@tinamarie1974 Unfortunately no chance-other hurricanes entering the gulf had to make a sharp right turn to hit us. This one developed in the gulf-has a clear straight shot at us, no land, weather systems or sheer to impede its path. Just 90 degree gulf water to strengthen it. It would probably grow stronger if it had more water to travel over to hit land.
I hope it shifts too. My sister, a cousin and several other relatives live in Tampa along with some friends. I hope your house is up to code and out of flood zones. This sucks for sure! For you and everyone else!!! And this is why I will never live in FL again (or some other coastal areas I have lived in - lovely to live near the beach but even though you can run from a hurricane in ways you can’t from a tornado or earthquake (been in some of those too - a tornado touched down in my backyard while I was home in the house) if a hurricane hits that doesn’t change the aftermath you will still need to deal with. Fingers crossed for everyone in it’s path.
@Kidsandliz There must be some reason that they are developing so quick these days-CLIMATE CHANGE in case I am not yelling loud enough for our piece of shit governor to hear.
Luckily our house is less than 5 years old and we opted to have hurricane windows and doors installed when we built it. I can just see me trying to get up on a ladder or hire someone at this late date to put up the hurricane panels that came with all the other houses.
Only other issue is the instant “lake” that we have in our backyard when it rains heavily which the drain in the back of house can’t handle all at once. So far it disappears very quickly when the drain can catch its breath and looked about like this when we when we had over 17 inches of rain for Debby so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
And BTW-am not in a flood zone but do have flood insurance.
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@Kidsandliz Yeah don’t get me started on P.O.S. governors and their science denial. I’m hoping our gen of young’uns even if distracted by their phones will also get enough real-information from those devices to override the misinfo and hate news they also are fed…
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@Kidsandliz@pmarin We’ve had hurricanes before. It’s not unprecedented. We’ve just been blessed to have not taken a direct hit in a long time. We’re long overdue. That’s why I’m glad we have building codes that expect a hurricane to minimize damage.
@Cerridwyn@Kidsandliz@pmarin@Weboh I agree the building codes may minimize the damage but which the shitty way builders built things in Florida you never know whether your house is up to code or not.
Already lost tiles on the roof with the last hurricane a year ago that was not even as strong as this one so a little nervous about that.
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@pmarin@Weboh That the flooding will be high if it hits Tampa due to shoving all the water in the bay with no easy way out is what would worry me. A friend lost both their family’s cars with Helene due to flooding. I’d imagne they will have far more this time. One car was bought June 2024 with only 1500 miles on it. With no car and no rental it is going to be harder for them to run.
My sister, cousin and one of her kids all live in 2 NW suburbs of Tampa. Newer houses but they are building in more swampy areas and the ground is already saturated by rain with the drainage run off ponds already pretty full. That’s a recipe for more flooding too even if their houses wlll not be damaged much by wind due to them being new and having all the hurricane code stuff built in.
I realize there have been force 3 ones there before but not with tons of debris piled up not yet picked up from Helene ready to be projectiles. If it was me living there I’d load up the minivan and running. None of my relatives nor friend are planning to leave. At least not yet. I’d bail prior to traffic jams since the impact with rain is covering a pretty broad swath of Florida. Of course I am a weather chicken. I’ve been in a tornado (landed in my backyard while I was home), seen a big one closer than a storm chaser, narrowly missed being hit by a water spout (tornado on water) while working on a traditionally rigged schooner (been in a serious gale working on a different one that tore up the sails and we had no diesel, so no engine, due to a strike), been in two earthquakes (fortunately no damage to us in either case), and in a 25 car pile up due to a blizzard.
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@Kidsandliz They’ve already stopped in some parts of Florida–or raised the price so high people can’t afford it any more.
I have a friend who lives on the water on a barrier island. Literally the most dangerous place to build a home, and it’s not up to post-Andrew code. So every time a storm grazes us on its way somewhere else, while nobody else notices much of anything, her house gets flooded, she makes an insurance claim, and within a couple weeks after repairs are finished, she get hit again and rinse and repeat. Yet she won’t move or demolish the house and rebuild one on struts that won’t get flooded.
I don’t blame the insurance companies for not wanting to pay over and over again to patch sinking ships; it loses them money year after year. They should probably change the rules to give them a bit more money upfront to rebuild houses in a safer way that reduce damages. That would save everyone money in the long run.
