If you live in Florida are you riding out Hurricane Idalia or are you leaving town?

[Anonymous]

[OlderAndWiser]

I am a Florida native in the northeast corner of the state, so we will most likely get a near miss but not a direct hit. My area has only had two direct hits in the past 125 years: 1898 and 1964. I have never evacuated.

I don't live in a flood-prone area. I have supplies to last through two weeks. I know how to prepare for the sorm. Our local utility is excellent at restoring power, even when we have widespread outages. And evacuation routes will be clogged and impossible.

OlderAndWiser, over and out!

[Asker]

You guys in Florida have seen a ton of storms so you're super prepared. Down in TX, I swear, they are just now finally starting to figure out things like contra lanes and overstocking stores prior to storms and needing power/water restoration works there AHEAD of the storm and ready to go. I wish you good luck, sounds like you're ready for what may come (but hopefully not).

[rigmarole]

The center of the cone is in a very low population area. For 99% of Florida's population it will just be a windy rainy day. The Nature coast is called that for a reason... Lots of wilderness... There are several small towns up that way, a nuclear power plant, etc. but the hurricane isn't likely to impact a lot of people wind wise. The worst part would be storm surge on some coastal cities on the gulf. Tampa south is like 2-4 feet which is like the seawall so they likely won't get more than a couple of inches close to their homes unless they are directly on the coastline with a beach front house being hit by waves on a barrier island. North of Tampa they could get a couple feet above the sea wall so if they are in a flood zone not on a raise mound at their home they should get out of town.

[rigmarole]

Crystal River is like 3,500 people and Homosassa Springs is like 13,000... There really isn't much up that way.

[Anonymous]

spin off question do Americans seriously leave their home in the event of a hurricane like is it seriously that big of a risk wow and is it that often

[Asker]

It depends on a lot of things. Hurricanes are ranked by category, the lowest being like a tropical storm (lot or rain/wind), followed by a Cat 1 and the highest and most dangerous and deadly being a Cat 5. Most people who grew up around hurricanes like myself won't leave for anything Cat 3's or below. These are typically survivable but you may still have a lot of wind/water damage.

After that with Cat 4s and 5s, its a real gamble. It depends on hurricane path, how bad they are predicting damage to be, in some case, you will be forced to evacuate by mandatory order (though you can still stay if you basically sign your life away recognizing that no emergency services will be available to you if you get injured or are dying during the storm). If you stay, most likely you won't have regular services, power will be out for a little to up to months, everything will be flooded, trees could fall on you, your house could fill up with water, and roads impassible. I've left when it's Cat 4/5 because where I live its friggin' hot, so no a/c is not worth it to stay, but leaving also means you gotta have friends/family out there, or money/car to travel/hotel otherwise, you're on a government bus to a shelter and those aren't the greatest sometimes, but your life, you know.

[Opinion Owner]

So informative, thank you!

[Anonymous]

Hurricane Katrina? More like hurricane tortillaaa

[MementoMori777]

I'ma probably go outside and shower in it like I always do, I've never left town for any of them, ima probably lay on the street and let it pour, it's satisfying, I recommend one day in your lives to try it

[Asker]

I live down the road in TX and I've only left for 2 of them, Katrina which thank GOD went in a different direction (well, I mean not for them, but gotta be thankful still), and lke. Glad I left too for Ike because dead summer, no a/c, no traffic lights, no food places/grocery stores open due to no electricity, and tons of debris everywhere was not fun. I did ride out the last hell that was Harvey---friends were stuck on roof tops water rising, my street looked like the Mississippi river on a bad day, no power, nearly every place I loved washed away in the waters, and then living in a city wide trash dump afterwards of destroyed houses and debris for 5 months after---not awesome. Mostly though, for people on the outside looking in, its usually a Cat 4 that people even think about leaving, but even so authorities never let you back in once you leave, so most people stick around and defend their castles and eat pizza and try to figure out where the batteries are for that emergency radio they were gifted ten years ago.

[MementoMori777]

Yep it sucks tremendously when the power goes off, sometimes they don't fix it for days lol

[ItsMariusz]

The real nightmare is my AC cutting off or Waffle House closing.

[Asker]

It was 109 degrees for us yesterday in TX, so I would probably literally leave for that reason alone----Waffle House is life and so is a/c.

[Apple1996]

On the coast of NC so will be getting a little rain

[Anonymous]

I’m in Orlando so, if we are impacted, we won’t feel it until this evening/tomorrow morning. I’m thinking we’ll just get a lot of rain and wind.

[Asker]

Good luck to you, hunker down.

[Opinion Owner]

Thank you. Actually, it’s bad where we are. The worst of it occurred overnight last night. Now, it’s just off and on rain and slight wind.

[Opinion Owner]

*not

[BarryLiverstone]

Riding it out. Expect to lose power. Lots of stress with people around here.

[Asker]

Good luck to you, stay safe.

[KrakenAttackin]

Florida will soak of this puny storm with no problem.

[Akam93]

That's heading straight to my uncle and aunt area.

[Asker]

Are they staying or going, or you don't know yet?

[Akam93]

I don't know. Never hear from them much.

[Iron_Man]

It’s not hitting Miami just some wind