# Tracking Michael



## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 7, 2018)

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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 7, 2018)

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=256631161596465


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## Tom (Oct 8, 2018)

I'm still in GA, so you need to keep Michael down there with you. Okay?


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 8, 2018)

*10-08-2018*
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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 8, 2018)

Tom said:


> I'm still in GA



~ Looks like the path trends towards Atlanta.........


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## Markw84 (Oct 8, 2018)

Looks like it will miss you @ALDABRAMAN by quite a bit. However, you will be on the higher storm surge side. Might not be great as far away as you are, but how would that affect your new property so low on the Imperial??


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## xphare (Oct 8, 2018)

How do you move all the Aldabras when hurricanes/storms come?


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 8, 2018)

Markw84 said:


> Looks like it will miss you @ALDABRAMAN by quite a bit. However, you will be on the higher storm surge side. Might not be great as far away as you are, but how would that affect your new property so low on the Imperial??



~ We are will get some wind, rain, etc., nothing of significance at our locations.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 8, 2018)

xphare said:


> How do you move all the Aldabras when hurricanes/storms come?



~ Horse trailer


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 8, 2018)

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## Markw84 (Oct 8, 2018)

I was just in Panama City Beach last week enjoying this view from our balcony! Had a great time and visited some relatives of Brenda -

And we were talking with them about how rare it has been for a hurricane to hit there in recent years - having to curve up and around through the Gulf!


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## Toddrickfl1 (Oct 8, 2018)

It will just be rain by the time it gets to Atlanta.


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## Toddrickfl1 (Oct 8, 2018)

When I clicked on this post I was thinking it wouldn't be an Aldabra Tortoise named Michael with some kind of GPS or GoPro attached to its shell lol


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 8, 2018)

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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 9, 2018)

*10-09-2018*






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## Tom (Oct 9, 2018)

Looks like it is going to go right over the top of me... 

Well at least the people here know how to drive in the rain...


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## Cowboy_Ken (Oct 9, 2018)

Tom said:


> Well at least the people here know how to drive in the rain...


Like you know how to drive in the snow.


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## Toddrickfl1 (Oct 9, 2018)

Tom said:


> Looks like it is going to go right over the top of me...
> 
> Well at least the people here know how to drive in the rain...


 Not true @Tom When Atlanta roads get wet they release a gas and when people breathe it in it causes them to drive like morons


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## Tom (Oct 9, 2018)

Toddrickfl1 said:


> Not true @Tom When Atlanta roads get wet they release a gas and when people breathe it in it causes them to drive like morons


Damn. Just like L.A.


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## Tom (Oct 9, 2018)

Cowboy_Ken said:


> Like you know how to drive in the snow.


Man, I'm a pro in the snow. I was schooling the locals in Des Moines in December and January when I was there!


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## Toddrickfl1 (Oct 9, 2018)

ATLeans are even worse in the snow. We get 2" the whole city shuts down!


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## ZEROPILOT (Oct 9, 2018)

A category 3 is very serious and the "panhandle" area isn't used to getting hit often.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 9, 2018)

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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 9, 2018)

__ https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=307998709794866


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 10, 2018)

*CAT 4*
*10-10-2018*
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## ZEROPILOT (Oct 10, 2018)

It's a CAT 4 now?
It's supposed to be strong enough to still be hurricane strength even after it reaches Georgia.


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## ZEROPILOT (Oct 10, 2018)

It's a scary one.
Very compact and powerful.
My mother lives in a nursing home in Albany Georgia. They're already evacuating into a centrally located building with a generator.
Who would ever think that inland Georgia would get hurricane winds?


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## katieandiggy (Oct 10, 2018)

Toddrickfl1 said:


> When I clicked on this post I was thinking it wouldn't be an Aldabra Tortoise named Michael with some kind of GPS or GoPro attached to its shell lol



Omg that is exactly what I thought too [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 10, 2018)

Markw84 said:


> I was just in Panama City Beach last week enjoying this view from our balcony! Had a great time and visited some relatives of Brenda -
> View attachment 253632
> And we were talking with them about how rare it has been for a hurricane to hit there in recent years - having to curve up and around through the Gulf!


You know there's a $5 for bringing that up during hurricane season...


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 10, 2018)

ZEROPILOT said:


> It's a scary one.
> Very compact and powerful.
> My mother lives in a nursing home in Albany Georgia. They're already evacuating into a centrally located building with a generator.
> Who would ever think that inland Georgia would get hurricane winds?


Albany isn't all that far from me... I'm currently south of Monticello.


