Posted on 08/14/2004 12:32:12 AM PDT by Jeff Head
Pictures out of Florida speak for themselves:
Won't his service in Viet Nam be a comfort at a time like this?
Thanks.
That's what I thought. My husband (because of his job) is part of our local Emergency Management Team.
We're in St. Pete...and they issued evacuation orders on Thursday noon for all level A and mobile homes. At that point the hurricane was still south of Cuba.
I couldn't imagine that a coastal community wouldn't have had some type of evacuation notice given.
If there's one thing I've learned from being a native Floridian, it's that the "weather forecasters" are almost never right about the path of the storm, LOL.
I think one of the problems yesterday was that the forecasters and the Hurricane Center noticed a wobble to the right, but didn't confirm on TV for at least an hour.
Now those were the forecasters up our way, so maybe in Punta Gorda they would be announcing the possibility of a wobble to the right sooner than up here.
Anyway, loss of life during a hurricane is tragic, no matter what the reason!
Most of them are built of concrete! I saw pictures last night of the remains of a large structure that had been build of concrete and steel and it was totally destroyed.
On Monday, it looked like I was gonna get hit by both storms, but all I ended up with was a very heavy rain early Thursday morning.
After living through Hurricane Kate, I'm hinky about the big ones. I don't know how many times we've been warned that a hurricane was coming, but I'm sure it's been dozens of times - and Kate was the only one that actually hit.
All the forecasters can really do is guess, I just worry that too many of our fellow Floridians don't take the warnings seriously enough.
We've "dodged the bullet" soooo many times here in the Tampa Bay area.
We've been prepared a number of times for a storm, only to have it turn at the last minute.
I'm not complaining....I'm grateful.
But I think it ads to complacency on evacuation orders.
P.S. Thanks for the evac order ping.
We took extra precautions this time and boarded up windows because the storm looked like it was going to be more severe and more direct than previous storms.
I'm not upset at all that we took the precautions and I'd make them again.
But the press doesn't help. They keep quoting some guy in a couple articles I've read this AM about a guy who left the Tampa area, went to an inland hotel, "paid hundreds of dollars" (his words), only to put himself in the path of the storm.
He is quoted as saying, "I feel like a fool." He wasn't a fool, he did what the authorities were suggesting, and he's alive.
If he had stayed in his coastal community, ignored warnings and the storm had hit as predicted, he might be dead...then he would have been a fool.
PLEASE--Does anyone have any information on North Port and Venice? My aunt and uncle have a mobile home in North Port (they evacuated) and my mom was supposed to move from Ohio into an apartment in Venice next week. They keep talking about Punta Gorda and Ft. Myers, which is close to these two areas. TIA!
I'm of the opinion that mobile homes and trailer parks shouldn't be allowed in known tordado and hurricane paths. Too much destruction and death.
Me too! Our daughter lives in one on land we gave her on our farm. It's only 500 feet from our house and they come down here when a storm is really bad. It has the hurricane straps and all but we have gusts sometimes of 70+ mph. She's dating a guy now that doesn't like her Dad and if he's there he won't "let" them come down. I worry myself sick over my granddaughter. We've told the granddaughter (she's 8) to call if she gets scared and we will come get her whether the boyfriend likes it or not!
The entire state of Florida is a potential hurricane path.
I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and my dad worked for Florida Power & Light so he had to work during every hurricane, leaving my sister and my mom and me at home to take care of everything there. I dont think FPL got a shelter, Reddy Kilowatt was not as well set up as BS, I guess.
I lived in Boca Raton when Andrew hit. Knowing that hurricanes can change paths on a dime, I evacuated at 4 a.m., headed to Orlando several hours before the order to evacuate was issued. The turnpike was already jammed with people from Miami, with both sides going north. I'll never forget the looks on people's faces as we slowly made our way to safety. Cars were jammed with stuff, little kids with huge frightened eyes staring out of windows. I was busy calculating our speed of 20 mph against the hurricane's speed. If it changed course, would we be able to outrun it? I think that most Floridians are aware of the changing nature of 'canes; the wise get the hell out of the way just in case.
After hearing firsthand reports of damage from friends in Miami who'd lost roofs and boats, and seeing interminable photos on the news, I was still shocked to tears when I drove down a month later. No pictures, no aerial views had prepared me for the incredible extent of the damage. Even two years later, junk was piled up on curbs and median strips awaiting pickup when the landfills and dumps had room for it.
I'd lived in CA, went through both the Northridge and the World Series quakes, and believe me, a hurricane is infinitely worse. Some say that at least you have advance warning of a hurricane, but as we've seen, they are totally unpredicable.
Prayers for the people ravaged by Hurricane Charley.
Veto!
This may be a FReeper:
I'm sure you'll know the area I lived in then. We actually lived in a place called Margate. We were one of the first families in that area and ours was one of the first houses built in the 60's. It was surrounded by canals and when it rained we had terrible floods. The gators would come in our yards at night. I'm sure it's more settled now but it was a little wild back then. My Dad visited recently and took pictures of our old house. It looks even better now than when we lived there and it's weathered a lot of hurricanes. We stayed home for most of them but I remember three times we spent the night in the BellSouth shelter. Of course, that stuff is fun for kids. We're smarter now. :-)
Cool!! :o)
These are just some local citizens taking steps after Pt. Charlotte got trashed. There are plenty more like them, rest assured! The local police and sheriffs are way too busy right now to handle the load.
Sorry, I should have said a freeper took the picture since I had no real idea who was actually in it. :) Anyway, it's still cool that you and an official newswire got pretty much the same shot.
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