Hurricane Frances Reports

[Hunt]

Just got word that the eye rolled over the Hobe Sound-Jupiter area early this morning. Lots of trees and power lines down but most structures weathered the storm.

I heard that Loblolly Pines course is okay all things considered. Any other word from this and surrounding areas would be appreciated.

[pdrake]

I talked with someone down at John's Island, and it isn't good.  Flooding across A1A..........Orchid Island and Windsor probably were hit pretty good too.  Sailfish Point was right where the eye hit, hopefully the winds were not too bad.  I saw Geraldo in Juno Beach, and it didn't look too good there either.  And Ivan is coming in 10 days..................

[rgkeller]

Six days until Ivan.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT09/refresh/AL0904W5+GIF/061453W5.gif

http://www.nwmangum.com/NOGAPS.phtml#144

Anything north of Hobe Sound on the barrier island or near the west side of the intercoastal will be in pretty bad shape.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

The immediate north 20 miles from where the eye crossed should be pretty messed up. I have not heard how high the tidal surge was near the eye.

[cary lichtenstein]

Report from Jupiter:

While we are still away, here are the reports we are getting.

Minimal structural damage to homes, very, very extensive damage to trees and landscaping.

Admirals Cove iin Jupiter, our home, looks like a war zone.

Streets are blocked by downed trees. Extensive damage to trees on our golf course. Everywhere else is pretty much the same.

No electricity, therefore no a/c or phone service. Hot, humid, awful.

One friend told us that on the highway down from Georgia, there was an endless stream of truck from Ind, Ill, Ohio, Mich, SC, etc, electrican, plumbers, roofers, etc., all heading down to Florida. That is great news. Highways are jammed.

Hospitals have power, as do Supermarkets.

[John_Conley]

Winter Park, Florida was spared the worst of Frances.  After the damage from Charley, this was a welcome relief.  Final tally for my block - ZERO downed trees (must've all fallen last month!), a bunch of debris, no noticeable flooding or damage, and 48 hours without power.

We got off pretty easy.

Some people just a few blocks away lost trees and some of these fell on houses.  Cases like this in my area were isolated.

Can't imagine when any golf courses will be able to open with all of the rain and clearnup.

My prayers go out to those in the other areas of Florida that were devastated.  With the size of this storm, damage was far-reaching.

A final shout-out to all of the out-of-state workers that have converged on Florida to bring back our power, cable TV, phones, and other services.  My the Lord bless you all.

[John_Cullum]

Sarges report:

The home in Tampa is unscathed. No electricity for about 20 hours but all is well now.

Not so fortunate at Sarge's fishing headquarters on the Indian River at Jensen Beach, just about 10 miles north of Stuart. The house fared pretty well, with minimal damge to some roof shingles and the leaky spot over the garage is leaking worse now. The dock however was seriously damaged by the next door neighbors boat. It came out of its lift and chewed my dock from one end to the other. It is repairable, but not for an insubstantial amount. All in all, things could have been much worse, and I am grateful.

I was over there yesterday and the area along the river looks like it was carpet bombed. Trees are everywhere.

I am thinking Orchid Isle is going to be taking on a new look from the reports I'm getting and what I saw. The little courses at Sailfish Point, Marriott, and Isalnd Club on Hutchinson island are probably okay because there aren't any trees to speak of.

The Jupiter Island Club took the center of the eye, and it may have gotten an unauthorized tree removal program. The membership is probably having the Pope brought over to be publicly admonished. These people are amazing. A few months ago they were at odds with each other because of their neighbors unsightly lawn care workers and the fact that the leaf blowers made noise so they considered passing an ordinance to restrict the width of vehicles and trailers on the roads that would have prevented lawn care workers from bringing in their lawn equipment. Of course the problem was only with "other people's" lawn care, and they couldn't come up with a way to get their own lawns done under this idea.

[Gene Greco]

John:

   I belong to that little course on Hutchinson Island, Island Dunes Country Club.

The eighth green and ninth fairway are steps from the intercoastal and find it amazing if these two holes survived. I thought for sure each would be underwater.

Please relay any info you might have regarding the course as people have yet to return to their condos so no info is available.  Thanks.

