caneman wrote:gatorcane wrote:Michele B wrote:
That's what I took away from it!
I finally just quit trying to explain anything to any of them!
Complacency might run higher in the Tampa Bay Area than some others. The last major hurricane to impact the area was 1921 and they have the reputation of having the “Tampa Bay deflector shield” due to so many hurricanes which look to threaten but pass well offshore (or weaken as the last minute) typically impacting the panhandle or Big Bend instead. They did get some impact from some storms like Frances in 2004 and Irma in 2017 but those storms were shells of their former selves by the time they went through. CAT 4/5 Charley in 2004 was the ultimate example. Models had the area pegged day of but somehow that hurricane veered over to Punta Gorda instead.
I wouldn't say shell, theyre weren't cake walks.. I live near the beaches in Pinellas. Got 70 mph winds from Frances and Jeanne and both took my power put for 6 days each. Irma was around 90 mph here on the beach and it took my power out for 5 days. Yes not a major but we've had enough taste to know what it can be like and should know how much worse it could be except the many newbies to the area. Locals have no excuses. Hurricane Elena plus many other high end tropical storms
Actually, being a native Floridian and living in Pinellas County near the beach for the last 35 years, Irma was a wake up call for many folks around here. We used both Irma and Charley as practice runs to put the evacuation plans we made when we moved to this house into motion. We worked out plan and our plan worked. Others did not and ended up in shelters at the last minute - they were very frightened and learned quite a bit. As of now, we are planning to stay put this time.