If people want to keep having homes in risky places, they need to pay more for the risk. But the way insurance companies work, they pool the risk among everyone, so the cost of insurance for everyone else has to rise to subsidize the poor decisions of others.
Regulations are in place to keep insurance premiums from being too high, which means the companies often can’t rise the price high enough to be profitable–so instead nobody get insurance. It’s an awful situation with no winners. I wish the law would be rewritten to only allow insurance to cover homes that are up to modern code, but then the people that most need insurance would temporarily lose it, and that wouldn’t look good, either. But something needs to be done.
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@Kidsandliz@pmarin Yeah, unfortunately. We had a family friend who was a contractor who would often complain about regulations and would note how he could save money and time for us if he skipped a few steps… and we never let him, lol. Eventually he stopped asking and just did good quality work, up to code, with no shortcuts.
It’s funny, because he would often note how the people who owned the house before us did a bunch of stuff themselves, not hiring a licensed contractor, causing lots of problems. But he was still tempted to do a similar job even though he knew better.
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@Weboh On the insurance issue I think it would be reasonable for new homes to not be able to get insurance if you choose to build in major storm flood zones or primary, secondary or tertiary sand dunes (they are not, by definition, stable land). Thus if you choose to build and then to live in some of these beautiful places where it is just a matter of time before having major flood or storm damage, you are shouldering the known in advance 100% risk you will eventually flood/have major damage. If a builder chooses to build speculation homes in those places then they need to pay into a special fund for storm damage cleanup. And pay annually for as long as the house/apartment building, etc. is in existence. For existing homes it becomes harder because those people often didn’t make that choice to build there, just to live there… but I think it is fair to make flood zones and the risk pool and premiums for people choosing to live in those areas their own risk pool. We do that with other kinds of insurance.
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@Kidsandliz@pmarin Yep, I’m in a house that’s 100 years old, on the highest point in town (probably ~8 feet above sea level, haha) about 20 minutes from the beach with lots of drainage nearby. It’s probably seen its fair share of storms, and weathered them well to still be standing.
I’m glad we’re in a good spot, but I feel for all the people in the newer constructions that built up in the swamp and didn’t do a ton of investment in drainage. That’s playing with fire, and we haven’t seen a lot of storms in the past 20 years to test them.
@Cerridwyn@Felton10@Kidsandliz Yeah, but the first point is kind of moot because the new constructions are already required be built up to a code that prevents flooding by raising the main living area up by about a story.
I think they do something similar with the risk pooling for flood zones, but I don’t live in one so couldn’t say for sure. I know there’s complicated legislation and there’s certain point where they can’t raise the insurance premiums too high but are still obligated to offer a degree of coverage.
Anyway Helene update from Asheville NC (from friends): about 1 week in no power or water yet in city suburb. They say maybe tomorrow; report of up to 40 line trucks staged for work as of yesterday. Can’t activate lines until confirmed no potential live lines on the ground. My friend sent pics stepping over fallen power pole with wires on ground. Limited phone coverage but there are now emergency net/phone towers in multiple locations and often food/water supply for anyone that needs.
People are resourceful and helping each other. Wish I could be there was planning to be there next month. Not sure which roads will even be open by then.
You Florida and Gulf coast people don’t have it easy either; not meaning to make light of that.
@werehatrack yeah understandably so. My niece and her husband almost moved to Fort Meyers but then for various reasons (hurricane threat not among them) remained on high ground in “mile high” city for now anyway.
@pmarin@werehatrack Some of the Tampa people got flooded already once (a friend and her family lost both of their cars to the water in Tampa - my friend had just bought in June 2024 and it only had 1500 miles on it) with Helene and so the soil is really, really saturated which isn’t going to help the situation.
@pmarin I hear from friend, the Ham Radio fokes were out in full force, providing communication for all the emergency service workers, hey with Towers down. Count on you Geeky Ham Radio friends
Well crap.
We have friends in Tampa.
Helene hit a bunch of friends and family members in the mountains of NC. Lots of property / road damage. A couple of our friends had to be evacuated by helicopter and 5 people in their neighborhood died. So tragic.
I hope all of you in the hurricane path are safe and your homes stay safe too. I have friends and family that are in the area so I’m praying each night for everyone.
