Hurricane Milton

[+ JamesB]

I just wanted to take a moment to wish all COM forum members in Central Florida safety and well-being as Hurricane Milton approaches. Please make sure you’re fully prepared and have your emergency supplies. 

Stay safe, everyone, and let’s hope the storm passes with minimal impact.

[BuffaloKyle]

My parents wanted to move to Florida when they both retire but Helene & Milton have really put the final nail in the coffin on that idea. It's just a matter of when and not if a hurricane would hit you down there. Hopefully it does weaken to a three when it hits late tonight and goes through quick. I remember @RadioRob lives 30 min north of my family in Coral Springs. But luckily him and them are plenty south of the expected major impact area.

[+ sync]

I have cousins who are contemplating a move into Florida.  I'm hoping these recent horrors have them rethinking their plan(s).

[RadioRob]

Yeah... I'm pretty south of where the major part is supposed to be.  The biggest worry around here is honestly flooding.  With all of the rain we had last week and the anticipated inbound rain, it's most likely going to be the biggest problem.  

[+ jeezopete]

I live a little north of Tampa, only 4 miles from the coast but it’s been a very secure area (so far). I already had a long weekend in Ft. Lauderdale planned, but due to the evacuation traffic, decided to head down earlier so I left yesterday. My 4 1/2 hour drive took 7 hours with a lot of stop & go on I-75. For the first couple of hours, as I was driving south everyone else was headed north. Below Sarasota though, all the traffic was going south along with me.

Luckily, I was up late Mon night so I filled up with gas. On Tuesday stations in town were either already emptied out & shut down or had long lines into the street.

[+ azdr0710]

currently, the eye is forecast to hit the coast at Sarasota......because of counter-clockwise rotation, coastal areas south of the eye will experience the heaviest storm surge......it will drop to Cat 3 by tonight when it hits, but still a huge storm.......

[MDfun]

57 minutes ago, azdr0710 said:

currently, the eye is forecast to hit the coast at Sarasota......because of counter-clockwise rotation, coastal areas south of the eye will experience the heaviest storm surge......it will drop to Cat 3 by tonight when it hits, but still a huge storm.......

I have family members who will be affected. They say these hurricanes seem to be getting stronger and more destructive with every new installment. We need to start taking better care of the environment, or else. Sarasota will be hit hard. Floods have been getting worse all over Florida. They're just not destructive but disruptive as well.

[mike carey]

I was just reading an article in the Economist that noted that the coastal water in the Gulf was 31 degrees (88 F) when Helene was about to cross. That high temperature boosted the amount of water the storm took up and likely contributed to the severity of the rain as it moved inland. As I type, Milton has sped up, which if it continues at that speed will reduce the amount of rain that falls (it will cross the peninsula more quickly). We are getting rolling coverage on morning TV here, not exclusively but along with significant local news. It has noted that the authorities are being ruthless in their warnings, one of which apparently was, 'If you chose not to evacuate, please attach a label to your wrist with your name and next of kin, so we can identify your body'. Brutal!

Thoughts from afar for those affected by Helene, and now Milton. (Storms between H and M were either near Bermuda or off the Cabo Verde Islands in Africa.)

[+ ApexNomad]

8 hours ago, RadioRob said:

Yeah... I'm pretty south of where the major part is supposed to be.  The biggest worry around here is honestly flooding.  With all of the rain we had last week and the anticipated inbound rain, it's most likely going to be the biggest problem.  

Be safe! 🙏

[Luv2play]

My nephew lives in a condo on the beach on Longboat Key which is pretty close to where Milton is coming ashore. Two weeks ago his two cars, including a brand new one for his wife, were both destroyed by the surge caused by Helene.

They are both in Italy this week on a vacation so their timing was good and my nephew had hurricane windows installed three months ago so they are hoping for the best, according to my brother, who has been in touch with them.

The insurance claims are going to be massive, for these two storms combined. Already my nephew had racked up a $100, 000 claim for his cars alone.

[BuffaloKyle]

41 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

The insurance claims are going to be massive, for these two storms combined. Already my nephew had racked up a $100, 000 claim for his cars alone.

That's why they charge $11,000 a year for home insurance in Florida! Here in in NY it's around $2,000.

[TallMuscl37]

Native Floridian here (who left in 2018/2019 and haven’t been back since except during November 2021 for a nude calendar event)…

Here’s the thing: hurricanes have been a thing of Florida since who knows how long. It’s a college football team (Miami hurricanes), a delicious alcohol beverage (Hurricane), and just part of life in Florida.

