Especially with the labor day weekend in effect, it will be IMPOSSIBLE for those that want to evacuate to do so, once the hurricane watches go up for south fla. (jumping the gun, i know "Hypothetical")
It is predicted that around 2 million people alone will attempt to leave Miami-Dade county alone. Because of the corrolation with what happened in Andrew, with people going down south for saftey.
There is no combination of roads in south fla that can handle this sort of traffic from Miami-Dade, let alone people from Monroe (the keys) and Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Lets take this step by step for a second...
1. The storm is 3-4 days away... only a thought on people's minds, local mets still downlplaying it.
2. Frances is 48 or so hours away and hurricane watches go up... people begin to scramble for supplies, to secure their houses, and make evac plans. The local mets tell people to leave the area.
3. 24 hours before frances, people are getting on the road and attempting to leave... Millions (No exageration) attempt to take I-95, I-75, and the Fl turnpike North. However the roads are no where near capable of handeling this traffic.
4. City, County, State, and Federal... all in emergency mode attempting to figure out what to do with this unheard of, unplanned for traffic crisis.
5. Storm begins to approach before people are off the roads, either safely going north, or able to return home.
6. Those that returned home... DID not prepare for riding out a storm, and are in VERY poor shape.
This is not a worst case scenario either... its up there however.
I luckily live far enough inland in a house with custom shutters capable of withstanding winds above 200mph! My house will be home to about 40+ people, who have to evac.
However here is another dillema... In the morning i will post pictures. There is a house directly next door under construction, however it is in the stage where they are about ready to pour the councrete into the walls and beams to finalize the main structure for the lower floor. The house is COVERED in plywood tacked ever so lightly together. I have invested some time lately into the legalities of this durring a storm and i discovered at the onset of a Hurricane watch the owner is required to secure the entire construction site.
Will this happen? No, there will be not enough time, too much histeria, etc.
This is not looking too good, however in my sick twisted mind i see a ray of hope...
My Davis Pro Weather station arrives monday morning... and as long as i have internet by fiber, or phone, you all will get to see through webcam the conditions outside my house, and view the weather. Hopefully updated as frequently as possible.
I went through Andrew, and went down to the worst hit area's of south dade... complete destruction, with even concrete walls demolished.
I hope the NHC, and local mets at least grow a balls enough to tell people of the possibility of the storm. As it is not very many know much about what is possibly at our door, that is if they have even heard of it at all.
Sorry for the long post...
g-night
-eric
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