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## ALDABRAMAN (Oct 10, 2018)

*Cat 4 @ 155 mph winds*
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## wellington (Oct 10, 2018)

Hope everyone in its path is safe. I know we have quite a few GA members. Been talking too one that's in the path. Tornados too happened earlier today. Luckily that didn't hit her. @Tom might still be in GA too. It already did a lot of damage in FL.
Stay safe!


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 10, 2018)

My evacuation location (personal COOP site, for those of you familiar with the term) has been out of power since 1520 hrs, and internet connection is spotty. 

Monticello is out of power.

On the bright side, the power was still on at my house, about 15 minutes away, as of a couple hours ago. If it stays that way, I may be able to demobilize and return with the critters tomorrow morning. Think good thoughts...


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 10, 2018)

My current location has a generator, but we haven't turned it on yet. It's mostly reserved for running the refrigerator periodically during an outage, to keep food cold, to pump water, and to recharge mobile devices.


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## Tom (Oct 10, 2018)

Its been raining here (Senoia, GA) for a few hours, but not much wind at all. Supposed to see the worst of it in the next few hours and then sunny by tomorrow afternoon here.

Went out in the rain for Mexican food tonight. Not the kind of Mexican food I'm used to from Mexico and Southern CA.


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## SweetGreekTorts (Oct 10, 2018)

Tom said:


> Its been raining here (Senoia, GA) for a few hours, but not much wind at all. Supposed to see the worst of it in the next few hours and then sunny by tomorrow afternoon here.
> 
> Went out in the rain for Mexican food tonight. Not the kind of Mexican food I'm used to from Mexico and Southern CA.


Just don't ever try "Mexican" food in Scotland. Seriously. DON'T!!!


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## Tom (Oct 10, 2018)

irishkitty said:


> Just don't ever try "Mexican" food in Scotland. Seriously. DON'T!!!


Or South Africa. It will not be what you are expecting...


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 11, 2018)

irishkitty said:


> Just don't ever try "Mexican" food in Scotland. Seriously. DON'T!!!


You couldn't find a decent taco in the UK if your life depended on it!


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## Tortoise Police (Oct 11, 2018)

How is something like this even possible!


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## Tom (Oct 11, 2018)

Tortoise Police said:


> How is something like this even possible!


What? A decent taco in the UK? Apparently its not possible.


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## Tom (Oct 11, 2018)

The rain here stopped sometime last night. Its not raining at all now at 7am when I took the dogs out for a potty break. Its supposed to be overcast for the morning hours and then sunny and 80 degrees this afternoon. If the wind ever picked up last night, I didn't hear it. I wish it had been this mild when it hit the pan handle.


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## CarolM (Oct 11, 2018)

Tom said:


> Or South Africa. It will not be what you are expecting...


Haven't tried it here yet. Actually don't know of any places which sell it.


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## ZEROPILOT (Oct 11, 2018)

No power where mom is a Albany Georgia.
But everyone is ok.


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## wccmog10 (Oct 11, 2018)

It went right over us here in Augusta. For a minute there I thought it was still going to be hurricane force when it got here, but it downgraded pretty fast over Georgia. I did move everyone inside last night though. Of course it’s already sunny and fairly calm, there is a little bit of lingering wind- but not much. Thankfully this hurricane is moving fast. Only damage we had was my shade cover for the bird mews got knocked down and torn up a bit- nothing I can’t fix. 

A friend in Albany had the roof of his mews ripped off- the birds were inside of course.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 11, 2018)

Good to see the sun again this morning.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 11, 2018)

wccmog10 said:


> It went right over us here in Augusta. For a minute there I thought it was still going to be hurricane force when it got here, but it downgraded pretty fast over Georgia. I did move everyone inside last night though. Of course it’s already sunny and fairly calm, there is a little bit of lingering wind- but not much. Thankfully this hurricane is moving fast. Only damage we had was my shade cover for the bird mews got knocked down and torn up a bit- nothing I can’t fix.
> 
> A friend in Albany had the roof of his mews ripped off- the birds were inside of course.


Your friend in Albany moved his birds inside the house? The birds are okay?


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 11, 2018)

All of my critters have cabin fever. I'll be moving them back home today.


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## wccmog10 (Oct 11, 2018)

Pastel Tortie said:


> Your friend in Albany moved his birds inside the house? The birds are okay?



Yes. The birds were inside and everyone is safe.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 11, 2018)

Glad to hear everyone is safe so far, even if a bit uncomfortable. For me personally, I'm glad to be grumbling about enduring another morning of homemade iced coffee.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 11, 2018)

I finally got all the critters back home and mostly settled in. I had to move 100+ lbs of cat. Twice.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 11, 2018)

On the bright side, I can fit eight cat carriers in a Ford Explorer... without stacking.


