IRMA (Sept 2017)

[hotairballoonist]

Dear Friends and Fellow Ballooners

Looks like the Thompson Compound (Our Home) is going to be in the Eye of (or very close to) Irma.  We are prepared as much as we can.  We have a generator that is wired into the home and will provide minimal electricity.  Radio, TV, Lights, Fans and a few other small items.  It is not strong enough for our AC or Well pump.  (That Generator is on the way but will not get here till after the storm passes.)  We have food, water, Radios, Batteries, Ice, Gas, Propane and more.

My Parent’s Jim and Connie Thompson are also preparing at their home just two miles down the road with the assistance of my brother Jon Thompson.  I lived here in this home when hurricane Charlie hit central Florida in 2004.  The damage from that hurricane was amazing and pretty severe!  We were without power for 7 days.  Irma is several times larger and just as strong if not stronger, we are expecting 80 to 90 mile per hour winds for 6 to 8 hours.  The worst part is that the brunt of the storm will pass here in the middle of the night.  We will be able to hear the destruction happing but not know for sure till daylight what has happened.  We received an email from our insurance company letting us know they are preparing and expecting 50 to 75 thousand claims just in our area.  This is not a joke.

I have a live weather station at my home.  You can view it here.  www.thompsonaire.com/TAweather.htm  there is also a link for the ThompsonAire twitter account if you wish to follow our postings during the storm.  I have also mounted GoPro cameras on the Radio/ Weather Tower here at the house.  We will be posting short video clips as long as we can till we lose power or internet.  The weather station is mounted at the top of the 50 foot tower and should provide great information till our power goes out.  The weather station is live.  It updates the information on the web every minute.

The local power company will be shutting down the power ahead of the storm.  This will be the first time they have done something like this but I do understand.  When the trees come down and lines get shorted it blows the transformers.  If the power is shut down the transformer does not explode.  This way all they must do is clear the line and then fire back up the power.  It will make things miserable during the storm but it should make power restoration much faster on the back side of the storm.

Over the last few days we have heard from many of our ballooning friends and must tell you all that we are so very lucky to be part of such a wonderful community as the balloon world.  THANK YOU ALL.

Best wishes to all.  If you are some of our past passengers or friends living here in Florida take this storm serious.  Have a safe room in your home and make sure everyone knows where to go. 

Thank you! 

Jeff A. Thompson