However, the big problem is the population and insurance rates, as has been mentioned. Not just home but vehicle also. Florida has long been a place for the rich and famous to party, but in reality: Florida is shaped like a dead fish 🐟 because it’s a weather prone place ecologically lol. Hurricanes have carved out the shape of the state. Why do people want to populate a place that is surrounded by deep ocean on both sides, and is a known hurricane commute zone? I was in high school in 2004 when there was 4 hurricanes that hit at once. That was when the insurance companies started pulling out:

4 hurricanes in 6 weeks? It happened to one state in 2004.

WWW.NOAA.GOV

---

Lessons learned then are valuable reminders today

That said: sometimes it’s not always as bad as the media describes. THE NEWS DOES OVERHYPE THESE THINGS. If you live away from the coast, and don’t have big trees covering your yard: a hurricane is very survivable. My grandmother and relatives lived in Miami since the 1950s. Went thru Andrew, and a dozen other storms over the decades. Even when a whole hurricane crosses a state, most of the damage is within the few miles of the eye wall. Most homes can stand up to 100 mph winds: these come in 20-30 minute bands throughout the time the storm is passing. But wind whipping 100 mph is enough to cause damage in a few minutes. It’s just a come and go event.

I also grew up in Tampa: every hurricane season a storm would threaten, the church pastors would pray them away 😆, and they always just skirted the area: but it was fun getting 3 days off school and seeing the force of the winds. Hurricanes can actually be fun to experience: but the ones that have been happening are WAY bigger than what it used to be. They used to be little things with 80 mph winds that breezed thru quickly and weakened before even hitting land. Now they’re huge and landing inland as cat 3 hurricanes. 
 

MY ADVICE: do not move to Florida unless you have a solid concrete home inland. I wouldn’t advise anyone to move there until they figure out how to fix their insurance problem. Every hurricane that hits, becomes a reason for insurance companies to leave or hike rates…my home state has become a place of no return. It’s too expensive to live, and it’s going to happen every year. Only the rich and famous can afford to comfortably live there.

I’m currently in Arizona, yesterday was 107 degrees, and even though no area of the country is immune to natures wrath lately (heat, hail and snow storms have been crazy as well):

I would suggest someone seeking a green or warm climate to retire, to consider places like Missouri/Branson, New Mexico, Arizona, Las Vegas, San Diego/Oceanside (though more expensive than Florida), Northwest Arkansas (headquarters of Walmart lol), and even the northern Texas area. And the good thing is: those areas also sell palm trees, Home Depot and Lowe’s. I buy some every year and they do great outside in the summer, just have to bring them in for the winter. 

Edited October 10, 2024 by Jarrod_Uncut

[CuriousByNature]

Hurricanes tend to weaken a bit when they begin drawing up cooler water from the depths, since warm water is their life-blood.  However, now that the deeper waters of the gulf are warmer than what they were in the past, this counter-balance for hurricane strength has more or less disappeared.  This means that hurricanes have a higher likelihood of strengthening much more quickly than in the past.  Now it seems people will have to rely even more on wind-shear as a limiting factor for hurricane strength.

[samhexum]

Severe damage to the roof of Tropicana Field.

[BuffaloKyle]

17 minutes ago, samhexum said:

Severe damage to the roof of Tropicana Field.

Roof at Tropicana Field sustains major damage from Hurricane Milton - ESPN

WWW.ESPN.COM

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The roof at Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, sustained major damage because of high winds associated with Hurricane Milton, which made landfall...

 

[+ PhileasFogg]

3 hours ago, BuffaloKyle said:

That's why they charge $11,000 a year for home insurance in Florida! Here in in NY it's around $2,000.

I have a friend that pays $11,000/MONTH on Sarasota Bay.  Built to hurricane codes (and then some), The yard is 10’ above water level and the primary part of the house is 10’ above the yard.   The only thing ground level is the garage with the living areas above.  Interestingly, the ground level decorative “walls” are required to be “breakaway” but the garage doors are required to withstand 150mph winds.

 

14 hours ago, BuffaloKyle said:

My parents wanted to move to Florida when they both retire but Helene & Milton have really put the final nail in the coffin on that idea. It's just a matter of when and not if a hurricane would hit you down there. Hopefully it does weaken to a three when it hits late tonight and goes through quick. I remember @RadioRob lives 30 min north of my family in Coral Springs. But luckily him and them are plenty south of the expected major impact area.

I hope their source of bias is not the over hyped media sensationalizing the events!  The odds of a direct hit from a hurricane are small and the odds of it being a major hurricane are smaller.  My opinion - I’d rather have an occasional storm in Florida than a Buffalo winter EVERY year.

The friend I note above has been on Sarasota Bay for 25 years and this will be the first storm with major damage potential to occur in that time. 

[TallMuscl37]

32 minutes ago, PhileasFogg said:

I have a friend that pays $11,000/MONTH on Sarasota Bay.  Built to hurricane codes (and then some), The yard is 10’ above water level and the primary part of the house is 10’ above the yard.   The only thing ground level is the garage with the living areas above.  Interestingly, the ground level decorative “walls” are required to be “breakaway” but the garage doors are required to withstand 150mph winds.

