Howlin, I haven't been able to follow the whole thread. Do you know how hard Tampa got hit?
it didn't get hit hardly at all - a glancing blow at best.
Tampa drew the long straw today; wind and rain.
I'm in Tampa, and after preparing for the worst, we had some sprinkles of rain. Thats it.
I do think that they did the right thing being completely prepared for the storm in this area, with all of the evacuations.
Southwest Florida did not take it as seriously, with only evacuations on the islands. We are still waiting to hear from family in the SW Cape Coral area, one of the hardest hit.