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## Toddrickfl1 (Oct 11, 2018)

We only got rain from it here in the Atlanta area.


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## Tom (Oct 11, 2018)

I was looking at the news this morning and we just didn't see any problems out here in Peachtree City GA. We had some rain starting yesterday evening, but the sun came out around 11am today and it was a beautiful warm sunny day here.


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## CarolM (Oct 11, 2018)

ZEROPILOT said:


> No power where mom is a Albany Georgia.
> But everyone is ok.


Glad everyone is okay.


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## Markw84 (Oct 12, 2018)

The relative we were visiting just over a week ago in Panama City has a few auto dealerships. They were severely damaged. He has a multi million dollar antique and vintage car collection in an adjacent building and he has not been allowed back in the city yet to assess the damage. Most building there have at least some damage, a great many totally destroyed. A local hospital was destroyed. I'm afraid of what he will find when he is allowed to return. They don't expect power restored for quite some time...


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## KarenSoCal (Oct 12, 2018)

Markw84 said:


> The relative we were visiting just over a week ago in Panama City has a few auto dealerships. They were severely damaged. He has a multi million dollar antique and vintage car collection in an adjacent building and he has not been allowed back in the city yet to assess the damage. Most building there have at least some damage, a great many totally destroyed. A local hospital was destroyed. I'm afraid of what he will find when he is allowed to return. They don't expect power restored for quite some time...


Sorry to hear this, Mike. Prayers for them! [emoji120]


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## CarolM (Oct 12, 2018)

Markw84 said:


> The relative we were visiting just over a week ago in Panama City has a few auto dealerships. They were severely damaged. He has a multi million dollar antique and vintage car collection in an adjacent building and he has not been allowed back in the city yet to assess the damage. Most building there have at least some damage, a great many totally destroyed. A local hospital was destroyed. I'm afraid of what he will find when he is allowed to return. They don't expect power restored for quite some time...


Oh no. I really hope that the damage is not too bad.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 13, 2018)

Markw84 said:


> The relative we were visiting just over a week ago in Panama City has a few auto dealerships. They were severely damaged. He has a multi million dollar antique and vintage car collection in an adjacent building and he has not been allowed back in the city yet to assess the damage. Most building there have at least some damage, a great many totally destroyed. A local hospital was destroyed. I'm afraid of what he will find when he is allowed to return. They don't expect power restored for quite some time...


Bay and Gulf counties were among the hardest hit in Florida. Jackson, Calhoun, Liberty and Franklin are also high up on that list, but they aren't the only ones.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 13, 2018)

In Mexico Beach, FL, there were beach houses. Now, there's just beach.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 13, 2018)

This storm is being compared to Andrew (1992). Incredible, devastating power, in a really small footprint. Some people are already wondering if Michael will get retroactively classified as a Cat 5 hurricane. The barometric pressure at the center of Michael was actually LOWER than Andrew's.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 13, 2018)

For those of you who aren't all that familiar with hurricanes, one of the indicators of how bad a hurricane is, is the barometric pressure inside the eye of the storm. The lower it is, the worse it is. If you ever hear that a hurricane's pressure has dropped or is dropping, it usually means that storm is about to intensify and get even worse.

Anecdotally, another indicator of hurricane intensity, or anticipated intensity, is how excited the meteorologists get when they're talking about it. It may also correlate with the number of four-letter words being uttered by emergency management personnel.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 13, 2018)

Markw84 said:


> The relative we were visiting just over a week ago in Panama City has a few auto dealerships. They were severely damaged. He has a multi million dollar antique and vintage car collection in an adjacent building and he has not been allowed back in the city yet to assess the damage. Most building there have at least some damage, a great many totally destroyed. A local hospital was destroyed. I'm afraid of what he will find when he is allowed to return. They don't expect power restored for quite some time...


I'm sorry I don't have any/more information for you. I spent 8+ hrs. at the state EOC yesterday, and we were so busy just trying to keep up with all the requests coming in, that I didn't get a chance to come up for air, much less catch up on broader situational awareness. 

I'm trying to think if there's anywhere online that would have recon or damage assessment photos/info publically available. I looked at the Bay County website, and it looks like you have to subscribe to their service to receive or otherwise access information regarding road closures, etc. 

If you know a good GIS person, I may have a suggestion or two (but certainly no guarantees) on where to go looking online.


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## Pastel Tortie (Oct 25, 2018)

Did we have any TFO members affected by Hurricane Michael? Does anyone know?

It hit an area of Florida that isn't really well covered by an established herp society. 

I'm wondering if there's an unmet need and if there's anything we can do to assist our fellow turtle and tortoise keepers in the affected area.


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## Tortoise Police (Nov 12, 2018)

I never even had a taco or burrito


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