Sargasso Sea, Scarlett.

mr wunrfl, Thank you darlin for the laughs ((L))

H and it isn't even Labor Day yet? Look out. We'll be facing Zazu before long!

Patrick, please, nooooo :(

http://www.hurricaneadvisories.com/

I found this tonight, when looking for Hermine.

In a way I can't feel sorry for people who decide to live in hurricane climates, you picked the area.

Secondly, I can't understand how people can just leave their pets in harms way of a very damaging storm. My pets would definitely go with me if I lived in that area.

Pssst: Stephanie, your ignorance is showing. Your stupidity is only exceeded by your insensitivity.

The number of people in the US at risk for a hurricane would surprise your pea-sized brain. Try the entire east and gulf coasts.


Ta Ta LMF

Hi guys. I could never leave my pets either. I'd sleep in my car w/the parakeets (now that would be noisy, they drive my husband nuts w/thier constant sheerful banter) and rabbit before I would leave them.
I am oceanfront in the Outer Banks til next Monday. Wonder if I'll be here all weekend or not. I find myself hoping it doesn't hit Florida, you've had so much devastation and tragedy. Can't wish it on anyone, but I really hope it doesn't hit Florida. Poor South Carolina- even though Gaston wasn't a hurricaine, it looks like alot of flooding...
I am looking at retirement lots/homes here this week. I am thinking soundside. Not sure I want to be on the oceanside of such a narrow barrier island. Maybe up high and close to the bridge for evactuation ease, like Southern Shores area. The storms do enter into the equation and choice for me, but certainly would not keep me from settling here.

Stephanie,

Most of the country is in danger of being affected by natural disasters (tornadoes, forest fires, earthquakes, flooding, drought, etc). Shall we all live where you live?

" Shall we all live where you live?"

And have her as a neighbor? I wouldn't want to be near her!
"In a way I can't feel sorry for people who decide to live in hurricane climates, you picked the area"
Steffie, Steffie, Steffie... that is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen written. Can you believe you even wrote that?

I have a sense Stephanie lives in New England. That part of the country is rarely effected by natural disasters, other than the Kennedys that is.

Steph, was this your response on 9/11 to New York City?

I hope, Stephanie, you are not really as cruel or stupid as your comment suggests.

I worry about all of you who may be in Harricane Frances' path, even though I am safe in the Midwest. Especially my beloved parents who live in Florida. I would never dream of saying to them "I don't feel sorry for you...you picked the place."

Let's see. The entire east coast and southeastern corner of the US has been ravaged at some time or another by a hurricane. Tornados rip through the entire midsection of our country without any warning at all -- causing death and total destruction. Recently the area affected has even extended into the Pacific Northwest. We all know the west coast is prone to unannounced earthquakes, not to mention fires and mudslides. And anyone living almost anywhere in the entire western part of our country could be subject to devastating forest or wild fires. Anyone near any major river anywhere in the US is subject to a possible devastating flood.

So tell me, Stephanie, where are we all supposed to live again?

We're now under tropical storm warning since she's now moving due west. So, it looks like we'll be getting the very lower end of Frances tonight and tomorrow, and I plan to batten down a bit when I get home from work today. Thank goodness it's just going to be the lower end of her, however, and not the whole enchilada as a direct hit. We feel very fortunate.

I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed for the islands northwest of us, as well as those of you on the US east coast. I like OO's idea of everyone going out at the same time and blowing really hard. :)

One of the most poignant and moving stories to come out of this devastation, is the one about a lost dog found after Charley in Charlotte county. An old cocker spaniel, deaf & blind, was found emaciated and covered with ant and mosquito bites,,,the shelter there took her and in and they say probably she will die, but they want her to be as comfortable as possible. It is just one of many tragic stories, but it touched me profoundly. Stephanie, that was most callous and un Christian of you to say that...but for the grace of God..... ps.thaty (and many others) story can be found in the news-press.com

Stephanie makes a good point. What about the people that build a house right on the beach and are surprised when a storm washes it away. They knew the risks.

My thoughts and prayers to anyone in path of past or future hurricane - my brother lives in south Florida and dealt with Hurricane Andrew.

I live in northeast - I hate the weather here. Every winter I want to move south. Every summer when I see damage from hurricanes I am happy to stay here. Every location has something. In the south you have hurricanes, the midwest tornadoes, the southwest scary bugs that can kill you - here we just freeze to death.

I hope Hurricane Frances decides to just disappear as I will be driving to Savannah next week.

Since we're all concerned about these hurricanes I learned of a site that gives me a wealth of info on incoming hurricanes.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/

I learned of them when they moved NOAA to our government reservation years ago. Then I really used the site when all tv and radio kept predicting the hurricane will hit somewhere between Key West and Longboat Key. If I heard it once it was at least 100 times.

Last year we were hit by Isabelle on the Chesapeake bay - the hurricane was not too bad and had pretty much died down when it got here but the storm surge came at high tide and filled most of the lower waterfront businesses and homes with 5 ft of water.

Nowadays I hope and pray that everyone moves to safer ground when the storm's coming because there's nothing you can do by staying with your house or boat. It's hard to get out of an area when there's water all around you, power lines down, and life and limb at risk.

So now I pray that my Longboat Key home does well as well as my Maryland home and leave the rest of the worry to my insurance company.

%%- LN

People can be so incredibly quick to blame victims for things over which they have no control! I'm utterly stunned at Stephanie -- she probably thinks the people starving and being murdered in Africa should have called the moving van the moment they were born and looked around and seen they weren't in wherever Stephanie lives.

But I'm almost as shocked at GoJacks's comment that Stephanie must be from New England. New England in the 50s suffered mightily from hurricane (fyi, hurricane lamps were invented there) and there are reports of them back to the 1600s. Sometime look into the hurricane of 1938 and what happened to the city of Fall River. And remember the "Perfect Storm"? What the movie didn't show was the enormous destruction on land.

On the other hand, I'm entirely with the people who have problems with those who build close by the water, and even more so with those who lose their homes (often vacation homes) and rebuild in the SAME PLACE.

However, let me also mention that Arcadia wasn't the only tiny rural Florida town inland that got flattened -- there were many that went without help of any sort for more than a week because no one remembered the town was there. You tend to see fancy vacation homes go into the drink on the news; what you don't see are the places well in-land that still are devastated.