If your boat is in Tampa or St Pete better get out now

[SKYCHENEY]

I agree with Rsmith. I don't think he was calling you out specifically. His point is valid. Floating docks are great until they get so high over the pilings and tie downs that they break free.

Let's just hope that all of you are safe and that your old Hatts survive this one as well.

 

[madhatter1]

Our garage floor is 100% covered in water and rising. Old house was 10” lower and never flooded. Minor inconvenience to us but many in our area that never flooded are going to be dealing with a whole new experience.

Both boats safe. Esperanza at Riviera Dunes and MadHatter high and dry. Good luck all.

 

[madhatter1]

4-5” now in garage

 

[SKYCHENEY]

About 6 hours ago my friend showed me his camera at his house in Cape Coral and the water was over his dock. Two hours later it was back below the dock. Not too bad down that way.

Steinhachee on the other hand looks to be getting a direct hit.

 

[Captain Ralph]

4-5” now in garage

For those that do not know (like me) where is your garage?

 

[madhatter1]

Underwater

 

[Captain Ralph]

Were good in Satsuma. Squall line heading this way but river level getting blown out and not flooding ,,,, yet..

 

[zigzag930]

I hope any members here in FL or other areas effected by Helene are safe and didn't have any significant damage to homes or boats.

This was a very unusual storm from a "surge" perspective. Having lived in Punta Gorda, FL - for 17 years now, we've never see water rise anywhere near the likes of this storm.

It would be interesting to understand why Helene was so much more of a water problem then say Ian or Irma, etc. Those storms packed plenty of wind, but not so much of the "surge". In fact the other storms had sucked all the water out of the canals, before turning around and filling them back up. This one was different. The waters never got sucked out and the high tides, just kept getting higer.

Anyway, we were lucky. Water came up just shy of the garage door, but no water in the house. The Hatteras was elevated about 8' above normal tide. She was side tied to the piling on our dock with lots of big fenders. I didn't realize how fast the water was rising and had to cut one spring line (couldn't get it off the cleat.). No damage to the boat, but wading in chest high water in the dark is no fun.

Hope everyone else came out safely and with no damage. Life in "paradise", what can you say?

 

[Pascal]

Glad you re ok.

Reason for the high surge with this one is that it was a very wide storm so the winds pushed water against the shoreline over a larger area compared with a more compact storm.

When planning before storm it a critical to read the nhc’s Discussion and Forecast Advisory. The discussion gives good insight into the forecast and the forecast advisory gives you how far will 64, 50 and 34kts wind extend from the center thru out the next 5 days. In this case 50 kts wind extended almost 100 nm on the east side. And much less on the west side.

These are updated every 6 hours.

 

[madhatter1]

We ended up with 3' of water in the garage. Lost wifes car and probably my sons jeep. And more. Big mess. We are the lucky ones though. Every single original house in our area flooded big time. First time we ever got a storm surge that was at the high end of the scale. 7'.

 

[JD5652]

We ended up with 3' of water in the garage. Lost wifes car and probably my sons jeep. And more. Big mess. We are the lucky ones though. Every single original house in our area flooded big time. First time we ever got a storm surge that was at the high end of the scale. 7'.

UGGGHHH... so sorry to hear!

In Riviera Dunes harbor we weathered the initial 7:15 AM high tide with no problems. Then the storm passed about 100 miles offshore around 4 PM. Has sustained winds in excess of 60 MPH and some said gusts over 75 MPH.

Around 8 PM, the surge started coming and rising FAST. Low tide was 6:47 but it never receded. Next high tide was 1:40 AM this morning. We ended up getting about 6-8 foot surge in the harbor. ALL of our slips with boat lifts had their control boxes submerged. Had one boat come completely off the lift. My 58 LRC at the public marina faired very well with no damage or concerns.

The storm surge topped our seawall around 11 PM last night and water came within about 18 inches of my house. we were VERY FORTUNATE that we did not get flooded. People that have lived in my neighborhood for over 20 years have said this was the worst they've ever seen here.

A few pics of my neighborhood last night.

 

[JD5652]

A few more pics...

 

[zigzag930]

Mike, sorry to hear your home got flooded. There was a point around 2am last night that I was thinking we might have the same issue. I was pacing the floor, walking outside every 30 mins to measure the water level.

Did your Hat survive intact? I do hope so.

There is a 65 LRC a few block from me here in my neighborhood. I spoke with him this AM and he made it through ok as well with minor rub rail rash.

I've always side tied to my dock with tons of large fenders "stacked" to distribute the pressure on the pilings. I am thinking next time, I may cross tie in the canal or 1/2 a block away in the turning basin. I would think that plan would having me stay on board the boat but will need to give that plan some more thought.

 

[madhatter1]

Our home was not flooded. We built up years ago and now it payed off. Only our garage flooded. As per the design. We while having to deal with a mess are in relatively great shape. Thanks for the concern, great to be part of the HOF family. Texting Brian Kinley I have learned he did flood pretty bad. All of Madeira Beach and the surrounding areas flooded.

 

[madhatter1]

Everyones boat okay?

 

[rob71]

Holiday inn marina here in Indian rocks beach .
Fixed docks went about 6 feet under water.
All boats survived with only some scrapes and canvas damage.
Feel very fortunate compared to neighboring houses that flooded.

 

[Briankinley2004]

We wound up with 39” in our house. More than the no name storm. Have everything gutted and dehumidifiers going. Thank God fo sending the right people at the right times. Many small miracles. The ole Hat made it fine and we are living on her until we get house dried out. There was a Hat-Terrez that got loose after Debby anchored out of Bayport. She didn’t make it

https://youtube.com/shorts/i5wQDkUOXZ8?si=Jt57Z-P8oiteueNC

 

[madhatter1]

Ian more violently hit a direct area. This storm flooded such a huge area that it is worse. 4' or 8' of water in a house is same net effect. So many affected.

 

[rsmith]

That wasn’t the guy that kept ending up laying against bridges was it?not sure what a Hat Terez is but hard to tell if it’s really a Hatteras or not. Need to get the house dried out quickly. Black mold starts growing on the drywall right away. Better off with big fans than dehumidifiers. I back fed the house off the boat generator after Frances.

 

[JuiceClark]

Chill, im not calling you a liar I’m just saying if you say the piles dowling your floating dock in are 15’ above the dock you need to take your tape measure back to Harbor Freight

Chill, im not calling you a liar I’m just saying if you say the piles dowling your floating dock in are 15’ above the dock you need to take your tape measure back to Harbor Freight

SMH
I have one 15' left with an emergency yellow line is on it. The other pic was of an early 3'+ Helene surge, with the canal in my yard.

Anyway, my boat is predictably fine. When you have a floating dock and lines tied to the top of each piling, none of it can float "into the back yard." We had about a 7' surge, same as Helene. Of course, if the surge was 15', the 52 would likely still be sitting right there because the lines on the pilings hold everything in place. Like in Ian, when my 10 lines went down through the dock hoops and held it all, the boat stays tied to the piling and the dock stays in between.

Had Legacy, in downtown Fort Myers, had 100 boats tie to the top of piling instead of the dock, with 8 3/4" lines per boat, that would be over 8 MILLION pounds of strength holding the boats AND dock in place. The lines go right down the hole and hold the dock over the piling. The marina wouldn't have floated over onto Centennial Park, right? This isn't rocket science.

Thinking people have long known commercial marinas need a convenient apparatus atop pilings for storm mooring. It never happens because, as Reagan said, people know so much that isn't so.