The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Southern Bolters Hurricane Milton...Here we go again.

Alright Folks, this storm is different, West to East is not the usual track. If you're in the path stay safe, if you're bugging out do it early, if you're hunkering down be prepared.... STAY SAFE!

Gas up a full tank, couple cases of water and make sure you can charge your phone in your vehicle......dont foget some beenie wieners.

I hope all the fellow Florida Bolters stay safe through Hurricane Milton!
Samantha

To add to the above, we have about 15 gal of gas for the generator here at the house plus another 7 or 8 gal at the shop for the generator there. Just read this morning for the first time that the hurricane watch on the east coast of Fla extends from Sebastian Inlet north to Jacksonville area. As of last night we weren’t in the watch area, this morning we are.

Time to pull anchor and head to safer waters. Good Luck and Prayers to all in the path of the maelstrom,

RonR

We're going to 'Hunker Down' here in Sanford.
I expect power outages all over central Florida.
I have secured everything that could fly and braced a tree that is leaning towards my power line.
I have about 50 gallons of gas for my generator and chainsaw.
A small window a/c unit is on standby.

Great idea about the small window shaker. I’ve got one still in the box, if we need it

Working on prepping trucks for the next three days, to send there for help. Might be some long days here in my near future.

That's a long drive! Thank you!

Mark, that IS a long drive. We'll be praying for your group also.

Had quite the pile of lowboys, flat decks, ramp trailers and wreckers come through my yard. The timing is, the start of all of this equipment should hit the area Friday. I think we're sending something like 60 pieces. I heard PG&E sent 300! Last one went out tonight on the back of a Rotator.

Checked them, weighed them, caught up on compliance, loaded some, coordinated others. No truckers fighting, not like Sandy. Got them in, then got them out and headed East. Crews will get out there later.

Yep, here's hoping the boys stay safe and come back in one piece!

We made it through the night. Lost power at 10:30, now on generator. Had minor tree damage. We're doing good.

Same here, except our power went off a few times off & on during the night. But now has been off since daybreak. Haven’t fired up the generator yet

We had some wind and rain, gusts around 70 mph. Being on the left side of the storm we didn't receive the brunt of it. There are people that had a lot of damage, this storm spawned several Tornados. We were lucky that it moved across Florida quickly and didn't stall out and produce more rain than it did. Check on your Neighbors...

We ended up going 12 hrs without power & 24 hours without internet but all is well now, thankfully.

Power back on this morning at 8:30

Yesterday and today was cleanup days. Took a trip to the dump this afternoon.

Late Wednesday night after two long days of work, the last load to go out. Love these wreckers! They're passing all the lowboys and flat decks. This guy is already in Louisiana.

Mark ... Why are they towing the boom truck? Why not just drive it?

Oh ... I think I see ... the wrecker has a sleeper ...

.
Wow, that’s an impressive piece of equipment. Who owns it ?

John, I think the wreckers, haulers get to play under different rules. Our guys previously were going to help out with Georgia. They drove. After 3 days, they made it to the middle of Texas and were turned around. They were not happy. After I told some of the wreckers I weighed the trucks in case they needed that info, they laughed and told me they had no weight restrictions for Florida. All they had to do was book out there. Special FEMA rules?

Hurricane Sandy was different. We prepped for haul, then the President got on the phone and asked how we could get help out there sooner. We said, fly us out there! He said, make it happen. So we had to re-prep for load on to C5's and C17's out of March Reserve Base. Which was also fun-ish, or so.

Yes, that Rotator had a sleeper! I had to take a pic once he kicked on all those work lights! Lit up my yard! I immediately stated that I wanted one. My manager asked me why since it just meant more work! I said "Just for the lights!" Of all the wreckers, this one was a looker. Not necessarily new but well cared for.



RLB, I don't know who owns it. I have it written down at work. Me and my crew worked 2 long days along with a late night relief crew. I was so busy, I didn't even think of taking pictures until things slowed down. And that only happened with this last guy. Not much to do while he secured his load except remember to take one picture, boot him off the property (I say that nicely!) and secure my facility. I was beat! As of 1000 Pacific time today, 50% of the equipment is at the staging area with some crews already headed to work locations. I hear they are having a challenge finding hotel rooms.

I you see any of my guys doing restoration work, even if by the Press, please send a picture or two. I'd be interested.

I zoomed in on the pic. A company called Statewide. California based by the rest of the info on the truck.

Statewide Towing

Thanks for the link . If I see or hear of any news of them I’ll let you know. There are so many obstacles to those trucks traveling cross country in normal times, it would take a team of lawyers to identify them all. My knowledge & experience is very dated but I doubt it’s less regulated now then It was in my time. Somebody is waving a magic wand to make all that go away, not to mention paying for it all.

Just illustrates the out of control growth of the "Bureaucracy State" with unelected petty dictators (faceless, nameless mid-level bureaucrats in a galaxy of state and federal three letter agencies) making it impossible to do what needs doing in times like these. Any truck or piece of equipment, whether line trucks, excavating equipment, potable water tankers -- whatever -- should just be able to placard "DISASTER RELIEF" and travel towards the need bypassing every scale house and inspection station inbetween.

What kind of moron would stop a convoy of line trucks headed towards Florida ???

FWIW, Friday, I was traveling from Northeast Alabama to Maryland. Saw literally hundreds of line trucks, tree trucks, rgn's hauling transformers, etc. on I-24/75/81. It was truly inspirational. But the thing that really tugged at my heart was a convoy -- about 25 or so dually pickups with big gn trailers hauling round bales of hay -- with state police escort heading towards the devastated region at Code 3 speeds with lights and sirens. EVERYONE got out of their way.

Farmers helping farmers.

We do a better job helping each other than a lot of our govt agencies. A lot of volunteer groups trying to help people in western NC after Helene, were told they couldn’t or were told to stop working by FEMA reps.