Hurricane Frances Updates & News

[Digger]

we woke up today to more wind and rain and 2 baby tree frogs on the inside of the french doors in our bedroom. any port in a storm I guess. we remain, again for now, lucky. but we were supposed to spend the weekend at US/IOA. we'll try again next weekend, depending on Ivan. I need a ROTM fix, and Lesli is craving a Minutemaid frozen strawberry lemonade. [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[MCFantasia]

Well, Frances is here. I know its nothing compared to what Florida went through but its turning our world upside down. We've got steady winds around 25mph ... gusts reaching 45mph (or higher when channeled between buildings). Heavy, heavy rain. Here at work the power has gone out a few times (although we have a generator) but it hasn't stayed out for more than five minutes. I heard a loud crash outside and looked to see a fairly old maple tree didn't survive. Lukily it didn't land on anything other than pavement. Hope the rest of the night and tomorrow continue to go as smoothly.

[Nana]

McFantasia,
Yep, I am here in North Metro Atlanta and the wind is howling outside. We took in our patio furniture last night to keep it from becoming a flying missile. It is amazing how heavy it is raining here. I can not imagine what it must have been like to have Frances at its worst.

[Womble]

Originally posted by Zebra:
Epcot closure - 2002 due to an electrical fire

Zebra was this the incident where a transformer "blew out" and it also affected surrounding resorts?

Kevin AKA Womble

[disneydoug]

I am in WV and we are due to fly out on Friday morning for WDW. We are watching IVAN closely. I don't want to gamble our vacation and meet IVAN and be locked down in a hotel room. As of right now, we plan on making the trip. Our prayers are with those of you who have been through such a hard time in Florida. We consider Florida our 2nd home and hope for a speedy clean up and no more storms for you. Doug

[Ian]

I'm in the same boat you are, Doug. We fly in Friday night and I'm hoping we don't get nailed with Ivan right after we get there.

As of now, I'm thinking it's going to pass South of Orlando, though. I'm hoping we won't get anything but maybe a little extra rain.

[Toughbug]

The best advice is to monitor the situation because the predicted paths can be wrong and they change depending on what happens. We here in New Orleans monitor any situation like this also and I have seen models that have Ivan going south of Florida (which would be great news and a huge relief for those Floridians) and heading into the Gulf of Mexico because of the lack of steering currents and the gulf stream hsn't dipped down so Florida might be okay as of today. Keep tuned to what is happening from the Weather Channel and the local New Orleans TV stations have web sights that probably update the situation when the National Weather Service does so I would keep an eye on things that way.

The folks down in Florida are in my thoughts and prayers.

[Nascfan]

Thank you all, cast members and non-cast members, for keeping us updated throughout the storm. Our thoughts and prayers were and continue to be with all affected.

[Donalds Duckie]

I read this morning that historically all hurricanes that were within 100 mile radius of where Ivan is right now tracked and made landfall in Texas or in Carolinas, Florida was completely unaffected. So, if history holds true, Ivan will miss Florida altogether.

[ September 07, 2004, 12:32 PM: Message edited by: Donalds Duckie ]

[Timbo]

Here in Hollywood, near Ft. Lauderdale, my family and home came through Frances without a hitch. At my home we never even lost power for more than a few seconds. Amazing considering some of my friends just a few miles East of me were without power for a couple of days. Even my parents in St. Augustine didn't have power for 30 hours.

There are a lot of traffic lights out here and Broward county schools are out today. Gasoline is still a bit of a challenge but I'm sure that by tomorrow all the stations will be back to operating capacity.

We're just grateful that we came through it okay and as far as I know none of my friends or loved ones were injured in the storm. It's still amazing to me that in this day and age we can count so many deaths from a hurricane in a developed country like ours. [img]graemlins/shakehead.gif[/img]

I'm praying for Ivan to go away and leave us alone until the season is over. This is just too much for us to deal with.

Y'all take care and stay safe.

