Irmageddon came to be as supplies ran short or out.  After days of preparing we were ready to ride out the storm.  I stayed on the farm to tend the animals.  Looked like a long storm coming.  The wind picked up well before the real winds and tornadoes followed.  Here is a video where I captured a vorticity traipsing through my backyard.  A few minutes after this electricity in the neighborhood went out for 3 days.  In the early evening, waited for a break in the higher gusts to check on the herd.  The pony stalls were beginning to flood.  So hung haynets in there.  The cows wanted no part of the woods or the high shed there.  They were standing in 4inches of water under the treefort, left hay in the rack there.  Here is some haying cows in the storm..  It continued to pour rain.  It seemed to be unable to flow as well as the winds had it pinned from the canal.  The barn feedroom came within 3 inches of flooding.  Knew had neighbors flooding. 

Nearing midnight the storm was closer, winds higher and cows had moved to the west side of the barn on a high spot.  They were still standing in water.  It was not much longer and Penny-Moo gave out a bellow of get me out of here.  So next break in the winds, opened the gate to let the herd out in the yard.  The cows had no place to lay down in a sheltered area and the ponies were in water or under trees, it was the best option.  The water was so deep at the gate the calf nearly had to swim out as it was.  Once up on the house pad and back porch they settled into some sheltered spots and hay.  As the winds were about to switch and increase Elzari, our mare insisted the boys of the herd come out of the way back and take proper shelter as well.  Sometime later they sheltered in the gardens, ate all the collards, kale and decimated the okra.  Skye the actual Pony spent some of it under the front porch, between the vehicles.  He doesn't care for getting wet. 

After the storm passed, the backside was pretty dry and blew the highest water up and out the drainage canal.  By morning the sun came out.  The herd wasn't ready to really leave the sheltered, mostly debris free area of high ground.  The wind was still up.  They just wanted more hay..

For storm damage we were pretty lucky.  The roof over the feedroom needs repaired or replaced again.  Lost the fog light cover for my vehicle and my refrigerator didn't comeback after the power outage.  The pasture was hit by a tornado.  The beautiful ear trees took a harsh beating and loss of huge limbs.  We got the wood fence stood up the next day.  All the building around there were missing shingles.  The gas staions nearby all had severe canopy damage.  This one is at the corner of Lake Washington Rd and Wickham Rd.

Heard stories of where shutters were ripped off houses.  One guy in Indialantic had his sheds full of lawn equipment for his business take off to the sky to never be seen again.  They think it maybe in the Indian River.  Looping through town on the hunt for a new fridge we snapped these pics.

Looking at storm reports for East Central Florida.  Brevard County had the highest reported winds of 93mph in Playalinda Beach.  85mph was reported in Cape Canaveral.  Cocoa Beach had 83mph winds.  Haulover canal had 81mph gust.  Camp Holly Fish Camp near me but farther west had winds of 78mph.   Orlando International Airport had winds as high as 78mph.  Leesburg clocked 69mph, Sandford 75mph.  The worst flooding issues were both along the coast and the St John's River.  Water rescues were reported in both areas.  Volusia, especially Daytona Beach east of US 1 flooded badly as did parts of Indialantic and Fellsmere.  Orange county had water rescues mostly after the storm as the St Johns River came into houses.

We are waiting to take all the shutters off the house and barn.  Jose is still out there.  Models have been trending west on him.  Probably be some effects at least in the Northeast.  Some runs have had 14L hit the east coast of Florida hard.  Now 96L  which just became PTC15L is looking like a possible threat..  Hard forecast with those two storms so near each other..

Harvey has continued Rapid Intensification overnight.  At 9am he was 948mb with 110mph winds.  He is moving overall Northwest at 10mph.  This forward speed is expected and beginning to slow.  Harvey may be over the same general area for days.  There are areas in Texas where this is a life threatening situation coming on.  Heed local warnings.  Some places deadly 9-12' surge is expected, devastating winds can't really be ruled out yet either.

Overall coastal areas along the Gulf Coast and East Coast should be gathering and at least planning for the unexpected.  This could go a few different ways.  There is uncertainty with different tropical entities close together like this.  Either Harvey stays in the landfall area, maybe even comes back off shore and landfalls again more to the north but generally drowns a lot of Texas with rain and surge.  While the wave near Florida develops on the east coast, maybe grazing North Carolina on the way out to sea.  Or, Like GEOS-5 has insisted Harvey continues a more west track.  Texas would be a hard hit but it wouldn't linger as long.  Mexico gets lots of rain as the whole thing traverses land to get sucked into a Low in the East Pacific.  If this happened the Low around Florida might develop (starting tomorrow) more on the west coast & over the state, then possibly run up the east coast.  Either scenario several large areas could receive scary amounts of rain.

A little south of here in Indian River County is Fellsmere, FL. It's mostly known for it's agriculture and rodeos.  Yesterday a tornado touched down in a field..Here is the view from County Rd 512.

Here is a quick close up..

Also on Friday, just north of here, was a funnel cloud spotted in Rocklegde, FL from a tornado warned cell.

Published on Aug 17, 2017 by: NPI Productions
Hurricane Gert sent a fun 3-4 foot swell and every surfer in Florida was on it. Almost thought we were at lowers for a moment!

SpaceX launched a Dragon Capsule to the International Space Station today at 12:31pm.  The weather was hot but clear enough.  Watched the launch at 39A from the Turn Basin.  The renovations out there continue.  Still bits of minor damage from Matthew around.  The burned areas from the fires last spring were widespread.   Saw where a Bald Eagle's nest should have been was torched tree.

Launch was amazing.  Sound was incredible.  To watch Dragon come back to earth..that was something to behold.

What a full moon...produced a baby storm.  Check back for more pictures later today including some puppies born on another farm.  Welcome Nickel-Moo..