Will you move away from the coast?

[BamaMan]

No way

[Vandora]

We know it's a risk of living here. We prepare each year, just in case. And if there's a BIG one, you better believe I'm going home to Ohio if I can (I'm pretty broke, but I sure would try to get outta dodge), and then I'll be back ASAP to clean up/etc. But leaving for good? No time soon. I love the weather, the land, the skies (oh wow, people who've been here forever don't appricate it, but they are gorgous and like no other!), I'm not leaving. When I first came here, I heard the first hand accounts of Andrew... Didn't change my mind then, Katrina won't change it now.

[Zadok]

I don't think I will be moving but I will start keeping an axe in the attic hanging from the rafters by a string.

[chicagopizza]

Having moved to Savannah from the midwest, I am thankful for every day I have the priveledge of living here. Although there is not a big risk for a hurricane here, it is not impossible, so we just keep that in mind, stay prepared and do what we can for those who are affected.

My husband's job also relys on being able to live in coastal areas and the idea of going back to no way to survive in the part of Indiana we moved from - the last thing either of us want. There is something so calm and welcoming about the south -just a different feeling here- Plus, I can't help but smile when I see our dogs having fun at the beach!

[Doc Seminole]

I moved off the beachside (barrier island) a few years ago to move a bit inland. 5 miles to be exact. Don't plan on leaving Florida where yes, the summer sucks, but the fall, winter and spring are worth staying for. Besides, my family has been here since the 1800's.

[Jagno]

Will you still require fuel, oil, sugar, rubber, coffee,.............? Ports must be located near large bodies of water. They have to have human beings to run these facilities.

The answer is NO.

[jes]

Maybe if this keeps up I'd consider it. I'm tired of the terror two or three times a year. I'll give it a couple more years. When a strong storm is headed for your house it feels like your a character in some childhood monster movie--- Kind of like King Kong is on his way and you can't get away fast enough. It just unnerves me.

[Islandgirl]

Coastal GA is a great place to live. I absolutely love St. Simons Island, where we have raised our children, but we moved to Brunswick because of all the buiding going on there and the very crowded situation. It's very hard to get around with all the traffic on that little island. But no, I wouldn't move because of hurricanes. I would just leave when they say voluntary evacuation so I won't get caught in the traffic.

[Frank P]

HELL NO... you will never get me off the coast...

Not only will I rebuild, I am going to try to buy any of my immediately neighbors property to the east, west or north of me... can't buy south cause that's water... they may want to get rid of their property, maybe at lower than normal prices... I recommend to any one to buy, buy, buy... payoff might not be for some time, but if the Casinos come back, and they will, it could pay off really big in the next 5-10 years...

I will build my next house about 5-10 feet higher I might add.. and it will be smaller, downsizing is now OK for me...

I just got word a relative has a 35 foot RV that I can set up house in when it's safe to return, basic supplies are available, and I can access my property... that's such great news for us...

Now don't get me wrong, and I'm not trying to slam anyone, but right now my immediate aspiration is to have me a nice wonderful trailer....(oh, and if it could only be a double wide) and I'll be so proud to say I'm trailer trash from MS... that would be such a nice compliment to me.... I expect the coast will be a trailer community for quite some time....

Italian Refugee in Nashville

Frank P...and two bassets, Floppy and BeBe all doing as well as can be expected

[WeatherEmperor]

eventhough i live about 15-20 miles inland from the coast, I do have some hopes of living near the coast some day. I would prefer to live somewhere up in northern FL anywhere from the Tampa Bay area to perhaps as far north as Daytona Beach. Would sound very nice.

<RICKY>

[cancunkid]

Funny I constantly dream of moving to the coast. As a matter of fact I am planning a trip to Fairhope with the thought of possibly moving. I drove through there for the first time in 2000 and just found it beautiful. My sister in Chicago is trying to get me to move to the Georgia coast since a lot of my immediate family is in Georgia and Florida. I think most people would love to live on the coast especially the still affordable SE. I admit the thought of a hurricane is a bit mindblowing to me. We have the occassional tornado here but hey even if it hits two streets over you might not even lose a limb and even if it hits you can drive 5 miles and get a room and food and clothes but the lure of the ocean is strong. something about sand sun and surf.