So far, the motion of the storm has been slower and less definite in direction than initially expected. This is not unusual. Folks in Florida still need to continue storm prep, folks elsewhere should continue to monitor, as things could change.
Close friend near Kissimmee is only just now finished recovering from the foot of water Hurricane Ian put inside his house. If they get flooded again, he’s probably moving out of Florida. I feel terrible for him…
I’m in Tampa. Just went through and charged all batteries/headphones/speakers/lights/ powerbanks… and I might have bought a few too many of some of these things on meh.
But, all 7 pairs of noise canceling earbuds are now fully charged. So at the very least I can block out the sounds from the wind.
Holy crap. Nine minutes ago the NY Times just announced that Hurricane Milton has reached category 4. From the news article.
“Milton Becomes a Major Hurricane as It Barrels Toward Florida
Milton is a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to bring life-threatening hazards to Florida this week, the National Weather Service said.”
@Kidsandliz Cat 5 now although only expect to be Cat 3 when makes landfall. Like to invite all the climate change deniers to the West Coast of FL for the fun. And Marjorie Taylor Green can take her space lasers and stick it up any one of her available openings for saying that the Democrats can control the weather.
@Felton10 Glad to hear it will likely drop in category. My sister and her husband are leaving this afternoon. They want to miss all the traffic and get a decent hotel room.
@Felton10 Ah. Then this is probably not the right forum for you. Certainly not the right thread. The Meh powers-that-be have provided a thread in which you are welcome to go vent your spleen as much as your heart desires. Shitting all over a thread that should be for those affected by, or interested in, the hurricane is just childish, petty, and so very, very tedious.
@shahnm Since I started the thread (or didn’t you notice), I felt I had a little bit of poetic license to give credit to those who were at least partially responsible for the hell I and others in this area are about to experience.
Is it my comments that offend you or do they hit too close to home with your beliefs? If either, just like you don’t care to hear from me likewise I don’t care to hear from you.
@Felton10 I don’t want any political beliefs to be spewed in non-political threads, irrespective of which side they fall on. There are places for that, and that’s where those comments belong. It doesn’t matter who creates the thread. Why is that so hard for you?
Except the bald face lies are so extremely political, one sided, and harmful to the people that should be reaching out for help. To the government trying to help them… IDK how you can not say something.
@Felton10@unksol It’s political because, for example, your comment sounds like you’re accurately lambasting the Harris-Biden administration. I don’t think that was your intent, and any discourse about that will inevitably (and immediately) turn into one of those cliché yeah-but and whaddabout arguments that we come to Meh to get away from…
: to assault violently : beat, whip. 2. : to attack verbally : censure. critics lambasted his performance.
Yes. One side. Trump. Is doing that. Directly spreading lies and misinformation during a disaster. The government is doing their jobs.
Period. Full stop.
Normally I agree with keeping it in the politics BS thread but this level of disaster escapes that. There is a serious disaster and people need to reach out for help. That is available and standing by. And they are being lied to. That is a serious problem/over the line.
If the mods want to quarantine this that’s fine. But this is so egregious…
The Republican governors of those states are contradicting… It’s only political because Trump made it. Us normal people care about each other
@Felton10@shahnm I don’t think anyone has anything to prove/show. We are now stacking hurricanes. I hope everyone is ok. We know most in Tampa aren’t ready.
@shahnm@unksol The moderators already took me to task for making a political comment in another thread and created a separate one for political comments. I have to assume if they thought my comment was overly political or inappropriate for this thread they would have either deleted it or move it. They did neither.
@IndifferentDude It has now hit 185. But the water temps will fall a bit as it ranges across the Gulf, so the engine driving the winds will have less energy.
The increasing shear should take some of the force out, too.
This whole thing is very stressful. Every newscast brings more bad news. Plus trying to file the couple of individual tax returns that are due on 10/15. 185 MPH now. By noon tomorrow when it either makes or doesn’t make the turn north, its tract will pretty much be set.
Fingers, toes and anything else I can cross will be crossed.
@Felton10 I hope you get those tax returns done prior to losing cell service and internet.
You out of the flood zone area? My sister is at 45’ above sea level but they decided to leave due to the possibility of run off flooding from rain and the inconvenience of loss of utilities (they have a whole house generator but running out of fuel and not being able to get more due to downed trees factored into this). She said their house is “good” through a cat 4 (of course that is if it was built right - a new build).
