We've (sort of) lived in Sarasota for around 22 years. Five years were in a condo on the beach on Siesta Key, and the remainder have been in a single family home about 1 mile inland from the Key. Yesterday morning, Sat., around 4:00 AM my cell phone started making a shrill beeping noise, and when I checked it, I had a text message declaring a mandatory evacuation order for Evacuation Zone A. Zone A covers Siesta Key as well as other nearby barrier islands and goes about 1/4 mile inland, and the alert was primarily related to storm surge. Since our house is in Zone B I wasn't concerned. I also wasn't concerned since when I received the message I was about 1,200 miles away at our primary residence in Chicago.
This past Thursday, I went online and checked, lowered, and locked, all of the hurricane shutters which are wind rated at 225 mph. I also checked and tested the standby generator which was fine, though I was surprised to find the 100 gallon LP tank full. I later found out that the LP fuel supplier had topped off the tanks of all of his customers who, like me, aren't permanent residents. Pretty nice gesture.
Throughout my life, I've experienced a good number of hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons on land, sea, and in the air. From all I've seen so far, Irma appears to be one of the worst. One thing I'm reminded of was in 2004 when hurricane Charley was on a similar path as Irma moving directly North and scheduled to hit Naples, Fort Meyers, Venice, Sarasota, Bradenton, St. Pete, and Tampa. Once past Naples and Fort Meyers, Charley sensed the warmer waters of Charlotte Harbor, which hurricanes thrive on, and did a 30° turn to the right. It sparred those cities to the North, and continued on a Northeast tack past Sebring (where Al is) and on to Orlando then Daytona where it then moved out to the Atlantic Ocean. When I checked earlier today, the water temperature off Naples was 79°, and in Charlotte Harbor, it was 87°. Not a good sign.
So, unlike millions of others, at this point I'm pretty comfortable and about all I can do is remotely monitor a matrix of internal and external cameras and watch CNN. For those of you in the midst of it, hunker down, be smart, stay safe, and be well. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.