Hurricane Irma Update

Hurricane Irma Update

Many of you know that I live in the Tampa Bay area, but some of you don’t. So here’s my Hurricane Irma update. I’m in a no-flood, no-evac zone right now. I’m east of the Gulf Coast. I got back from Dragon Con and immediately had to start prepping for Hurricane Irma.

I’ve been unable to blog because I’m getting prepared for whatever Hurricane Irma throws at us. My cars are filled up with gas. I’ve got several weeks worth of food & water in my home for my household and pets. We always have about 25 gallons of water in my home at any given time because of our water cooler. I’ve got a battery operated radio and plenty of batteries, LED lamps (for camping), flashlights etc.

Helpful Hurricane Info

• If you’re in Pasco County & you need sandbags, here’s the info.
• If you’re in Tampa & need sandbags, here’s the info.
• If you need to evacuate, here’s a site that has pet-friendly hotel information.
• If you’re in Pasco and looking for a pet-friendly shelter to evacuate to, here’s the site. Dogs under 4 months (like Nyx) are too young to go to a shelter.
• Here’s Pet-Friendly shelter information for the state of Florida. Shelters in each county are MANDATED to take pets per Federal Law enacted after Hurricane Katrina.
• U-Haul across Florida will offer free self-storage and U-Box shipping containers for Hurricane Irma. This includes Tampa, Clearwater, Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tallahassee.

I know a lot of people are panicking, but if you’re in Tampa, pay attention to whether or not you’re in a flood zone or an evacuation zone.

Right now, I-75 North is congested with traffic from the Florida Keys & Miami, all people who were told it was mandatory to evacuate. If you evacuate early, you end up causing more congestion for the people who were already told to evacuate.

What I’m doing is finishing my hurricane preparation and watching the storm closely. Depending on where it makes landfall, I will evacuate with my dogs & household. Otherwise, we’re staying here.

We take hurricane preparation very seriously. One of the things I did this week was take Nyx for the next set of shots so that it’s safe for her to be around more dogs (she’s now cleared to go to a dog park and to start obedience classes) if we have to evacuate. I also got her microchipped. Phaedra is microchipped as well, plus she has a medical tag that says she has Addison’s Disease.

I hope everyone stays safe during Hurricane Irma! Join me on Facebook for updates.