Good luck on both the taxes and everything else. I hope your bird doesn’t freak out due to the pressure changes in the air.
@Kidsandliz Not in a flood zone but do have flood insurance. Bought an coleman electric generator on meh a couple months ago and hope it works unlike some of the other stuff I have bought on meh-need something to keep my ozempic (for my diabetes) cold. At over $ 700 for a three month supply can’t afford to have even two months of it go bad.
Bird got freaked out when she saw me moving stuff off the lanai.
Hopefully the building code for a less than 5 year old house will keep us safe plus the hurricane windows and doors I paid extra for when the house was built (ie lieu of the hurricane panel that came with house and have to be put up.)
@Felton10@Kidsandliz That Coleman will keep an already-cold seldom-opened small fridge operational for a while, but if Milton’s effects are what I expect, you’re going to need a real fuel-powered generator if you’re anywhere between the north side of Naples and Cedar Key. (I will admit that NextEra is a shitload more efficient at major hurricane recovery than Centerpoint, but widespread damage like what Milton can do is still going to knock out a lot of major transmission lines.)
What’s kind of mental is they almost NEVER form in the gulf. Growing up in South Louisiana, we were always watching the cape of Africa. I just looked it up and there have only been 14 that have originated in the Gulf of Mexico and none of them were higher than a 4 from what I can see and only 2-3 made it to cat 3. Cuckoo bananas!
@werehatrack I’ll have to do some digging. I was going off a different map. I do know that growing up in the gulf that storms almost always came through the Atlantic and into the gulf. From my recollection, which is addled at best, storms that started in the gulf typically never made it past a tropical storm. Also that was a long time ago so I should do more research.
@f00l CENTCOM? I would hope that the USAF experience in Homestead would have caused them to harden MacDill against storms - but if they haven’t, command and communications will roll over to the designated backup site. It’s not something that any military organization would allow to have a single point of complete failure.
Please be safe all my fellow Florida meh-peeps! Hope we can all make it through relatively unscathed… I’m in central Tampa (zone E so no mandatory evacuation), boarded up, generator ready with plenty of supplies on hand. Love all you guys, please check in on the other side when you can.
Oh I’m gonna hope it peters out.
@tinamarie1974 Unfortunately no chance-other hurricanes entering the gulf had to make a sharp right turn to hit us. This one developed in the gulf-has a clear straight shot at us, no land, weather systems or sheer to impede its path. Just 90 degree gulf water to strengthen it. It would probably grow stronger if it had more water to travel over to hit land.
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974 Oh no - I hope you’ve battened down the hatches!
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974
Isn’t it great to be so beloved!
Seriously, I hope it’s a miss and pls be safe.
I hope it shifts too. My sister, a cousin and several other relatives live in Tampa along with some friends. I hope your house is up to code and out of flood zones. This sucks for sure! For you and everyone else!!! And this is why I will never live in FL again (or some other coastal areas I have lived in - lovely to live near the beach but even though you can run from a hurricane in ways you can’t from a tornado or earthquake (been in some of those too - a tornado touched down in my backyard while I was home in the house) if a hurricane hits that doesn’t change the aftermath you will still need to deal with. Fingers crossed for everyone in it’s path.
@Kidsandliz There must be some reason that they are developing so quick these days-CLIMATE CHANGE in case I am not yelling loud enough for our piece of shit governor to hear.
Luckily our house is less than 5 years old and we opted to have hurricane windows and doors installed when we built it. I can just see me trying to get up on a ladder or hire someone at this late date to put up the hurricane panels that came with all the other houses.
Only other issue is the instant
“lake” that we have in our backyard when it rains heavily which the drain in the back of house can’t handle all at once. So far it disappears very quickly when the drain can catch its breath and looked about like this when we when we had over 17 inches of rain for Debby so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
And BTW-am not in a flood zone but do have flood insurance.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz wonder when they will quit issuing flood insurance in the south east … Like California and fires
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Kidsandliz Yeah don’t get me started on P.O.S. governors and their science denial. I’m hoping our gen of young’uns even if distracted by their phones will also get enough real-information from those devices to override the misinfo and hate news they also are fed…
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @pmarin on TikTok? I got a bridge…
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @pmarin
And it’s probably going to get washed out.
