Well....it hit. Took a direct hit to my neighborhood. Long and short... here's the 'damage':

Local flooding (no surge to us)-rain. Water to within 12 inches of our house. For awhile we were an island...no kidding. The water was about 3 feet deep. Still need to laser level the area to determine the actual depth. It was several days of literally just walking the top few feet of the driveway and the front yard....which leads to....

No 'plumbing'. Forget about 'running' water. I'm talking about flushing capabilities. And don't tell me I should've just poured water into the toilets. That flooded front yard.... was my leech field. With it flooded, the water was backing up. Fortunately, a check of the access pipe from the house to the septic tank, showed only partial water. It never came INTO the house/tubs etc. After 2 days it subsided enough to pour into toilets but even that was being done sparingly as we didn't want to overload. For those who DON'T know, pouring into the toilet uses LESS water than flushing. Used a fair amount of water before that became apparent. Lesson learned.

Years ago we HAD a generator. Too many issues and only used in testing that we opted to get rid of it. I should have replaced it with a smaller (ie. whisper quiet-Honda type) generator to at least have a window AC. Let me tell you- you DO NOT want to be without AC! Sleeping was...... well this IS a family forum so......you get the idea of how miserable it was. Had a battery fan. it didn't do squat really but it was better than nothing. Resorted to rigging an old computer fan to a 9 volt battery. Didn't last the night but help my wife a little.

Our refrigerators (one in house-second in garage) obviously almost all was consumed-the rest lost. This was expected and we planned accordingly. Moved things to the chest freezer when power went down. We did well stocking with refrigerator with non perishables (ie. water, Gatorade, etc) so it kelp cold then cool for awhile and kept the chest freezer colder.

The chest freezer was packed with 'ice' in various forms (ice packs and water for the bulk). Then refrigerated stuff went in. We consumed the frozen perishables that thawed (thermometer ensured safety). The refrigerated stuff actual stayed COLD. I mean that through 4 very hot days, the chest freezer NEVER came above 40 degrees! Really surprised me.

All that flooding? Yeah... well....my well. Under water. I have a call in for someone to come in, test, decon....so water for toilets...that's good! Bathing, cooking, etc..... alternate plans... for now.

Good news...Power came back today! My wife said her new favorite state is Pennsylvania. When I asked why she said, "That was where the power crew was from that got us our power back." So an official thank you to them......and everyone else. I literally almost cried when she text me.

Me I was dragged into work (Medic) on the 11th. They had to send a FD brush truck to pick me up as the water was too deep for anything other that that. It was that or a boat. Seems DOT 'lost' jurisdiction temporarily. For awhile we were governed by the US Coast Guard. While the the FD truck drove me to another crew (funny it happened to be a marine PD unit) a motor boat was plugging along next to the truck....that's how deep it was.

Neighbors... good to know them... everyone watched out for each other.

Gas..... BIG COMMODITY! Shortages all over. Wife said, "Finally your job has 'A' perk!" One station was getting a delivery and there were Nat. Guard present with a LEO... people were being turned away. I happened to 'know' this LEO and asked when it would be available. He informed me that they were allowing First Responders (or as we use to say in NYC..MOS)(Not military MOS-PD, FD, EMS) to fuel. I got to top our tank. Ah, the shield helped...

For the most part....we aren't really complaining. Everyone is safe and so far healthy. The damage to the structure.... Minimal. The old Direct TV antenna that I should have taken down....well that got ripped off. The lag bolts got pulled out. That'll get taken care of with the roof. Lesson learned. Few shingles bent up but only one small patch that went down to tar paper. VERY small area. Storm Fabric and Accordion Shutters were the best investment we've made!

List of things we've learned is being put together for our Hurricane Prep List. We WILL put the new knowledge to good use. Small things like... yes aquatainers are good....but flat on the counter leaves very little room to wash a pan... need to elevate them.

More fans. Though this may be short term if we get the small generator.

Solar powered chargers are a MUST. The cell phones went fast. As there was no way out because of the flood.... couldn't charge at station. NEEDED another way... solar. Way to go.

Not sure why everyone is fixated on having solar phone chargers. What if the sun is not out for a couple of days. Plus most of those chargers require a lot sun in order to be at peak efficiency.

