First, I'd like to thank all the wonderful people who have sent me private messages regarding my situation with the hurricane damage I sustained. You guys / gals are the best!

I truly feel that I have come to know many of you personally in these past few months, even though we have never met. Thanks again.
As for the situation here in Seminole County:
Well, a couple hours ago, I violated curfew

and walked around my neighborhood before it got dark to see how everyone fared. People were out all over the neighborhood, checking up on each other and comparing stories....even though it was raining and the winds were still gusting upwards of 45mph.
This storm seemed to cause much more roof damage than the earlier hurricanes (I can certainly vouch for that with my own roof!). There are MANY
homes that have significant shingle and tar paper loss, resulting in interior water damage.
The tree loss was not as bad as Charley, but about the same as Frances. Luckily, this time, I did not see any trees that had fallen on houses in my neighborhood.

The reports from Sanford are sounding pretty bad. The St Johns River runs through Lake Monroe and, after Frances, the flooding was quite severe....however, a seawall of 7 feet prevented flooding of the downtown area (the flood following Frances crested at around 6.8 ft). Today, however, the lake rapidly rose to 7.5 feet, which means very serious flooding. Highway 17-92, a main highway that actually runs from Tampa to Daytona, has been flooded and the road is washing out.
It will be very interesting tomorrow when I have to go back to work in Sanford.

--Lou