Hurricane Milton!

[OnMyWay]

@MikeB@Gator

Hey guys, hope you are already safe and not in the Tampa area!  Same for any other members from that area.  One of my neighbors was in St. Pete 2 days ago and I hope they got the heck out of there!

This Windy screenshot is the prediction for 5 pm Thursday.

 

[MikeB]

Thanks for the shout out! We are just north of Tampa between 7 - 8 miles from the Gulf. There are 5 evacuation zones, A - E, zone A being right on the water. There is mandatory evacuation in zones A, B and C. We are about a mile from the eastern edge of zone E so we are out of the evacuation zones. That doesn't mean there can't be flooding and major damage but we are sticking it out. They are saying they expect landfall to be around Sarasota now, about 65 miles south of here but that could change. If it goes north just a little into Tampa Bay it will be a major disaster. There are so many people living in that low area of St Pete, Clearwater, Tampa. There hasn't been a direct hit on Tampa since 1921, no matter what they say they are not ready and this area hasn't recovered from Helene 2 weeks ago. Piles of debris everywhere that will be projectiles.

I think Gator lives north of us so he'll probably be all right if it stays on course. Hopefully he'll check in.

It's about 3pm here and they expect it to hit about 1am so I'll check in tomorrow if we have electric. My wife was telling me her sister in Masbate hasn't had electricity in their area for 2 days, no storm just the way it is. I try to keep that in mind.

EDIT: They moved the likely landfall north to Bradenton, just south of the bay. Not good. Bad wind and rain where we are.

Edited October 9 by MikeB

[OnMyWay]

Stay safe!  Looks like it has calmed down to cat 3, but still super dangerous.

[Tommy T.]

8 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Stay safe!  Looks like it has calmed down to cat 3, but still super dangerous.

I survived a direct hit by a Cat 3 hurricane in Fiji many years ago aboard my yacht. Nothing to be trifled with! Aftermath was that all the coconut palms and other trees were totally stripped of leaves and branches. I needed to wash my shorts thoroughly too...

This was our first hurricane in Tonga. Only a near miss with 80 knots of wind and we were anchored maybe 200 meters from shore.

[MikeB]

17 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Stay safe!  Looks like it has calmed down to cat 3, but still super dangerous.

Yes, we dodged a bullet again. Lost power for over 12 hrs but it's back now, just a lot of tree branches and plants blown everywhere.

The bigger issue is the insurance companies have been leaving the state because of these disasters, after Ian destroyed Ft Myer's Beach 2 years ago it's very hard to get homeowner insurance. These last 2 may be the last straw.

[Possum]

1 hour ago, MikeB said:

The bigger issue is the insurance companies have been leaving the state because of these disasters, after Ian destroyed Ft Myer's Beach 2 years ago it's very hard to get homeowner insurance. These last 2 may be the last straw.

True, I sold a house in Florida before moving to the Philippines. When I sold it several years ago the insurance cost was about $9000/yr, now I'm told it's 15000/yr. I also remember after hurricane Andrew went thru some of the major insurance companies decided to stop insuring homes. The governor of the state told them they were free to do that but they also had to stop insuring cars. Suddenly the insurance companies decided they would continue to insure homes without raising the rates too high. He was the last of a dying breed.

[Lee]

[OnMyWay]

6 hours ago, MikeB said:

Yes, we dodged a bullet again. Lost power for over 12 hrs but it's back now, just a lot of tree branches and plants blown everywhere.

Glad to here that everything is ok there.  I lost power for a week during one storm in Pembroke Pines.  I think that was 2004, Wilma?  I think they are getting better with power recovery.

The tornados were scary this time!

[Snowy79]

Out of curiosity why doesn't the areas with historical records of hurricanes etc not have stricter building regulations?  Even here in the land of no commonsense there are rules on making certain properties Earthquake proof, I'd like to think in a First World Country they would be forced to build properties that can withstand hurricane strength winds and be safe from a certain level of flood water.

A friend who couch surfed in my apartment for a few months is employed in remote disaster relief and has been monitoring all the weather events and fires etc in the US for a few years, he informed me that whole areas of New Orleans are between 2ft and 20ft below sea levels. They aparently built the levys higher after Katrina but that was all.

[GeoffH]

Similar issues exist in the state capitol Brisbane Australia where over several decades whole suburbs have been built along the flood plane areas of the Brisbane river.

The only reason... 💰