people who chose to live on the water or the barrier islands thou, they just make everyone else's home insurance sky rocket. PMI insurance is the only kind of insurance that should be offered in those areas. If you cant afford to rebuild (which most can) then the PMI pays off the mortgage and you leave with nothing and move somewhere else. 

I live in the Tampa area about 2 miles from the Gulf. We had high winds but no damage. We had no flooding and no power outage.

I guess there are benefits for being an Atheist.

If it wasn't for courts being idiotic insurance companies would have no problem distinguishing houses on the sides of hills with ones built on flood plains.

You're right that a situation has developed where they just rebuild the same crappy structures and it disgusts me.

We live in Evacuation Zone B which was under mandatory evacuation, but we didn't evacuate because my research showed that it was going to centered around the Sarasota area, which meant we would not be getting any Storm surge.

Glad you made it through with no injuries, and it sounds like the damage is manageable...was a lot worse for many.  My Mom and both of my sisters live in Sarasota, one sister got obliterated, the other sister just had a lot of branches, Mom's in a home, just a few trees down there.

All in all, this wasn't as bad as expected.

I live in Wales UK.

Just count yourself lucky that you don't have to put up with perpetual drizzle.

Seriously though, I wish you all the best.

Did you ever have alternate plans on how you might be in the eye of a hurricane?

I am not in a flood or storm serge zone and leaving/evacuating  would be a costly endeavor. I live in a brick house with hurricane straps on the roof. It would take a cat 4 or 5 to bring it down if in fact it could bring it down. So no, I had no other plans other than to ride it out. This is my third hurricane in this house  with 100+ MPH winds.

I've never heard of hurricane straps before,

But after Googling them,

They makes sense, of course houses are built of many parts and designs.

You lucky basted.  

That truly is a case of.Right place, right time.  

' goosebumps '

Anyway ,  Its off the list. 

' glances down at the next thing on the list '

Murder a Man with bare hands.  

Good luck mate.

My list consists of one orange and several black ones.

One of the black ones is metal.

It is a very nice bucket.

"Goosebumps".