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10 10 24 Marty Lenz' Brother Jim Live From Florida During Milton
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First off, Jim, how are you and Stacey doing right now? Yeah, good morning, guys. No, we're good. We lost power around probably about 9 o'clock last night. And then I believe if my mask corrected, it probably came back on around probably 4 or 4.30 this morning. But Stacey did a great job getting us all prepped. And just a ton of wind. I went out and walked the backyard this morning. Our grass is almost completely dry. It was kind of like the same thing that we had from Ian about three years ago. A ton of wind damage, but the grass is actually dry. It's kind of eerily similar in that way. But just a lot of strong wind. I believe that we didn't sustain any structural damage to the house. You have some vegetative loss. I mean, nothing compared to what some of those other people are probably facing. Jim, a lot of Coloradans have probably never experienced a hurricane before. So maybe walk us through what it's like because there's that moment of the eye of the hurricane that is unlike anything else. Yeah, it's funny. I used to say that because we when it made landfall where where CS2K is where I guess they said it made landfall, we're about 10 miles east of that. So we knew that we were in the strongest part of the winds. And then we went out to let the dogs out and it was completely calm. Kind of surreal. You look up, you know, everyone kind of walks out surveys their property and then kind of comes back in and then, you know, on the back end, then the winds are going to obviously come from an opposite direction and it's going to how. Probably up until it just as it's a slow gradual buildup, the winds get stronger and stronger and stronger. You get the rain the rain bands and then it calms down and then you do the same thing on the backside. So it's pretty it's pretty surreal. I guess that's the best way I can put it. Jim, how many of your neighbors decided to stay put like you all did? That's a good question. I would say I would say almost a majority of them stayed put. As I look outside, we have some people that took a lot of precautions and put up like, you know, storm shutters and all that and then some people didn't. But I would say for the most part, most of our neighbor said state. We have one group of folks that were good friends with that they fled to Atlanta, but they were checking in with us daily to kind of see how things were going. But I would think most people price stayed. I think where people would start to evacuate if it's if it's a cat for a cat five and it's looking like it's going to be a direct impact. That's where I think people heed more of the advice and get out of town. It seems like you really lucked out when it comes to damage to your home. Are you seeing any neighbors or anybody else who is dealing with what much more devastation from this? Yeah, I'll send to Marty some video, but our neighbors to our right. If you're facing our home, they lost a big old magnolia tree in their backyard. Ironically, in our backyard or behind the wall of our our yard, we used to have a huge canopy of trees that came to me. The trees that came from the other neighborhood, they're completely disappeared. We basically see their roof line in the sky that we never had seen before in the 16 years that we've lived here, but it looks like it's a lot of just, you know, vegetative damage. It's hard to really tell if there's any kind of structural damage right now. I know power lines, I believe they say are out up in like the the Bradenton area. And, you know, we we're not close to the coast, so we wouldn't be impacted by storm surge, but I'm sure those folks south of us in like Venice and Osprey. They're probably getting pummeled with storm surge and then the folks up in Bradenton. I know in the local news, they said about 60% of the city is out of power right now. Our sister, Maureen was kind enough to remind me that our nephew Alex is in the vicinity as well. I know you were texting with him throughout the night. What what did he tell you he was seeing from his vantage point and where exactly is Alex? I've hit him up a couple times. He said really strong winds and a lot of rain where he is. I believe he's up in Largo. They were getting just pummeled with rain for whatever reason this this hurricane produced a ton of rain on the north side of the storm. So they were getting a ton of rain. I believe he's in like a two story building. So he was up above ground. He had still had power when I last sent him a text. And then he and I or I've been sending him a couple texts this morning, but he hadn't gotten back. But you know, a lot of people's cell phones are in that SOS phase right now. So it's hard to get communication in and out of. I know some people don't like comparing disasters when it comes to these situations because every disaster is bad in its own way. However, 16 years in Florida, now you're in an area that hasn't really seen a hurricane in centuries, but can you compare it to anything else? Have you seen the damage or devastation unlike anything in the past? I mean, we haven't left the neighborhood yet. So I mean, I would say just from a vegetative standpoint, it's pretty comparable to the one that we had probably two or three years ago. I mean, because of where the, where the storm made landfall, I don't know what will have remaining of Ciesta Key. I've been to places where the eye of the storm hit when I used to work up in the Florida panhandle. And I saw where the storm came through and in the town was absolutely decimated like half a house is where gone. You know, I saw jet airline, you know, Air Force planes basically spun around because when the eye came through, it's that strong. So, you know, it's hard to say until you go to those places where the eye actually made landfall to say what you think it's going to look like because, you know, when I saw up in Pensacola, it was, it was apocalyptic. I guess that was the best way I could to phrase it. But, you know, depends on where it makes landfall, right? It depends on if it's an urban area, if it's a non, if it's not, if it's a low, if it's a densely populated area, you know, there's going to be more infrastructure, so therefore it has a chance to get their chance to be more damaged. By all measures, it sounds like you guys were spared much of the greater damage, which is great news. Jim, what does the next few days and weeks look like for you all and for your community? Yeah, I mean, we're blessed to have power. I think when we all talked yesterday that that was kind of the, I was, I was figuring we were going to be without power for two to three days. I mean, only, you know, basically, seven hours without power. That's a testament to the folks at Florida Power and Light. So, it's just clean up. I mean, right, you go clean up our neighbors that are out of town that left. We're going to go check on their house, make sure everything's well. We'll go help our neighbors next door. They lost that tree. You just kind of help each other out. Pick up, pick up yourselves. You know, I have a team of nine people that I check on just to make sure they're doing well because a lot of them were in the path. So it's just kind of getting back to normal. I mean, ironically, the 12th is Saturday and basically everything will be back to normal unless you have power. That's, that's how people kind of pick up, adapt, clean up, and then get back to, you know, what we would deem as normal everyday life living here, living here. Well, your gift for your birthday, you being born on the 12th is that you guys are okay. So I am. Yes, that's true. I am happy for that. Jim, I love you. Tell Stacey. I love her as well. Glad you guys are okay. Love me too. Thanks, guys. Feeling under the weather, family dollar has you covered. Battle every sneeze and sniffle this coffin cold season with great deals on over-the-counter cold, flu, and allergy remedies for the whole family. Family Dollar, helping you do more. [MUSIC PLAYING]