I have 3 of these Anker 20000mAh Portable Chargers for phone charging but mostly for camera battery supply / charging when out making videos. Fairly inexpensive and will charge most phones multiple times.

Good report, thank you for posting it.

CJK...I power my ceiling fan with a small camping tent fan (single D cell)... I replaced the foam blade with a collet bushing that adapts electric model plane motors to the propeller (a 9/6 pitch)...a saw cut through the plastic body allows a thin nylon strap with slip adjuster to strap the fan to the middle of a fan blade and tighten... small vise grip pliers on opposite blade to balance... runs all night on a new D cell at over 30 rpm

I have a Goal Zero 7w panel that allows me to charge my AA Eneloops for my lights and such,but not my phone.... but after this storm the solar will be entirely back up... this is the first time I've had an inverter generator to power the refrigerator and TV for an hour or so at a time, and might as well use the increase in power capacity to good use...am upgrading my 2 slot AA charger with addition of a 4 slot unit... both Nitecore, but other brands have also been recommended... I want to put together a dedicated power strip and possibly even hard mounting them to a small piece of plywood along with the Ridgid drill charger and extra USB charger for the cell phone... many have dedicated storage boxes for their chargers, and I won't rule that out

Solar chargers....fixated? No.....but we live in FLORIDA. We had more sun than we could use. In this case at least one solar charger would help. We had trouble in the first few days as we couldn't get off the property....literally. Our neighbors had generators so I know I could've charged phones if we could have gotten to them. Barring that a solar charger would have been the only real help.

Guess I should have said "fixated only on solar." Solar is great and I have spent a lot time learning and refining our solar and other alternate power systems. However, solar should not considered the whole package as it certainly has it's disadvantages.

I mentioned the Anker chargers as an alternate as they can re-charge most cell phones multiple times - day or night which is something solar cannot do. Also the Ankers are portable and be carried anywhere. I keep one in my EDC all the time and have used it multiple times to charge my own phone and other peoples phones.

Interesting on your comments about not being able to charge phones for the first few days. Do you have a vehicle and if so, does it not have a USB plug or 12 volt plug receptacle that you plug in a 12 volt>>USB adapter to charge a phone?

re: charging cell phone by USB in car...while I used the gensets to charge the cell phone, my very first post to ETS was to recommend one of the 12v cigarette socket fixture with battery clips similar to the link...I still have a couple

edit... the Tacoma does charge USB with the switch in accessory position

https://www.amazon.com/CUZEC-Extension-B...+socket+adapter

Could have done a car charge with key in the on position only. Looking for multiple options for charging. Solar seems to be good backup to the battery chargers we have. Son also 'broke out' an old iGo AA battery charger. It helped. We just bought more of the charging blocks (as we call them). I don't anticipate another flooding like what we saw. Seems to have been a combination of human error and clogged drains on the 'canals'. Thinking of a solar option though just in case there isn't any other way.

Other lessons learned will follow. More things happened.

Well the aftermath continues....We've already ordered a few more battery fans. Not just because of this but it did urge it along. Also ordered a larger portable phone charging 'block'. IIRC we got a 10000 mAh one.

Got the well test kits. 20 dollars per bottle tested so 40 total. Did the well and house system decon so we should be good.

Have aquatainers. GREAT things but..... they sit on the counter and yes you CAN wash your hands, brush teeth etc. but YOU try washing a pot! NO clearance at all really. Came to conclusion that we need to elevate them to get more clearance but also need a small 'hose' so the water can be directed to the sink/pot/etc. Length to be determined later.

Also came to the conclusion that although the Chunky Soups are good and handy, they are TOO 'heavy' a meal and require the pot. It seems that we preferred the trail mix, jerky, cheese and crackers (PB and crackers), beef and cheese sticks as much for taste as convenience. Food lists being altered to include more of those.

Another BIG issue was a very small bug....FIRE ANTS. Literally had 6 ant hills 'appear' overnight. seems they were looking for an escape from the water too... just so happened to be into everyone's yards. We didn't have issues with other critters. Snakes aren't a bad thing unless you have NOWHERE to go and they are trying to join you. We had had a Pygmy Rattlesnake IN our house a number of years ago so rattlers, water moccasins and others were on our mind.

I didn't make much coffee.... too hot to be drinking that. Soda was a good substitute for a day or two. When I did make coffee...ah to know how to use a percolator...

