Posted on 08/28/2015 9:26:30 AM PDT by Jed Eckert
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared state of emergency Friday ahead of Tropical Storm Erika, currently drenching the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and headed for the Dominican Republic. Erika, moving to the west-northwest at 17 miles per hour, is expected to gradually turn north as it approaches Florida Sunday evening,.....
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
I think the Governor is just being very cautious. It may still develop into a Cat 1 if it makes landfall. Rain and flooding are going to be a big problem even if it remains a TS.
The ground is pretty saturated in my area from the rain we've already had the past couple weeks.
I don't think the federal funds kick in unless it's declared a disaster area. However the state of emergency does let him activate the National Guard.
I remember the period before Rush announced his hearing loss, when his voice was a little higher in pitch and a little faster than usual, and his listeners were starting to notice. What a frightening time for a man who makes his living on the radio. I’m very glad the cochlear implant was available.
True..the danger is if it moves a further west, into the gulf, then turns north..the storm surge into Tampa Bay will be like nothing you can imagine. It’s gonna be bad..really bad..
I would think the mountains of Hispaniola would wreak havoc on the storm.
While it has not been languishing for four years like the state of California, South Florida is in the midst of a severe to extreme drought, according to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. And South Florida happens to be home to a whole lot of people—the drought there is affecting more than 5.5 million.
South Florida’s tropical savanna climate has two distinct seasons: wet and dry. The dry season is considered to be roughly from November to April and makes up for about 25 percent of yearly rainfall. That means three-quarters of South Florida’s rainfall arrives between May and October, and to date, many areas are recording 10 to 16 inches below normal with North Perry Airport recording a whopping 20 inches below normal as of Aug. 20. Rainfall that low has resulted in the driest wet season on record for North Perry along with Fort Lauderdale and Tamiami. And almost every other area in South Florida is having one of its driest wet seasons on record.
https://ecowatch.com/2015/08/25/south-florida-drought/
Thanks for the storm path map, sten. Anyone know how many FReepers we have in Florida?
This aggravating storm has done nothing BUT move West of all its NHC forecast points, so what you say is likely true.
Yes, this hell-storm might pack winds of up to 40 MPH! We may as well kiss Florida goodbye.
But I’ll need to pop some corn to watch the rest of the city freak out.”
I remember the evac in 2005 because of Rita. Highways were jammed and it like trying to put two pounds of s*** in a one pound bag. We only had slightly more than 2M people living here then and took us 22 hours to go 250 miles. Don’t want to even think about what it would be like now with known population pushing 6M.
We don’t need the rain in Tampa Bay area...we’ve had an exceptionally rainy month with flooding from passing storms. The ground is so saturated and in St. Pete, during the recent rains, the wastewater plant was overwhelmed and millions of gallons of raw sewage was dumped into the Bay...we don’t need more rain.
Its not the wind its the water. Most of my property is still soggy from the dousing we got last week. All the local ponds are at the highest levels I’ve seen in years.
I know of a few listholders...
Oops, sorry for the off-topic post, everyone--I forgot I'd left the Rush Limbaugh thread!
I think that’s why Scott declared emergency in every county because even if it’s just a rain event, we’re going to have flooding in many counties.
There’s an EOC meeting this afternoon in our city...never hurts to be prepared, even if it’s just a rain event.
I’m one of those rare native Floridians, actually 6th generation, our kids are 7th generation, and their kids are 8th generation and we’re pretty nonchalant about storms.
But we check our emergency supplies each June, and make sure we have plenty of food, gas for the grill, gas for the generator, etc. The one thing I don’t want to have to do is to try to shop for supplies right before a storm, that’s why prepping ahead of time is so helpful. We have a pool full of water, with chlorination tablets to make it drinkable...but when we were kids, my folks used to fill up the bathtubs and big garbage cans with water.
Our window coverings are all pre-prepared, but we haven’t had to use them since the 4 storm year (can’t quite remember what year that was.)
When we were youngsters, we thought hurricanes were so much fun. We got to miss school, stay up all night if it passed in the night, hurricane parties, eating food and snacks my folks wouldn’t have normally bought. And the very best was going out to the beach after the rain and finding all sorts of things that washed up. Then I grew up, became a home owner, and storms were never “fun” again. Didn’t wish for them to come, like we did when we were kids, we wished for them to go away or at least bypass our area.
We miss you!
Went to sleep last nigh with Erika supposed to be 85 mph Cat one off Jacksonville on Tuesday night.
Woke up this morning to it going up penninsula and a 45 mph tropical storm. I am pleased
Now, as for the State of Emergency- that was declared yesterday when the forcast was for a hurricane hugging the east coast an effecting millions and it allows the governor to activate national guard and agreements with power companies and the likes up north to come down to fix lines...I would much sooner have an activist GOP governor like Scott that Blanco in Lousiana and Nagin in New Orleans who seemed to be lost what to do as Katrina approached 10 years ago. the head of the National Hurricane Center called the governors office TWICE TO tell her...evacuate!
Freegards
LEX
I wish you well in Tampa. A close friend lives down there, and has been saying how difficult it has been with all the rain. it can't be fun when it gets saturated.
Maybe South Florida has had a drought but the rest of Florida is wet: https://www.facebook.com/myfloodedfarm/videos/vb.380195735511697/381478978716706/?type=2&theater
After the mess in New Orleans with Katrina no governor or mayor will be caught without having pre-warned everyone to use their common sense.
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