 

I hope their source of bias is not the over hyped media sensationalizing the events!  The odds of a direct hit from a hurricane are small and the odds of it being a major hurricane are smaller.  My opinion - I’d rather have an occasional storm in Florida than a Buffalo winter EVERY year.

The friend I note above has been on Sarasota Bay for 25 years and this will be the first storm with major damage potential to occur in that time. 

$11,000 a month for insurance? Or is that his mortgage and taxes included. Might need to fact check that lol.

Thing is: even if the hurricane doesn’t make a direct hit, the insurance companies view it the same. Florida address? Hurricane rates by default. And of course, areas around the storm can still cause damage. All it takes is one old oak tree, or a palm tree (usually Queen Palm, which aren’t hurricane hardy but native Florida/carribean palms are) to fall on a house. Or a road to puddle too deep and hydrolock an engine. Even when there isn’t a hurricane: Tampa and Miami can get so much rain from a regular storm in a short amount of time. 

Seeing Tropicana stadium ripped off is definitely a sign of a strong wave. But I agree, up north winters are no joke either. But that’s why I suggested some of those other areas as Florida alternatives. They still get winters, but are relatively mild in comparison to Chicago, Detroit and New York: where many transients in Florida come from.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

1 hour ago, PhileasFogg said:

 My opinion - I’d rather have an occasional storm in Florida than a Buffalo winter EVERY year.

 

2 hours ago, Jarrod_Uncut said:

I would suggest someone seeking a green or warm climate to retire, to consider places like Missouri/Branson, New Mexico, Arizona, Las Vegas, San Diego/Oceanside (though more expensive than Florida), Northwest Arkansas (headquarters of Walmart lol), and even the northern Texas area

Avoid places with: Hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, torrential rain, hail, earthquakes, wild fires, and drought. 

Wait... That's every place! 

I live in Las Vegas, and while we have no hurricanes or blizzards, we also have no water.  Grass lawns have become illegal, swimming pools are becoming prohibitively expensive, and even air conditioning is starting to be regulated so to the water lost from evaporative cooling.  Homes are beginning to feel like prison cells, with no backyard grass or pool to enjoy and cool off in during the heat.  And we still have earthquakes (2nd only to California in the number of earthquakes)

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

2 hours ago, Jarrod_Uncut said:

and even the northern Texas area

Property taxes in Texas are high.  I have family members who own single family homes in the DFW area, and their property tax alone is more than the Florida insurance costs we're talking about here.  Need to look at all expenses, AND quality of life.

[TallMuscl37]

1 hour ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

 

Avoid places with: Hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, torrential rain, hail, earthquakes, wild fires, and drought. 

Wait... That's every place! 

I live in Las Vegas, and while we have no hurricanes or blizzards, we also have no water.  Grass lawns have become illegal, swimming pools are becoming prohibitively expensive, and even air conditioning is starting to be regulated so to the water lost from evaporative cooling.  Homes are beginning to feel like prison cells, with no backyard grass or pool to enjoy and cool off in during the heat.  And we still have earthquakes (2nd only to California in the number of earthquakes)

 

1 hour ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

Property taxes in Texas are high.  I have family members who own single family homes in the DFW area, and their property tax alone is more than the Florida insurance costs we're talking about here.  Need to look at all expenses, AND quality of life.

Well I was going to mention the western droughts and intense heat, may be a caveat to moving out west. Also, some of those places I mentioned aren’t places I would necessarily move to lol. Notice I mentioned “retire”. For example Branson Missouri area. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice and almost has a key west vibe to it. Lots of boating/fishing, daytime attractions and entertainment similar to Orlando/Las Vegas has, but without the hurricanes or drought. However it’s not particularly gay populated, and it’s in the epitome of the Bible Belt.

However, the issue with Florida is: it’s become a target, and there’s not enough being done to cover everybody. And insurance companies don’t play fair: Someone may just be in suburban Miami or Tampa, 20 miles from the beach: and still get a rate increase just because: there was 2 hurricanes IN THE AREA this year. I remember my first car insurance bill in Miami was like $350 down, for basic liability. In Texas, it was less than $100 down to start. So it’s not just the storms, it’s the politics around it. 

Houston and New Orleans are also places that are vulnerable. But they aren’t peninsulas and hurricanes don’t generally cross the state, so insurance companies there seem to be more forgiving.

Edited October 10, 2024 by Jarrod_Uncut

[+ PhileasFogg]

6 hours ago, Jarrod_Uncut said:

$11,000 a month for insurance? Or is that his mortgage and taxes included. Might need to fact check that lol.

It is as I said - INSURANCE.   Property taxes are about $4,000 per MONTH.   No Mortgage.