Still working on things..... more to come.

CJK... the chunky soups still require a pot, but you don't have to wash it if you use the pot for a hot water bath to heat the soup in the can... no cleanup, just throw the can away... remove top of soup, sit in pan, fill water to about 2/3 height, and place over your heat source...bring to a low boil... stir the soup.. it heats and does not burn or require cleaning the pot

gallon plastic jugs don't withstand multiple freeze/thaw cycles without splitting

You could try the spray bottle methode; fill spray bottle with water and dishsoap; spray on whatever needs to clean, clean with brush/sponge, rinse with another spray bottle with just water (a little more powerful sprayer can be handy).

Les...thanks. Hadn't thought about hot water bath.

Interesting article regarding solar power in the post Irma days...
In Florida, You Can't Use Your Own Solar Panels In A Crisis

That falls into that category of do what you need to, and then deal with the legal issues later. Maybe the residents will take this up with their local governments after the hurricane season.

We have a similar power concept in CA, a large percentage of homes have solar panels and if the power goes out, the panels are useless. The idea is that your solar panels send power to the grid during the day, but your home is powered by the grid 24/7.

We are considering installing an off-grid system that would not share any wires with the grid -- batteries and a separate wall outlet. The entire expense would be ours, but the system would continue to power essential items during a neighborhood/area power outage. Thinking...

I don't have solar panels, but an auto-standby generator. That generator has it's own electrical panel, which is connected to the main panel. When the main power goes out, a switch is tripped, and the generator panel is fully disconnected from the main panel,so no power going back out, but those circuits in the house from the generator panel have power.

So, it appears that there is no such system with solar panels?

What would it take to install one? Perhaps a separate panel and a battery system to smooth out the varying input from the solar panels?

A great many homes in Florida and elsewhere are equipped with PV modules and a grid tie inverter.
Such systems reduce utility bills and reduce pollution from the burning of fuel in power plants.

They absolutely rely on a grid connection to work. Such systems simply wont work without a grid connection.
It is not simply a case of "flicking a switch and dealing with the consequences later"

Even if you could find a way to illegally bypass safety features, a grid tie inverter simply wont produce line voltage and line frequency without a grid connection.

If backup power is required, then a different type of system is required, known as a self contained off grid system.
These systems are normally fitted to remote premises without utility service.
I am not aware of any prohibition on installing such a system in grid served premises. They consist of one or more PV modules, a battery bank and an off grid inverter. Rather expensive for standby use, but perhaps worth considering.
Small of grid systems can be purchased for fitting to boats, motor homes, travel trailers, and remote cabins.

My idea for the use of solar is a few panels and deep discharge batteries. Nothing tied into the house. Just something to be able to recharge cells, DVD player etc.

Something I did find quite interesting....Obviously 'local knowledge' is a good thing but this came in REAL handy.

The flooding of our neighborhood was extensive. Not from surge but rain. There were human failures and clogging of the drainage canals.....what helped me? knowing the local roads. Not in the obvious sense but literally in knowing where almost EVERY dip, bump, pot hole etc. were. It allowed use to be able to safely navigate a path out of our neighborhood. It wasn't the usual most direct route. Rather than make a right out of our driveway and a left at the corner, I had to take a left out of the driveway, go to the end of the block, make a right, a right, drive to then end and make a left....not the shortest route but the ONLY one to get out. It allowed us to get out a day earlier than other people. Our son was also impressed with how much knowledge HE had on the roads, not realizing how much he really had been paying attention to the little things. Really get to KNOW where you live.... it may make the difference between inconvenient and impossible.

couple of small things I'd like to add...
the inverter generator's access door to add oil is very small, added a small funnel and cable tied it,extra spark plug, and plug wrench to the handle..

4 slot Nitecore charger and extra phone USB charger arrived... packed with the 2 slot Nitecore and power strip in a small bag

cut new section of fuel line for the squeeze bulb siphon fuel delivery to the 3500w Honda... original had exterior cracks at about 6 years

2200W inverter generator ran neighbor's portable room A/C today without much effort on start up... may have to look into one

I put all the tools, spare qt of oil, short chain w/a lock and key, operating instructions, etc into a .50cal ammo box. The box stays with the genset.