Wilma Photos.

Time for some Lazy Iguana post hurricane photos!

This is my phone line. I actually had a dial tone and DSL after this happned. But when the power failed, I lost my DSL router. The dial tone went dead when the battery backup system for the phone lines failed.

I have no idea who placed these orange square things in the road, but they were in place fairly quickly. I have a feeling a neighbor did it. Anyway, I had to drive under the lines because a tree was blocking the other road.

This is some barrel tile roof damage. This is why I think barrel tile sucks. My roof is pea rock, and did just fine. Yea, some of the rocks were blown off, but there was no damage to the roof itself. Tile roofs begin to fail when the winds reach 100 mph.

This is the tree that took down the phone line. I friggin HATE this tree, and I am glad it will be gone soon. The neighbors will not be able to replant another tree like this, as the melaleuca tree is on the list of prohibited species. If they plant another melaleuca tree, I will report them to Team Metro and the County will remove it. Then charge the people for the removal service.

This is a random tree blocking SW 48 ST. 48 ST is not a major roadway, but it is a divided roadway that connects other major roadways. The cars you see in the photo had to drive off road to get around the tree.

Driving in Dade County is dangerous right now. Notice the lack of any traffic lights in this photo. This is the intersection of SW 48 ST and SW 97 AVE. These secondary roads usually have a traffic light to prevent crashes. Now, it is a 4 way stop intersection only without any stop signs. Today people were driving civilized, but this will wear off soon.

Roof damage near my house. This house is on a lake, off SW 97 AVE. It is very close to where I live. My home suffered no damage to speak of.

This is the closest gas station to my house. I guess I will not be buying any gas here anytime soon.

This is a steel shopping center sign close to my house. The gas station is in the same center. That twisted steel just does not happen in category 1 or 2 winds. By my estimation, winds of at least 100 mph were required to do this.

This is a photo of a DC-3 vintage WWII aircraft. This original aircraft is a decoration for a restaurant loacted near the AOA of Miami International Airport. In fact, the airport is in the background of this photo. The DC-3 was ripped off its wings, and twisted to the side. On the side of the aircraft not in the photo, there is a rather large tear, and part of the body was pushed into an engine. Once again, there was no way this could have happened in less than 100 mph winds. This aircraft made it through Andrew in 1992, and more recently Katrina just a month or so ago.

At the airport, the word on the street was that winds of up to 120 mph were recorded. sustained winds were at least 100. This would make Wilma a rather strong category 2, with gusts of category 3.

Of course, all this is nothing compared to what Mexico got. Once again, while South Floirda was hit - we all got lucky. It could have been much worse.