Storms

[Tom Setzer]

To all of you in the area effected by Debbie. Stay away from the flooded areas and keep safe! The Jacksonville Florida area has some very dangerous flooding

1

[MAGNUM4342]

I lived in the Bunnel area of Florida for ten years, and believe me he's not kidding! Please all, be carefull and safe, Jacksonville floods badly in several areas!

[Jantrix]

Yeah, I'm in Tampa and we got hit hard. A tornado dropped down in my parents backyard, erased their back porch in an eyeblink and then destroyed a 40' chinaberry tree. Then it skipped two blocks and then turned the neighborhood park into a disaster area. Lots of flooding here.

[Tonioseven]

All we got was some rain and a bunch of high wind down here.

[crazyjim]

Citrus County was hit with over 12" of rain. Lots of flooding over by the gulf. Sunny and cool today - so far. I'm hoping to get the grass cut. I have to cut the neighbor's lawn too because he's been having some medical issues. Marcia's brother & family is in Jacksonville from Colorado Springs and we're planning to go up there to see them. He's back from Afghanistan about 3 weeks now.

[Art Anderson]

Tippecanoe County IN would be most happy if you Floridians could send some of that stuff our way! We've had perhaps an inch of rain (scattered at that!) since the first week in May--BONE DRY outside!

Art

[Harry P.]

Tippecanoe County IN would be most happy if you Floridians could send some of that stuff our way! We've had perhaps an inch of rain (scattered at that!) since the first week in May--BONE DRY outside!

Art

Same here. The grass around here looks like straw, but we're supposed to get rain (finally!) the next few days. Also supposed to be 102° tomorrow. Should be an interesting day.

[SuperStockAndy]

Thanks a lot for stealing our rain, Debbie

Haven't had rain at our house for over a month!

Harry, it's gonna be 103 degrees here tomorrow

Edited June 27, 2012 by SuperStockAndy

[Burnout]

Rain sounds nice. Our whole state is on fire. 105 deg Monday - tied for hottest day ever in Denver.

[crazyjim]

100+ in the midwest and Colorado? You guys need to move to Florida for the cooler weather. I saw the nasty fires in Colorado and hear they even evacuated the Air Force Academy. I can only imagine the heat put out by a forest fire - is that part of the reason for the high temperature in Denver? Golden, CO - isn't that the Coors Beer place?

[tabsscale1]

Supose to be 108 here today been in the 100's all week. Will be 130 at the plant with weather like this.

[Agent G]

Why are you all stealing my heat?

Only 102 here yesterday, I'm thinking I got it good.

G

[High octane]

Same here. The grass around here looks like straw, but we're supposed to get rain (finally!) the next few days. Also supposed to be 102° tomorrow. Should be an interesting day.

Supposed to get some rain Harry? Is that like I was supposed to win the lottery last week? LOL! I hope we do, I surely hope we do as the grass is like straw like you said.

[Jon Cole]

Let's not forget the western half of the States. They cannot get a handle on the fires.

[Harry P.]

Supposed to get some rain Harry? Is that like I was supposed to win the lottery last week? LOL! I hope we do, I surely hope we do as the grass is like straw like you said.

They keep saying rain, but so far it hasn't come. It's like the dust bowl around here!

[plasticbutcher]

Every one please stay safe and cool, National weather service is calling for 101-104 here today, and we are under heat adivsery

[Guest]

I sincerely hope everyone effected by these disasters makes it through them OK. Things are easily replaced,friends and family aren't. Everyone stay safe! Material things are not worth risking or losing your life for!

[Rob Hall]

Things are rough in Colorado Springs from what I'm reading and hearing...I used to live near the neighborhood that has been hard-hit (Mountain Shadows), know a number of people that live there..

[MyBradKeselowski]

It's 104 here in Dallas supposed to be between 100 to 103 degrees rest of the week... :(

[Burnout]

The photo above, from Jon, I believe is last night in Colorado Springs. Over 26,000 evacuated from that fire alone. The temps are not the problem (unless you're a firefighter), it's the lack of moisture combined with wind. This will go down as the worst year ever for fires in Colorado.

[Danno]

Let's not forget the western half of the States. They cannot get a handle on the fires.

My old stomping grounds. I've been glued to the firemaps and incident blogs for five days now. My old neighborhood has been evacuated, allowed to return and under new re-evacuation prep orders again. I've been in every one of these developments, neighborhoods and forest areas hundreds of times. In fact, I watched this neighborhood being built and know or once knew many people who live there ...

It just breaks the heart to see ...

Edited June 27, 2012 by Danno

[Rob Hall]

My old area also..from '97-02 I lived near Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs and worked at MCI on GoTG Road for a few years..many of my friends and coworkers lived in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood, I looked at a couple houses there in '01 when I was thinking of buying there..very sad to see.

[Agent G]

My neice took this shot today.

This was a day ago taken from Chapel Hills Mall.

G

[Harry P.]

Wow. Scary how everyone has their natural disaster worries... hurricanes on the east coast, earthquakes on the west coast, tornados in my neck of the woods and in the plains and mid-south, and huge fires in the west/southwest. Whenever you're in the middle of one of mother nature's temper tantrums you realize just how tiny and vulnerable we are in the overall scheme of things. Man has made tremendous strides in science, medicine, the arts, etc... but when it comes to mother nature we don't have a stinkin' prayer.

Or maybe that's all we do have...

[Danno]

Wholey Carp, G!

I forgot you had a niece in CSprings. Unfreakinbelieveable pix. It's all so unimagineable.

For my entire 21-1/2 years as a firefighter in Manitou Springs and Black Forest and El Paso County, we always harped on fire defense and preparedness in the wildland-urban interface. We always said, "It's not a matter of 'if' ... it's a matter of 'when.' Well, this is 'when.' But this fire is far more horrorific and unimagineable than we ever dared to fear.

The small mountain town where my grandparents lived and my grandfather was town marshal for 20 years ... and where I served as town marshal 20 years after his death ... is threatened, evacuated, and praying the monster goes away.

The first neighborhood threatened by this fire days ago - Cedar Heights - was in my backyard. This fire burned to within 2.3 miles of my family's longtime home in Manitou Springs before changing winds drove it back.

The area depicted in your niece's photos was largely undeveloped forest and wildland when I first arrived in Colorado Springs. I was internal security for a huge developer that built the first large apartment complex near the Air Force Academy. Later, as a sheriff's deputy, then supervisor, then detective, I watched that entire area build up - including Chapel Hills Mall where the second photo was taken - and watched as all those Mountain Shadows, Flying W Ranch, Woodmen Valley, Rockrimmon developments were built. I hate watching them burn down.

I don't want to see the devastation. It just plain hurts.

But my heart still pumps fire retardant. It kills me to be on the sidelines 800 miles away unable to help or contribute. I watch the internet constantly ... I follow the blogs and the updates ... I see old friends featured, interviewed, or just glimpsed as they work their fannies off to save a little of my home town, the forests my family and friends and I love.

My heart aches for the many friends and acquaintances affected by this fire.