Hurricane Ivan

Well, it looks as if we might be engaging yet another hurricane this season. Florida in general, and me in particular, has had enough already! I've talked before about my Mom and Dad, so I'm still relying on them to steer Ivan away.

Manatee County experienced little effect from Charley and Frances, and I'm hoping that will continue. I'm hoping Mom and Dad will gather all the angels together on Florida's west coast and flap their wings so that Ivan will go west. Not that I want anyone to endure a hurricane, no matter the category, but like I said, Florida has had enough!

Update: Ivan has been upgraded to a Cat 5 hurricane. If he remains on his current course, he will side-swipe Florida's west coast. The coast line will be on the east side of the storm. Not a good place to be, even by staying off-shore he could do a tremendous amount of damage because of the high winds and storm surge associated with a Cat 5. I'm still hoping Ivan will take a more westerly turn into the Gulf.

While I want people to understand just how dangerous a Cat 5 hurricane can be, I'm a little tired of constantly hearing the words "devastating" and "extremely dangerous". I worry that overuse might make people downplay the danger. I am very happy that people have left the Keys. This is a very dangerous storm and there are only three ways to leave the Keys: by road, by sea, or by air. And the Overseas Highway is the only road out. Just heard that the Key West airport has closed, so that leaves only two ways out.

My agency has cancelled all leave for next week. If anyone wants an exemption, they are to contact the Chief Deputy for the exemption. It's gonna have to be a good one to get the exemption. We have not received word that non-essential personnel are relieved from duty. I expect that on Monday or Tuesday, depending on where Ivan is. My position is non-essential, so I will be relieved at some point.