My SIL also plans to cook all day today, which I don't understand since they'll most certainly lose power. Unless she's baking bread and brownies (I think she's making stews, etc)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because we the tax payers have some game in how much of our money funds stupid people who have to live in places where they really shouldn't.

And to that PP who talks about their ILS not being bothered by the hurricanes.. it's a matter of time before they will be. It's 100% a risk living by the coast. It's a scientific truth. It's called arrogance to ignore it.

I am that PP. I really wanted them to evacuate when they expanded the mandatory evacuation zone to include their house (usually they are too far to be included in the mandatory evacuation zone). If they ran into trouble, they would be putting rescuers into harms' way to come to them. But they evaluated their risk, made their decision, and they were not wrong. That is what everyone does, in every situation, whether it's hurricanes or storm surge, mudslides, wildfires, flash flooding, tornadoes, fault zones, etc. You evaluate your risk, make your decision. It will either turn out to be a good one, or it won't.

I think some (or is it one repeat poster?) people on here absolutely hate Florida and all Floridians and just loves to bash. I don't know a single person who is "arrogant" about hurricanes and isn't getting prepared. We're barely in the cone and still have our supplies, got our sandbags. Everyone is getting ready, gearing up for the worst and praying for the best. Evacuations in Florida are highly complicated: in this case we can only go north. That can take over a day of travel with gas uncertainty for some, is very hard with pets as well, and even more complicated for low income people. All the evacuation zones are evacuating. After that, it's a case by case basis.

I sympathize. I was up late last night with a sick kid and looked at Waze. At 4:00 am 10/8 people trying to escape to the north were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on many roads. I have a sibling in Tx who tried to leave early before one of their worst storms and they got stuck in traffic and it took hours just for them to be able to turn around and head back home. Evacuation isn't always feasible or safe. At least they've made a point of adding additional gas stops along the major n/s highways and ev charging stations.

I am on the east side but my sister just moved near Ft Myers and is in the cone. She is furiously cooking meals, washing and boarding up. We are Floridans and these are not the hurricanes that we remember. She is buying bleach just in case to purify water, which I never knew about. Since her house is on the newer side, I am hoping that it was built with hurricane guidelines.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But you know, living in FL by the coasts...it's a matter of time. I just simple don't get people who live where you KNOW there are hurricanes coming every damn year. It's really rolling the dice and hoping for the best EVERY damn year.

Same in CA - You KNOW there is an earthquake coming. Or, you KNOW there are wildfires and if you live in an area where it's all wooded and there's a drought and it's that hot and this is happening everywhere around you..hmmm..wonder what will happen to me???!

OF COURSE, there is no 100% safe place to live but I'm just saying, if every year, you find these disasters happening v. once every 5 years, that's a different story but these days??

Even to a degree moving to the mountains. Nobody could have I supposed predicted Helene in W NC but if you live in the mountains, it's not exactly the safest place to live. Just saying - I would never move to remote towns in the mountains to live and not understand that I'm taking some risks whenever there's weather. Us humans are pretty fragile beings. We are totally at the mercy of nature.

Just saying, every place has its risk, from weather to attack to dying on an icy road.

Overall hurricanes are quite manageable and I’m no Florida fan.

It’s just that your comments are completely tone deaf considering the Tampa/St Pete area was just hit by Helene not even close to recovered and they’re about to get slammed with record-breaking storm surge from one of the most rapidly intensifying hurricanes in history.

Not PP but not really. I grew up in Tampa and my parents have been there 40 years, in a flood zone. They, like many of their neighbors and friends, have never had a flood or storm damage until Helene. Of course they're on edge right now and questioning their desire to remain living there as hurricane seasons continue to get worse, but it's very easy to understand why people would live there and generally take the gamble with hurricanes. You get plenty of warning and most aren't major storms.

+1

My ILs live in Florida very near the coast and are totally unbothered by anything less than Cat 4. They were in the evacuation zone for Helene, chose to stay, and had no flooding or damage aside from losing power for a couple days.

A "big one" is rare and even then is rarely truly devastating. Helene was not really devastating for Florida, it was so much worse inland (North Carolina!).

OK! Well thanks for giving the rest of us some guidance. We freak out nationally because we know we're going to get pulled in on the news, FEMA, red cross, etc. But if you don't care, we can stop caring. What a load off.

This is where I’m at. Of course if FEMA has challenges responding to the horrific destruction, they’ll be glued into FoxNews and rail against the organization, Biden etc. So much for “it’s fine!”

Anonymous wrote:where is the evacuation zone? Just tampa proper? How far inland?

It's complicated, you'd have to look at a map. Not all of Tampa and St. Pete are in evac zones.

Anonymous wrote:where is the evacuation zone? Just tampa proper? How far inland?

hmm, I wonder if there's like a website that shows this?

where is the evacuation zone? Just tampa proper? How far inland?

Anonymous wrote:Praying for our condo in Punta Gorda

wow you are so selfish!

The longer it takes to make landfall the better as it avoids the hightide of 2p and the stronger the odds are the cold front/shear impacts the hurricane to diminish its strength. The more north it hits, the better for Tampa and the more southern, the more surge for them. I don't know that it really matters where it hits however in that there will definitely be a surge there and the N is where Helene had made more impact so for them it's a bit more sad it's 2x hurricane.

I have a feeling it will not be as bad I don't know why. I've had a feeling since yesterday that the shear and cold front will quickly diminish this from a cat 4 to a 2 or even 1 because shear completely destroys the rotating force of a hurricane. It doesn't wipe out surge but the lowering of the winds will do a lot to help things. I just get a feeling that it won't be as bad as everyone thinks it will be and I also have a feeling that Tampa will get lucky again in not being hit directly by this. I just think that it peaked last night as a cat 5 with 899. The rest of the way up it will meet a lot of factors that isn't helping it maintain/grow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I never get is that the hurricane timing infallibly moves to half a day, if not a day later than expected. It's systematic with every storm. Now it's moved from Wednesday 8 am to Thursday 2 am. Maybe it's to err on the side of caution so people get prepared, but my county cancelled school a day too early.

Evacuation is not an instantaneous process. Closing a day early ia better than closing just in time. If you're interested in preventing loss of life.

I'm on the East Coast. No evacuation orders (and very long time FL resident so btdt with it all!)

Anonymous wrote: predictions for a late evening Wednesday landfall

Sarasota public schools closed M-W.

If anyone in Florida is wondering what their elevation is in preparation for this hurricane, please use this tool:

https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/#

Anonymous wrote:What I never get is that the hurricane timing infallibly moves to half a day, if not a day later than expected. It's systematic with every storm. Now it's moved from Wednesday 8 am to Thursday 2 am. Maybe it's to err on the side of caution so people get prepared, but my county cancelled school a day too early.

Evacuation is not an instantaneous process. Closing a day early ia better than closing just in time. If you're interested in preventing loss of life.

Tuesday morning predictions for a late evening Wednesday landfall -



Flooding risk is high, particularly after Helene: note the risk of INLAND FLOODING.



Storm surge risk: particularly high for landfall area.

What I never get is that the hurricane timing infallibly moves to half a day, if not a day later than expected. It's systematic with every storm. Now it's moved from Wednesday 8 am to Thursday 2 am. Maybe it's to err on the side of caution so people get prepared, but my county cancelled school a day too early.