Tampa/St.Pete has not had a direct hit since 1921 will this

[bucman1]

be the year?

[gatorcane]

Tampa should have been wiped off the map last year.

[bucman1]

Your right Boca we definitely dodge a major bullet!

[gatorcane]

bucman, I grew up in Pinellas County....just recently moved to even more hurricane prone S. Florida. Last year was very scary....thought that Pinellas was going to be split in two.

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

If Charley had hit, and been a bit bigger, Pinellas would actually have been split in two.... leaving 2 islands of land surrounded by water until the storm surge passed.

Ew! Imagine all the red ants having to float to those two bits of land or the mainland! -Glad they would be washed off my island! Probably the only way to ever really get rid of them...for a little while anyway!

[bucman1]

Boca to bad you didn't take the Devil Rays management with you!

I'm right outside of Tampa,in Riverview.

Ms treasure island it would have blown away the Bilmar!

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

It would have blown away a whole lot more than that!

It sounds bad, but in a way I would like a good storm to blow through. -not to hurt anyone, but simply to stop all the massive construction going on of condominiums!

So many people want to move in here because of all the quaint little beach shops and atmosphere. The problem is, all of them moving in is making all the restaurant and shop owners want to sell out to make big money. The we get stuck liek the east coast... lots of miserable old condos that are only inhabited for 1/2 the year and no more littel shops and local economy year round.

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

Then again, if a storm does go through, those quaint little shops will be the first thing to go. None of them are built on stilts. It wouldn't take much to flood them all out and wash them away.
So nevermind. I guess we need to keep the storms away afterall.
-back to needing that DynoMat Diaper Giant

[bucman1]

I'm still worried about people being complacent in the Tampa Bay area
because we have dodged so many threats.

[bucman1]

I'm still worried about people being complacent in the Tampa Bay area
because we have dodged so many threats.

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

I agree, in fact, the path that Charley took will do nothing but make people "wait around" if a big storm is on its way. People will assume it will eventually turn "again" and hesitate to evacuate.
As much media coverage as Charley got here, I can't believe that 43% of people in mandatory evacuation zones did not evacuate!
Now, I bet that number will be even higher next time because of Charley's late turn away from us. So many people ended up in its path BECAUSE they evacuated! they won't want that to happen again, so I bet many will stall on the decision until the last moment...then it will be nothing but gridlock on the bay bridges!

[gatorcane]

Treasure, yes Charley definitely increased the complacenty in the Tampa Bay area. I'm afraid it's setting the stage for disaster later

[bucman1]

All I hear is that we had Frances and Jeanne and we came out all right.

How stupid is that thinking-

They were exiting storms that had lost most of their punch.

Big difference between a 50 mph wind and a 100 mph wind if I am correct about 4 times the difference.

[SouthernWx]

All I hear is that we had Frances and Jeanne and we came out all right.

How stupid is that thinking-

Extremely....

Unfortunately, the longer a coastal area goes without a major hurricane direct hit, the more complacent many residents become. Combine an apathetic unprepared population of over two million with popular barrier islands, a large, shallow bay coming right into downtown Tampa....and a very shallow Gulf shelf offshore, and you have the ingrediants for a potential hurricane catastrophe the likes none of us have ever seen before.

It's indeed true only three powerful hurricanes have impacted Tampa Bay directly since 1845.....but as Dr Neil Frank said in 1979..."man, it only takes one"

PW

[gatorcane]

Many People in the Tampa area feel they are protected by being on the West side of the state. While this is somewhat true, many tropical storms/hurricanes have hit Tampa or near Tampa from the Gulf side...
all it takes is one of them to be major and watch out.

[TreasureIslandFLGal]

People also have to remember that much of our population is elderly. many people need help to evacuate. Lots of older folks are awfully fiesty and think they can wait out any storm.
In fact, in my building we had a fire alarm just 2 months ago. My girlfriend and I evacuated like everyone* else and we thought we were taking too long as it was. The fire trucks had all turned up at our 11 story building. As people were leaving, I remembered the guy in the wheelchair and his wife down the hall, so I went rigning their bell on their door (visual ringer). They are both deaf so I knew they couldn't hear the alarms. They didn't appear to be home. we then went down the stairs. As we passed the 6th floor, an old lady was seen in the hallway as another elderly couple was coming out the door. I asked her if she needed help, she appeared very frail. She said she wasn't going to go down all those stairs, she needed oxygen and wouldn't come. I sent my gf downstairs and told her to let the firemen know we were at the 6th floor level...if it were a true fire emergency they needed to fetch us. She continued down and I at least convinced her to come out into the stairwell. If it were a fire, we could get fresh air out here and be rescued if need be. She was so stubborn and adamant to stay. I told her I would stay with her, but if I smelled smoke, she would be on my shoulder goign down the stairs. She chuckled but I informed her that lifting her "little butt" would be easy and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it then now would she?
She then got pouty and realized that maybe she was being unreasonable. We sat there for a while and I am sure everyone at sea level got a kick out of our conversations. You can hear everything down below, and she was near deaf, so I had to yell at her for her to hear me.
Eventually a fireman showed up from the 6th floor door and gave us the all clear. I explained that she was afraid that she couldn't go far from her oxygen and thought they may not have any by the time she reached the bottom. His response: If this had been a real fire, you wouldn't have had to worry about any of that by now.
I told him then that these old folks make me worried at what would happen in a hurricane evacuation. He then told me "me too" and that they spent hours arguing with each one when they were tyring to get them out for Charley. He said many many would not leave and could have died had it hit.

[bucman1]

boca-I have heard that argument that being on the west coast of fla,
protects us from major hurricanes but tell that to people in Punta Gorda,
I just think there is a definite luck factor involved that will eventually catch up to us.

[donsutherland1]

Bucman1,

The argument that Florida's west coast is rarely hit by major hurricanes is anything but factual. Besides the twin Tampa Bay hurricanes of 1848, major hurricanes made landfall on the west coast since that time in the following years:

• 1873
• 1896
• 1921
• 1944
• 1950 Easy
• 2004 Charley

In addition, 3 made landfall in extreme southwestern FL:

• 1906
• 1948
• 1960 Donna

[bucman1]

DonSutherland1,

I couldn't agree with you more,as I stated its been sure luck that in the recent years the tampa area has not had a direct hit and you list didn't include Elena that was 100 miles off the coast.

[gatorcane]

Hey Don, thanks for the facts. The West coast gets hit plenty, it's only a matter of time before the GOM and Caribbean get active again...