As the clock approaches 5AM Sunday morning, it looks like we are beginning to get the worst band of Hurricane Jeanne. Of course, her strength is nowhere near the 115 MPH sustained winds found at landfall, but it is certainly not a storm you want to be outside driving around in.

The rain is coming down in sheets, and I would guess that the wind gusts are close to hurricane force, if not quite there. The centre of the storm is southeast of us, and it looks like our friends in Lake Wales, Frostproof, and Fort Meade are getting slammed once again. As they wanted that again! They got the centre of BOTH Charley AND Frances, or damn near close to it, and a lot of homes and businesses in those South Polk County towns are still recovering from that double whammy.

One of the reporters on WTVT-FOX 13 was doing a live shot in Lake Wales from a shelter location parking lot, and they caught a simply remarkable picture of an extended flash in the background of a transformer(s) blowing/possibly catching fire of in the distance. The electricity here is still on, but it did flicker a time or two after 3:00 AM while I was standing out on the front balcony and saw a couple of transformers toward US 98 blow.

There hasn't been any significant debris in the parking lot as there was during Charley or Frances. Actually, almost none. During the previous storms there were plenty of fallen tree limbs and shingles which flew off the buildings. That's not to say that will not happen here, but so far everything's relativly sturdy.

It's gonna be a looooooooooooooong day, as the new 5:00 AM Forecast Track shows.