Pcola.....my problem is I have never succeeded in driving through here without getting lost. I have been lost in pcola probably 10 times in the last 7 years! I love it when I drive around that big curving body of water and it's just like summer time then boom......where am I? But advantage for them I usually stop for the night because I am confused

[AL Chili Pepper]

I wouldn't live anywhere else. Beautiful in the fall, winter, spring and summer. When a hurricane is headed our way, we evacuate. It's as simple as that. We have not even had a missing shingle in the last three hurricanes in Baldwin County, AL. We are 1 mile from Mobile Bay. We are lucky.

Directly on the beach, yes, many problems. But inland a mile or two, just downed trees. Well worth living in paradise.

I'll live without electricity 7 days with 358 days of paradise anyday!!

I won't leave unless I have to, and I won't like it if I do. Glad to see you had no damage. I made it through Ivan with almost no damage at all, but Kat got me. 1 tree, 12 feet of fence, and about 30 shingles gone with the wind. Still, that's a small price to pay even though I realize we were lucky.

[SouthFloridawx]

two letters.....


NO

[lurkerinthemidst]

Well we did in the middle of March. We were about 10 miles off the gulf coast. We are in the process of selling our house but we moved to TN. It wasn't just for the hurricanes ( however all the evac's last year was crazy - we lived in an older mobile home) but it was the congestion the over growth that made us go crazy. We found the town we are in last year running from a hurricane. Also a good raise in pay to move makes a BIG difference.
I am now in the mountains and LOVE it. I will always love the beach since I was born and raised in FL ( Tampa Bay area) but I will enjoy visits a lot more. I think I will appreciate them more because I had grown to really dislike the traffic, congestion and all around changes.

[LaBreeze]

Of course not - the coast (especially the GOM) is a part of us, it's in our blood.

[Pablo2079]

No way....

but then again, we don't have to worry about:

canes
tornadoes
blizzards

up here in Seattle.... we just get the occassional quake and pesky volcano (although, Mt. St. Helens is about 100 miles or so to the South).

We've got great summers and temperate winters. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't rain all the time. We get less rain in the summer than Phoenix. And less overall than most major cities in the US.

[Patrick99]

I asked a similar question last year after Ivan. Just wondering if anyone is seriously reconsidering after Katrina?

I am very tempted. Miami/FTL/WPB is living on borrowed time. For me, a quick scan of the hurricane seasons in the old days is very sobering. Sure, this place bounced back every single time, but obviously there wasn't anywhere near as much here in the 1920s-1940s as there is now. I think this place was better able to absorb a major hurricane hit back then.

If Andrew had come right up the gut of the Miami River, I honestly don't know what would have become of this place. It's very possible in my mind that the city would have been utterly destroyed. Flattened.

[Patrick99]

I heard the first hand accounts of Andrew... Didn't change my mind then, Katrina won't change it now.

I hear you...but it is tough to truly understand it unless you experience it and see it for yourself. Those in S. Dade for Andrew will be forever haunted by that night. It's tough to comprehend that kind of wind until you see it for yourself.

[Vandora]

I hear you...but it is tough to truly understand it unless you experience it and see it for yourself. Those in S. Dade for Andrew will be forever haunted by that night. It's tough to comprehend that kind of wind until you see it for yourself.

You are completely right. Just saying, I guess, that I've not been scared off yet. Things could always change.

[BC]

Nope.. I may have lost everything, but this (the Coast) is my home.. My parents lived through Camille and, along with everyone else, helped build the Coast into what it was before Katrina.. And I plan on being here to help see the Coast return to an even more beautiful place to live..

I'm with you on the buying property thing too Frank.. Now's my chance to own some beachfront land..