Gene

[pdrake]

As far as Jupiter Island is concerned.....the homes I have been to and most of the homes I have seen seem to have Servant Entrances.......that might be a place where the lawn care workers can park...........if the course took a bad hit, that is too bad.......it is a great little member's course.

If you see photos of the beach at Vero, you can infer that Rio Mar and Johns Island were hit hard.  I am unsure of Orchid Island, I played with a resident the other day and he still hadn't heard anything.

[John_Cullum]

Gene

Most of the wind at Hutchinson Island was from the north and then turned around after the eye and came from the south. Without a strong east wind the surge probably wasn't too bad. I dont know how high the water got, but newer docks on the Indian River are 5 feet above mean high water. Most of the newer docks look OK so Im guessing that the water did not get up over them. Also, most of the vegetation around  Island Dunes Club is very dense Seagrape. The Seagrape bushes held up very well from what I saw.

[Gene Greco]

Thanks, John! Your news is encouraging.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

From today's Sun-Sentinel:

www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/golf/sfl-mell08sep08,0,4009223.column?coll=sfla-sports-golf

[Jason McNamara]

According to the weather guys, the remnants of Frances dumped 16+ inches of rain on Linville, NC.  Don't know if Cashiers (Wade Hampton) got quite as much.

Just fyi, in case anyone was headed that way in the next few days.

Jason

[Steve_ Shaffer]

There's work to be done at Seminole, Mirasol, etc.For an excellent report, read Tim Rosaforte's article:

www.golfdigest.com/newsandtour/insider/index.ssf?/newsandtour/insider/20040908insider.html

[frank_D]

  I belong to that little course on Hutchinson Island, Island Dunes Country Club....Please relay any info you might have regarding the course

brother Gene Greco

while access onto the lower part of the island is limited i can tell you a significant amount of flooding occured on the island as it was a) high tide with full moon at the time of landfall only twenty miles away b ) receiving run-off from central inland areas (SFWMD had canals pumping water into the intercostal via the river c ) storm surge (an areial view of the pool at the courtyard marriott near rotties restaurant showed it full of beach sand - in the pool - which must have washed over the dunes )  d ) run-off pumped from the nuclear facility on the north part of the island

all this means water rose / came from both sides (intercoastal and ocean) almost simulataneously

[Adam_Messix]

Jason--

Cashiers, North Carolina received 18 1/2 inches of rain during the period of Monday afternoon to Wednesday at 5 p.m.  Wade Hampton will be reopening tomorrow and looks pretty good all things considered.  There were several trees that fell and a lot of limbs, but nothing of any strategic significance.  We opened at Noon today and for the most part appear as if nothing happened.  

The hardest hit course in the area without question is the Country Club of Sapphire Valley.  They received over 21 inches of rain during the Monday-Wednesday time frame.  As of late yesterday, the 12th-15th holes are still mostly under water.  The good news is that it the water will disappear rather quickly, but the silt that the water will leave will be a major problem.  

[pdrake]

Interesting comments on Seminole..........seeing the course from Rt 1 was non-existent this past winter......you wouldn't even know a golf course was there unless you knew where seminole is.

[rgkeller]

Mirasol golf reopens Saturday. The Fazio course was scheduled to be closed for the following two weeks without any hurricane. Mirasol lost some of the newly planted trees. The drainage system is brand new and first rate. The development never lost power, water or phones when everyone else did.

Seminole is a mess.

[John_Cullum]

I can report that Seminole is just fine now. You wouldn't know they had anything but a strong thunderstorm.

[John_Cullum]

I can also add:

Hobe Sound in general looks like it was hit hard, and it was of course. I can tell MacArthur and Medalist lost alot of trees. For those not familiar with the area, there are these short needle pine trees that grow in the old dunes. They lean and have interesting shapes from being blown in the wind their entire lives. About 1/3 of these in the immediate area of Hobe Sound are broken off about 15 feet up. MacArthur looks harder hit than Medalist.

Loblolly Pines is right around the corner. Interestingly its namesakes appear to have held up better.

[Bryan_Pennington]

Does anyone have any additional updates on the Linville area.  I have heard Linville Golf Club lost several bridges and bulk heads in the creeks.  I am supposed to play Linville, Elk River, Linville Ridge and Blowing Rock in less than 2 weeks.  Any updates would be appreciated.