hibiscushouse

Spygirl,
That "accurate" research sounds awfully familiar. Thanks for going through the trouble of looking it up for us. ><

Tandoori_Girl

LMF, aren't you in Naples? I've heard you're in the hurricane hot seat down there. Yikes, girlfriend. There's not much in the way of higher ground down your way, no? We South Tampans head to the high hills of Brandon. Isn't that hilarious?!?

LilMsFoodie

Tandoori Girl...I'm in Fort Myers and hoping for a storm surge less than 12 ft. I've been here for 9 years and this is the first time I've really felt that it might be our "due" time. In insurance parlance: we're due. I may be glib, but I am serious and taking precautions.

Here is my favorite hurricane story: about 7 years ago we lived in a huge marina community with lots of nuevo floridians. We had a hurricane meeting early in June. One woman who lived on a very luxurious and elaborate houseboat in the marina with her 3 Yorkies and husband and assorted other paraphenalia asked the meteorologist at the meeting what preparations she should make and what sort of hurricane shutters she should buy for her boat. First there was dead silence....then snickers....then howlling laughter. The woman was dead serious. Well, the houseboat got sold to someone with a more realistic view of its chances. All water taxis to our outislands are off even tomorrow as they are busy evacuating. Pine Island Sound, my most favorite place in Florida is currently ground zero.

LMF

Tandoori_Girl

LMF, what happens to those people who live on houseboats? Do they just haul their house out of the water? It seems like there would be quite a few of them -- or maybe not this time of year?

LilMsFoodie

I think you just pack whatever you can and scram. If there is any serious storm, they are toast. When I lived in the big marina community, the big boats would be run up the Peace River and dug in. Smaller boats were removed from the water and tied down on the streets. It was a very strange site. One storm I stayed through was small but the surge submerged all docks and was very strange to see.

Some people remember Donna (1960?)when the surge actually sucked all water out of Charlotte Harbour and you could see the sunken boats on the dry bed. I'll report back later what is happening.

Funny things happen to storms in the Florida Straights. Storms do not act predictably and currents do interesting things to them. All west coast Floridians are currently vulnerable. LMF in Fort Myers

Tandoori_Girl

Mmmmm. I don't mean to get anybody too scared out there.....but...it's been a weird weather summer. Batten down the hatches, guys.

birder

Tell me about it, I've been down here less than a week and now we get a hurricane! We already had flooding in our street (we are 3 houses from the very top of Tampa Bay) last week, my husband told me, after it rained for 10 days straight or something like that. Our house has these HUGE gorgeous windows, like 8-10 foot bay windows all around it. How do you board those up? Argh! Our hurricane evacuation zone is B, which means we're supposed to leave if it's a category 2 hurricane, which it very well might be. Strangely enough, we'll go to St. Pete to stay with my sister, she is apparently on higher ground there (she's smack in the middle of the peninsula) since she is not in a flood zone and would only have to evacuate for a cat 5 storm. We were considering finding a hotel somewhere inland but finding one that will take these 2 big dogs will be a real headache. Anyway, I am hoping that it dies down and it doesn't do much damage. I read in the paper that Tampa hasn't been hit by a hurricane since 1921. Just my luck!

cigalechanta

Please find a place fast with the two dogs, others will have them too.
Weather is no longer preditable in all areas. Here in Boston, Massachusetts, some several days, we had fall weather, today, it is So=o=o muggy!

Scarlett

Since we started thinking of moving to Jax, and I started asking about hurricanes, the answer was always, Jax never gets hit with hurricanes.
So we have been here since January..here come TWO!
Just lucky I guess ~
A family friend is a sailboat captain ( the huge ones they use in movies)..he takes it into Charleston into the inlets until the storms blow over..he stays on the boat too.
This always worked fine until that storm that hit Charleston a few years ago, he rode it out but sustained a lot of damage to the boat.


We will throw Pup in the car and drive to NC to my brothers house if need be..although I would prefer a hotel.

Regarding the alligators..
Over 10 years ago, we had a place on Sanibel that we went to every Spring. Seashells of Sanibel. They had a small swampy bit back by the tennis courts. They had their resident alligator.
One night, someone was riding their bike and hit the damn thing, sleeping in the driveway! The biker was not hurt but plenty scared. They all seemed to treat it like a pet.
I was always worried it would come up the stairs and eat my small son