Tornado Sighted in Duval County Video at the link...
Some info at the local paper's site
The local news haven't really got much posted yet.
Posted on 08/12/2004 10:14:32 AM PDT by PinnedAndRecessed
APALACHICOLA, Fla. — A disorganized Tropical Storm Bonnie (search) came ashore near the central Florida Panhandle on Thursday afternoon, bringing with it lighter-than-expected wind and rain.
By noontime Apalachicola looked as if nothing happened. The sun was shining, the surf was calming with the Bonnie having bypassed the area, heading east.
Meanwhile, some 380,000 Tampa Bay area residents have been asked to evacuate from coastal or low-lying areas because of Bonnie's stronger brother, Hurricane Charley (search). It was the largest such evacuation in the history of Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg.
As a strengthening Charley neared southern Florida with 90 mph winds, Bonnie's disorganized center came ahore with winds near 50 mph. Bonnie was expected to bring the possibility of heavy rains and flooding to already-soaked areas of the Panhandle, which was under a tropical storm warning.
The bridge across Apalachicola Bay to the barrier island of St. George remained open. The island was mostly deserted of tourists, though some businesses and restaurants remained open. Owners of many oceanfront homes and businesses decided not to board up windows as the storm approached.
The prospect of the back-to-back storms — the first since 1906 — led Gov. Jeb Bush to declare a state of emergency for all of Florida. Schools and government offices also were closed, and Bush activated the Florida National Guard. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (search) regional operations center in Atlanta was also put into operation Thursday morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
We've just had tornadoes in Jacksonville, coast is clear for the time being. Man, I haven't had that much adrenaline in a long time!! I'm not looking forward to Charley, I'd much rather have the storm coming from the Atlantic so we wouldn't be in the NE quadrant.
There are some injuries and damage,(one person reportedly taken to the hospital) news crews are on the way.
Old Sarge, The Howard Franklin Bridge(I 275), Gandy, and Courtney Campbell north bound are already clogged. Mandatory evacuation for the areas you mentioned is 6:00pm today. In Fact the entire TB coastal area is under emergency evac. They are now predicting 120mph winds and a possibility of Charley coming directly up Tampa Bay.
I will update you on local media later.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/webspecials02/andrew/1921video.shtml
(Click Link for Animation)
It's the worst-case scenario: a powerful storm on a northeast track heading straight for Tampa Bay.
What would happen?
That's the question emergency planners posed to the National Hurricane Center. The computer-generated image you're looking at is one answer.
It shows the potential flooding from a storm about the size of Hurricane Floyd, which ravaged the North Carolina coast in September 1999, killing 57 people. It was bigger, deadlier and almost as fierce as Hurricane Andrew, but not as costly.
It follows the same track as the unnamed hurricane that hit Tarpon Springs in 1921, the last time Tampa Bay took a direct hit from a hurricane.
Under this scenario, high winds create a storm surge causing massive flooding, particularly in Hillsborough County, where nearly the entire Interbay Peninsula would be underwater.
That may seem odd. Aren't the Pinellas beaches more vulnerable? The reason lies in the track of the storm, the counter-clockwise rotation of the winds, the shallowness of the Gulf of Mexico and the bay itself.
Hurricane experts call it the funnel effect.
The shallowness of the gulf makes Florida's west coast particularly vulnerable to hurricane-driven storm surge, said Brian Jarvinen, hurricane storm surge specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
In Atlantic storms, a lot of the energy produced by a hurricane is absorbed by the ocean. But in a gulf storm, the energy hits bottom, churning water toward the shoreline, Jarvinen said. That creates an even bigger problem if the storm is headed toward Tampa Bay.
"The added impact of the bay creates a funneling effect," Jarvinen said. The churning water surges into the bay, washing over the farthest point.
A computer model Jarvinen created shows flooding up to 17 feet above sea level in parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough.
"Certainly the impacts there are incredible, there's no doubt about it," said Jarvinen. "There's no doubt in our mind that someday we will see a storm like this and create that type of flooding. The question is when, but someday it will occur."
Damn. Plain old damn.
My old Guard unit is just north of McDill - they only just got back from The Sandbox - to THIS!
And my sister...
wonder how many non-locals know what a square grouper is? :-)
Somewhat of an overused myth, actually. Only happens with Cat 5s/VERY strong 4s reinforcing a ridge to their North, and it won't overcome a strong deep-layer trough.
Storms really are leaves in a stream, rather than having minds of their own. The problem is determing the precise flow pattern of the stream. Computer modeling has generally been quite good so far on the path of Charley, and they were near-perfect for Isabel last year.
Right, I should have stressed what I meant by big (I was thinking cat4/5, but didn't type it). I also mentioned the trough in the gulf at some point, this storm will certainly not overcome that.
Storms in the Gulf in a typical August are very hard to predict (they tend to meader), the pattern currently locked in on the East coast is very atypical for mid August. Most August storms at the same position ended up in Texas or Mexico with the Bermuda High typically parked right off the East Coast.
I don't think we're going to get any more from Bonnie than we're getting now, but Charley is supposed to be packing 65 mph winds Sat. morning even after going all the way across Fl.
Were you here for David in 79?
What area of Jax? They showed pics on TWC, but didn't say where they were filming. The church looked familiar...
Tornado Sighted in Duval County Video at the link...
Some info at the local paper's site
The local news haven't really got much posted yet.
Agreed. I was watching a few of the models earlier today and all are within reason at this point within 30-40 miles of landfall imo. If anything they have gotten a lot better over the last 3 yrs. Up til then I used to get irate with sat's and multiple predictions. All I know is this jerkoff on CBS Orlando keeps saying the storm is going to go due north and hit the panhandle by passing all of central florida and tampa...jagoff.
Every single person is predicting a near Tampa landfall at this point. I am headed to Plant City in a few hrs after the 8 pm advisory.
If it does bypass Tampa just off shore, it may actually do more damage because of the huge potential for storm surge. The big problem here in the Bay area is that we are, in most places, no more than a few feet( 5-15 ) above sea level. Lok for all the barrier islands and coastal areas to be under several feet of water. No one dares utter the possibility of "Andrew" level of damage, but I believe it is possible, not from wind, rather water.
I lived through Andrew while living in south florida. Charley reminds me of him a bit because of the size of the storm and the intensity it is going to get off the gulf stream. If you look at what the winds were at 24 hrs out of South Florida with Andrew and look at them with Charley..there is only a 10 mph difference at the moment.
Tampa is expecting wind gusts of 150-160 mph according to all local reports. Considering I will be in Plant City which is 15 miles out of the city...I have a feeling I will be going through them in the morning.
They are currently in far-western North Carolina, but driving to Tallahassee tomorrow to stay with my sister. Her area got some tough storms, but nothing serious.
If you have a ping list going for this thing, please include me. Thanks.
I use to live in Jacksonville, but now live in San Diego CA, but I rent my house out in the Mandarin area, can't get a hold of the tenants...I saw the tornado downtown on the weather channel WOW! Hope you all are okay...
I use to live in Jacksonville, but now live in San Diego CA, but I rent my house out in the Mandarin area, can't get a hold of the tenants...I saw the tornado downtown on the weather channel WOW! Hope you all are okay...
Local Jax TV with video link on webpage(Tornado Video) http://www.news4jax.com/weather/3648478/detail.html
We're ok, just rattled. My kids really freaked out. We're just south of the river in E Arlington so we didnt' get the really bad stuff. News still trying to catch up I think.
Thanks for the well wishes, now for tomorrow! Charley go home!
LOL!!!
Can someone give me a quick instruction on how to create a Ping-List. This is a special situation, otherwise I would do the research.
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