[Luv2play]

10 hours ago, PhileasFogg said:

I have a friend that pays $11,000/MONTH on Sarasota Bay.  Built to hurricane codes (and then some), The yard is 10’ above water level and the primary part of the house is 10’ above the yard.   The only thing ground level is the garage with the living areas above.  Interestingly, the ground level decorative “walls” are required to be “breakaway” but the garage doors are required to withstand 150mph winds.

 

I hope their source of bias is not the over hyped media sensationalizing the events!  The odds of a direct hit from a hurricane are small and the odds of it being a major hurricane are smaller.  My opinion - I’d rather have an occasional storm in Florida than a Buffalo winter EVERY year.

The friend I note above has been on Sarasota Bay for 25 years and this will be the first storm with major damage potential to occur in that time. 

So Sarasota got hit twice in less than three weeks. Helene did a number on my nephew’s property in the loss of two cars worth $100, 000 and the damage is yet to be determined what happened last night. 
He lives on Longboat Key near Sarasota. He is in Italy with his wife right now and will only find out later. 
The problem is that the past is not a good indicator of the future. Climate change means  once remote events are now piling up more quickly and hundred year storms are now happening every few years. This applies to hurricanes and wildfires. 
Places like the northeast are not immune to natural disasters such as flooding but more so to fires. The winter storms rarely inflict widespread damage. The 1998 ice storm in Quebec and Ontario being an exception.

The winters are getting warmer in the northeast and shorter. So the hotter summers in the south are translating into warmer winters in the north. The summers aren’t particularly hotter. This summer just past was average if not cooler than previous summers. 
 

The conclusion I draw is that I am happy to be in the northeast. I spent 5 winters in Miami at the turn of the century and the weather was great then. And few hurricanes in that particular period except for Katrina which didn’t  affect Florida. Shortly after they intensified. 

[TallMuscl37]

9 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

The conclusion I draw is that I am happy to be in the northeast. I spent 5 winters in Miami at the turn of the century and the weather was great then. And few hurricanes in that particular period except for Katrina which didn’t  affect Florida. Shortly after they intensified. 

Miami used to have a rep for where many of the hurricanes would go near. That’s why rarely see trees in people’s yards, and many of the first level hotels and apartments have tile. Lately most have ended up on the gulf side instead.

As for overhyped media coverage: what they’re showing is very accurate however, they are generally going to the areas worst hit. Which could be a relatively small area with tons of damage. However, in some ways they also don’t show the full picture and it could be lesser damage that’s more widespread than what’s shown. There’s lot of towns and cities in Florida far from the beach.
 

But the news reporters are often filming right near the coast, where the winds are strongest. Of course people likely see it and think “oh no, everybody’s home in Florida is destroyed 😨 So it can be a bit misleading. 
 

I’m currently an evacuee myself; but I’m escaping from the storm of oppression lol. Being in a place where you’re trying to do business but there’s not enough people reliable to book, and nothing but flakes and game players…yet places require $1,000s upfront to move in: that can feel like a disaster. That’s why I left my area and went elsewhere.

[+ PhileasFogg]

8 hours ago, Luv2play said:

So Sarasota got hit twice in less than three weeks. Helene did a number on my nephew’s property in the loss of two cars worth $100, 000 and the damage is yet to be determined what happened last night. 
He lives on Longboat Key near Sarasota. He is in Italy with his wife right now and will only find out later. 
The problem is that the past is not a good indicator of the future. Climate change means  once remote events are now piling up more quickly and hundred year storms are now happening every few years. This applies to hurricanes and wildfires. 
Places like the northeast are not immune to natural disasters such as flooding but more so to fires. The winter storms rarely inflict widespread damage. The 1998 ice storm in Quebec and Ontario being an exception.

The winters are getting warmer in the northeast and shorter. So the hotter summers in the south are translating into warmer winters in the north. The summers aren’t particularly hotter. This summer just past was average if not cooler than previous summers. 
 

The conclusion I draw is that I am happy to be in the northeast. I spent 5 winters in Miami at the turn of the century and the weather was great then. And few hurricanes in that particular period except for Katrina which didn’t  affect Florida. Shortly after they intensified. 

Personally, I’m glad to be in the south.  Winter storms may not provide damage but they provide misery.  And while coastal areas may have high insurance rates (as of tomorrow, I’ll own three houses in the gulf coast), the harsh northern climes are prone to higher taxes to deal with the miserable winters.

Of note - newer constructed properties tend to be elevated to avoid flooding.  It’s the older properties at risk and with each event, they tend to be rebuilt to current codes. It works out over time because humans are resilient and resourceful. 
 

Tomayto Tomahto.   I’m glad you like where you are. 

[Luv2play]

It’s obvious we differ on what misery is but I think it means having your house tumble down around your ears. Having to plow out the driveway pales by comparison.