Looks Like Florida In For Some Bad Weather

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A cousin has/had a permanent trailer in Ft. Myers Beach. It was too old for any insurance company to insure. I suppose his son will be driving there to check on it since my cousin can't, he's being treated for cancer again. This is his 4th time at bat.
 
The eye of the storm passed directly over me at 11 pm last night and it was a non-event. Very little wind or rain. Temperatures in the 70s,
The eye of the storm passed directly over me at 11 pm last night and it was a non-event. Very little wind or rain. Temperatures in the 70s,
Go buy a lottery ticket while your luck is on the positive side!!
 
The eye of the storm passed directly over me at 11 pm last night and it was a non-event. Very little wind or rain. Temperatures in the 70s,
Non-event for you maybe, but the families of the 70+ dead so far might have a different view. This was an historic, dreadful killer of a storm.
 
It's really a tough call and it's understandable that some folks can't bail out but others are a bit jaded.

There was an RV park near here and the residents were told/forced to evacuate. The whole park emptied out 48 hours before the storm turned and missed the entire area. One lady I spoke to yesterday just got back from Pensacola.

Sort of like Chicken Little.

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Go buy a lottery ticket while your luck is on the positive side!!
Luck has nothing to do with me living in Florida.
Non-event for you maybe, but the families of the 70+ dead so far might have a different view. This was an historic, dreadful killer of a storm.
Was does 70+ dead people have to do with me? i was discussing how the storm affected me. People have been asking me how I coped with the storm. Fortunately I no longer live in Utah.
 
It's really a tough call and it's understandable that some folks can't bail out but others are a bit jaded.


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I can’t think of any reason that would stop anyone from evacuating. Even if they were bed ridden, a call to the police dept or fire dept would have brought help. Now there may be instances but I just can’t think of any right now.
 
Monday morning quarterbacking has always shown the correct decision that people, themselves should have made. With the 24/7 professed weather people filling time on the tube in the new age of reporting on hurricanes live, everyday we are told that we are going to die no matter where we are. The fact remains more people have been drawn to the water in the past 30 years just about everywhere and have bought or have built their castles and live in their bubbles comfortably.

But Mother nature has its own ideas, as this latest hurricane showed us once again. No matter how much human beings tell us that we can change the weather, historically hurricanes have their own mind and can shift in a few hours . Tampa was the big target mainly for the talking heads since the population was more dense, after it turned up the west coast of Florida, but also has more solid structures there. So there was less damage for a combination of reasons unlike what you are now seeing.


What you are witnessing with the damage thats been shown when the hurricane took more of a southerly turn from Tampa was the areas that was built up literally along the beautiful creeks and tributaries and shallower waters which used to be wetlands. Left to their own normally water that rises would just flow across and then back out without being damned up by all the structures.

Plus concrete and asphalt does not absorb water like salt marshes. So now the homes take on this job and and no amount of plywood on windows will save the people hunkered down inside their humble homes built with retirement savings.

And yes we all pay the costs if you buy any form of insurance. And all this crap will be rebuilt in some form once again. Politicians like their slush fund derived from property and the sales tax base.
 
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I can’t think of any reason that would stop anyone from evacuating. Even if they were bed ridden, a call to the police dept or fire dept would have brought help. Now there may be instances but I just can’t think of any right now.
I don't evacuate because I think I am safe where I am. My area was not told to evacuate this time but in 2017 we were told to evacuate and I just hunkered down and rode it out.
 
I can’t think of any reason that would stop anyone from evacuating. Even if they were bed ridden, a call to the police dept or fire dept would have brought help. Now there may be instances but I just can’t think of any right now.
I can think of several, starting with the high uncertainty about where the storm will actually hit until its too late to move. Then comes where can you actually go (especially with pets) and how much of your life can you bring with you? Hotel rooms are typically heavily booked within 100-200 miles and often refuse pets. What if you need mobility aids, oxygen concentrator, etc? Obviously at near-zero hour you have a move-or-die choice, but 24 hours ahead of time?

It's not a hard choice if you can drive 50 miles and be confident you will be coming home the next day, but if it's that easy why evacuate at all? You only need to leave if its is life-threatening and your home is likely to be destroyed, and that's a much more challenging decision. You need to pack "forever", e.g. your ID, insurance & financial docs, medications & Rx info, clothing for at least several days, computer & phone stuff so you can stay in touch and get help, etc, etc.
 
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A few years ago, Hurricane Charley was aiming for Tampa/St Pete. Thousands of people there fled on the advice of authorities.
Charly cut in early and hit the Ft Myers/ Port Charlotte area, and then went through Orlando area.
People in Tampa AND Orlando were angry at the weather service for getting it wrong.
Ya can't win with these things.
That same year, we had two hurricanes come straight through where we lived (Port St Lucie) we evacuated for the first, but the second one did a surprise last minute turn and we had little time to skedaddle.

Most of the time, if you are in relatively high ground and not close to a major waterway, it is safe to hunker down and ride it out.

And, I think it is important to point out that a significant number of storm related deaths are from people doing stupid things, like going down to the waterfront to watch the waves, or trying to drive around in the storm, or putting you gas powered generator in the garage so no one will steal it.
 
People in Tampa AND Orlando were angry at the weather service for getting it wrong.
Ya can't win with these things.
The forecast for Charley was correct. The location where it hit was within the NWS's forecast cone of uncertainty. But too many people (and the media) were looking at the center line of the predicted path. Since then, the weather service and media have gotten better at telling people not to look at just the center line.
 
People think they have to protect their “stuff”. But it’s just stuff. Other folks don’t like to be told what to do. Maybe those folks should be told to stay put then they would leave. People aren’t told to evacuate just for their safety but also for the emergency services folks safety. They have to stay behind and the less folks that don’t evacuate the easier their job is. I also don’t buy the excuse that some folks cannot afford to evacuate. I would posit a lot of folks that say that smoke and drink. Like I said in an earlier post, all you have to do is make some sandwiches, grab some drinks and snacks, gas up the car and drive out of the path. Stay at a rest area if you can’t afford or find a hotel room.
 
Luck has nothing to do with me living in Florida.
I thought you once mentioned that your old motorhome broke down near right where you're now at and now you decided to live there for life.

BTW, those two San Hill Cranes next to your place (I forgot their names), how have they been doing? Any idea where they went during the storm?

-Don- Reno, NV (headed for Auburn in around an hour).
 
The forecast for Charley was correct. The location where it hit was within the NWS's forecast cone of uncertainty. But too many people (and the media) were looking at the center line of the predicted path. Since then, the weather service and media have gotten better at telling people not to look at just the center line.
Well, it was when they advised people in Tampa and St Pete to evacuate. It was, again when they said that, nope! it's turning towards Orlando. But, by then, it was coming in fast, and there was no time to pack up and leave.
And the folks that had all evacuated to Orlando, now had to sit out the storm, there while back home it hardly even rained.
I was watching Charley, because I had to drive to Ft Benning for work. So I waited 'til he got on past Orlando.
I remember driving up the turnpike, near the Airport area, there was a large parking lot - I think for rental cars - And a huge billboard had broken off its supports and slid across the parking, destroying a hundred or more cars.
 

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