Irma

Hurricane Irma has already wracked a lot of destruction, devastating the island of Barbuda, pretty much wiping out many of the Virgin Islands (reportedly with up to 95% destruction, however that's measured), and the news is just now coming in on what it's done to Miami and south Florida.

Last night, it made its way up the Florida peninsula, and arrived in south Georgia this morning.  It's already weakened from a Class 5 hurricane to a tropical depression, but it's still forecast to hit Atlanta with "sustained 50 mph winds, with gusts up to 75" and 3 to 5 inches of rain.  Since the storm is forecast to pass west of us - it's on course to hit Birmingham, Alabama - we're on the side of the storm where tornados are generated, although they say the air's too cool now for tornados to be much of a concern.

The picture above is my front yard from just a few minutes ago - the rain is already falling but so far, the wind is mild, although all indications are it will pick up during the day, hitting its climax late this afternoon and early this evening.

It's a virtual holiday here in Atlanta, although a grim one - school's are shut down, MARTA's not running, most businesses are closed.  I'm "working" from home today, but all my clients are off so there's really not much to do except watch the weather and ride out the storm.

Trees will come down - hopefully not any of those above, but every time there's even a thunderstorm in Atlanta, trees come down somewhere.  I heard on the radio there's already a large one down just a couple blocks from me.  When the trees do come down, they take power lines out with them, so I'm fully expecting to lose electricity before it's all said and done.  It may take a while for the juice to get restored as emergency and utility maintenance crews will rightly be addressing the Class 5 damage in Florida, so after the lights go out, it may be a while until I can post here  again (I'm not going to drain precious laptop battery life on updates to this blog).

I've got candles and flashlights ready for the inevitable, and I've been advised to keep a bathtub full of water for the toilets in case the water stops running. I've also got a couple gallons of drinking water and I've prepared enough food to last me several days. I've also got the company of two housecats to help last me through the storm.

If the lights stay on, I'll post some updates, although I feel a little silly and self-indulgent considering how we in Atlanta have been spared the full wrath of the storm, and how much more others are suffering and how much more others will have lost.