[Nan]

I have been reading this thread with interest for the past week as we are leaving for WDW on the 17th. I have felt incredibly guilty being so concerned for my little vacation while all of you CM's and Floridians are worried for your health and property. Know that my thoughts and prayers have been with you.
Thanks for the postings regarding tourists. We have been unsure if we would just add to the state's burden if we go, but also figured that the $ we spend would be welcomed. It is nice to know that we would be welcome to go.
As it stands we will go as long as Ivan doesn't rear his ugly head and make travel unsafe or affect the water supply.
As we are going without the kids, being stuck in our hotel room would be OK [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img]

[Pixie Power]

Originally posted by Nan:
As we are going without the kids, being stuck in our hotel room would be OK [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img]

Woo hoo Nan! That's good thinkin'!

[DisneyMomof3]

We had to change our plans because of Frances. We are now due to arrive on Thurs. the 9th. I have been watching Ivan. It seems that it will be south of Florida (Thank God). It looks like it will be south of Cuba, go into the gulf and on to Texas. I will be there only until Mon. 13th and I am convinced that by going I will be helping the hard it economy down there. My prayers are with all the residence. Isn't it wonderful to know what a great country we have! To see all the people coming to help Florida in their time of need.

[TXDisneyAddict]

Well, we leave to head to the airport in about two hours. We had moved the departure date back four days last Wednesday before they officially announced the flights were cancelled. Staying through Sunday evening, and have been watching Ivan closely -- don't think it will head to FL based on today's projections, but that is always subject to change.

Spoke to Mears, and they are working as normal in case anyone was coming in and wondering. Will try and post if anything pertinent comes up.

Hope everyone else coming in this week travels in safely and has a good trip. Even if it rains, it's better to be at Disney while wet, than anywhere else while dry.

[Donalds Duckie]

Nan, I am scheduled to fly to WDW on Sept. 17th too. As long as I can get out of Texas (looks as if Ivan might come a callin' here) I'm going. I think by the 17th we will be welcomed in Florida.

Nothing we can do now but watch and wait.

[stitch626]

Finally, I got my power back. Now if I could get my cable too I would be a happy camper.

Came through the storm with no damage. Just a little flooding around us. Went back to work today(Discovery Cove) and everything is back to normal there.

Just heard on the local news that it may be weeks before Port Canaveral can get back to normal operations. Sounds like a lot of sand was dragged into the port and they have to dredge it before ships can return. Since we are supposed to go on the Disney Cruise on September 18th I guess I will have to wait and seewhere we will sail from. I know right now they are sailing from Port Everglades.

[goofygirl67]

Well, we just got power and phones back up an hour ago. We lost them around 5pm Sunday.
Where we live there are many historic trees on our street and in about 6 sections on the road trees came down and tore the lines.
We had sweltering heat in the house and couldn't sleep very well. Nothing to do, I never knew we relied on electricity so much.
I never knew that even on the outer fringes of the hurricane alot of damage could happen. We even had gusts at hurricane strength when the eye was at Tampa. Today we had nothing but pouring rain for most of the day.
The airport didn't open until yesterday about 10am. My parents were supposed to go to New Oleans for their vacation on a river boat and Southwest canceled all their flights. My parents will now go around Thanksgiving.
I hope Ivan doesn't come near, I think the rest of the trees will come down. We now have new ponds in our backyard due to the fact that the water can't drain.
Hopefully everything is getting better further south.

[susy the groomer]

Sounds like there will be a bunch of us intercotee's in orlando this weekend! We fly in on Saturday and are staying 8 days. See you all there.... [img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[steamboat willy]

Frances is here in the Carolinas now, pouring down rain and tornado warnings all evening. Driving down on Friday to ASM for 20th anniversary. Lets keep that IVAN going WEST.
3 days and counting!
[img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/muscles.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/clappy.gif[/img]

[piget]

We just got back last night - WDW was a "ghost town " the last few days - even on Monday with only 2 parks open. If you are wondering about crowds for the next week or so - A CM told us yesterday that cancellations are running over 50% for this week!