Sending hugs and prayers to those of you in Ian’s path. It looks to be horrid for parts of FL, according to the news, “The equivalent of a 40 mile wide EF 3 tornado heading your way with 155 mph winds, flood surge, and flash flooding” on the way today.
And for those in the surge area, it’s hitting at high tide.
Check in here as you can.
We got evacuation orders beginning at 6:00 p.m. Monday evening. We left early Tuesday morning. We are in Zone A, so always the first to go. Zones B and C’s evacuation began Tuesday at 7:00 a.m. We went inland to the home of friends in a no-evacuation zone, but within our county. The mantra is, “hide from wind, run from water,” and major surge had been predicted for our area.
Storm tracked differently, which is good news for us, but not our neighbors to the south. It won’t be pretty where we are, but it shouldn’t be terrible. it is going to be devastating a few counties to our south.
We hope to go back tomorrow, but need to see if flooding occurs with all the forecasted rain. We probably could have stayed put and been just fine, but we go if they tell us to go.
It’s going to be so bad further south. So, so bad. 
We’ve been watching it non-stop and happy for both St Pete (where we used to live plus where Eckerd is) and Naples (where my aunt lives), but super concerned for the in-between sections (where we have friends).
What I am seeing from Naples does not look good.
I hope your aunt evacuated
A friend of mine from Naples appears to be sheltering in place. 
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She a young widow with her dog. She still has power but seriously!
My aunt did not evacuate. She’s in Zone B, so it wasn’t required. She has a first floor condo, but has a friend higher up she can stay with if needed/desired, so should be ok. I don’t think the flood surge will reach her. She’s proud that she and my uncle stayed during Irma and were fine, so nothing was going to change her mind.
It’s why I’m glad for her that they aren’t getting the worst of it and she doesn’t live close to the Gulf.
My friends don’t live close to the Gulf either, but could have higher winds being closer to the bad areas. Then there’s all the predicted rainfall in that area. Time will tell.
My sister in law is in zone B in Estero, and opted to stay. I’m so worried about her!
It’s really hard to know what to do because the track isn’t really locked in.
So many went to Orlando. It won’t be awful there, but it won’t be great either. Oversaturated ground + big trees + wind = not the best.
Hoping your aunt is okay!
Having a pet definitely complicates evacuating.
Glad she is good so far
Her sil is in Jacksonville so I’m not sure why she stayed in Naples. She’s like that.
My aunt went to Vero Beach instead of Orlando. 
Well I haven’t heard from my aunt tonight. I tried texting her, but the towers might be down or she might have gone to bed before I texted. I’ll find out tomorrow. Naples looks bad on TV, but she’s not coastal so I’m not assuming the worst though I will feel better once I hear from her. She lives alone.
I have an aunt in a nursing home in Naples. They are staying put, with generator power. I’m staying in touch with my cousin (who lives up north so not near enough to see her) and she says her mom’s fine so far. But it makes me nervous.
I’m about an hour north of Orlando. We’ve had much less rain than expected. The wind started picking up Wednesday afternoon. The worst was around 2 am Thursday. The wind will remain high (above 35 mph) until about 6 pm Thursday. It’s currently gusting to about 50 mph, maybe a little more.
I’m in the SE coast. The rain only stops for short breaks, but the winds can be strong. On local TV, they showed cars overturned. Four miles west, some buildings were hit.
What disturbs me about hurricanes is how the day after when they are showing scenes on the news, the sun may be shining and it may look like a beautiful day but yet on the ground it is full devastation. 
I have been texting with our good friends in Bradenton. Thankfully they are safe and even have power but they said the winds and rain were fierce! Thankful they fared well but so sad for those who did not.
I received a text from my aunt this morning. She’s fine. Her complex did not flood and only lost one big tree. She said everything is quiet today.
They lost power yesterday at 2pm, so I’m not asking for more details wanting her to keep her phone battery going as long as she can.
I imagine a lot of fridge/freezer food will be lost if power can’t be restored soon, and of course, it’s still quite warm that far south so losing ac is a big deal.
I also saw a clip on TV (don’t recall which station) that showed a FL guy with a Ford F150 Lightning. He showed how his truck could be a generator for his house and said the battery could keep it up for 3-10 days pending usage. It made me really, really wish we could have gotten one when we were looking. It wouldn’t help my aunt living in her condo complex, but it sure would be nice here in the boonies if we lose power, esp in winter or other storms when we aren’t the first to get it restored. It’s so much easier and safer than our generator.
There’s over 40,000 OOS utility workers in Florida as of yesterday. I saw a convoy of them on Tuesday going to a staging area. I assume they’re hard at work working to restore power to affected areas. My power flickered for a couple of seconds this morning.
My friend is one who sends the crews from GA to other states. It is a balancing act as she has to keep enough crews in GA because usually the storm is heading that way after it hits Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, etc, but send enough so that those states will send help when she needs it.
We are zone A in St. Pete Beach and evacuated. We parked our cars at the airport garage due to expected storm surge. No power and thank God no surge. Sewer lift stations are without power, hoping that we don’t get sewage back up. Family in Naples are without power but have not had the flooding that downtown Naples suffered from. Friends in Punta Gorda who evacuated but we have not heard from them on how their house fared. Prayers for those who suffered catastrophic loss, for first responders, and for FEMA and utility workers.