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @pmarin that makes it more valuable right?
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @pmarin We’ve had hurricanes before. It’s not unprecedented. We’ve just been blessed to have not taken a direct hit in a long time. We’re long overdue. That’s why I’m glad we have building codes that expect a hurricane to minimize damage.
https://babylonbee.com/news/experts-warn-hurricane-forming-in-hurricane-alley-during-hurricane-season-is-clear-sign-of-climate-change/
@Cerridwyn @Kidsandliz @pmarin @Weboh I agree the building codes may minimize the damage but which the shitty way builders built things in Florida you never know whether your house is up to code or not.
Already lost tiles on the roof with the last hurricane a year ago that was not even as strong as this one so a little nervous about that.
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @pmarin @Weboh That the flooding will be high if it hits Tampa due to shoving all the water in the bay with no easy way out is what would worry me. A friend lost both their family’s cars with Helene due to flooding. I’d imagne they will have far more this time. One car was bought June 2024 with only 1500 miles on it. With no car and no rental it is going to be harder for them to run.
My sister, cousin and one of her kids all live in 2 NW suburbs of Tampa. Newer houses but they are building in more swampy areas and the ground is already saturated by rain with the drainage run off ponds already pretty full. That’s a recipe for more flooding too even if their houses wlll not be damaged much by wind due to them being new and having all the hurricane code stuff built in.
I realize there have been force 3 ones there before but not with tons of debris piled up not yet picked up from Helene ready to be projectiles. If it was me living there I’d load up the minivan and running. None of my relatives nor friend are planning to leave. At least not yet. I’d bail prior to traffic jams since the impact with rain is covering a pretty broad swath of Florida. Of course I am a weather chicken. I’ve been in a tornado (landed in my backyard while I was home), seen a big one closer than a storm chaser, narrowly missed being hit by a water spout (tornado on water) while working on a traditionally rigged schooner (been in a serious gale working on a different one that tore up the sails and we had no diesel, so no engine, due to a strike), been in two earthquakes (fortunately no damage to us in either case), and in a 25 car pile up due to a blizzard.
/giphy big chicken running away
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Kidsandliz They’ve already stopped in some parts of Florida–or raised the price so high people can’t afford it any more.
I have a friend who lives on the water on a barrier island. Literally the most dangerous place to build a home, and it’s not up to post-Andrew code. So every time a storm grazes us on its way somewhere else, while nobody else notices much of anything, her house gets flooded, she makes an insurance claim, and within a couple weeks after repairs are finished, she get hit again and rinse and repeat. Yet she won’t move or demolish the house and rebuild one on struts that won’t get flooded.
I don’t blame the insurance companies for not wanting to pay over and over again to patch sinking ships; it loses them money year after year. They should probably change the rules to give them a bit more money upfront to rebuild houses in a safer way that reduce damages. That would save everyone money in the long run.
If people want to keep having homes in risky places, they need to pay more for the risk. But the way insurance companies work, they pool the risk among everyone, so the cost of insurance for everyone else has to rise to subsidize the poor decisions of others.
Regulations are in place to keep insurance premiums from being too high, which means the companies often can’t rise the price high enough to be profitable–so instead nobody get insurance. It’s an awful situation with no winners. I wish the law would be rewritten to only allow insurance to cover homes that are up to modern code, but then the people that most need insurance would temporarily lose it, and that wouldn’t look good, either. But something needs to be done.
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @pmarin Yeah, unfortunately. We had a family friend who was a contractor who would often complain about regulations and would note how he could save money and time for us if he skipped a few steps… and we never let him, lol. Eventually he stopped asking and just did good quality work, up to code, with no shortcuts.
It’s funny, because he would often note how the people who owned the house before us did a bunch of stuff themselves, not hiring a licensed contractor, causing lots of problems. But he was still tempted to do a similar job even though he knew better.
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Weboh On the insurance issue I think it would be reasonable for new homes to not be able to get insurance if you choose to build in major storm flood zones or primary, secondary or tertiary sand dunes (they are not, by definition, stable land). Thus if you choose to build and then to live in some of these beautiful places where it is just a matter of time before having major flood or storm damage, you are shouldering the known in advance 100% risk you will eventually flood/have major damage. If a builder chooses to build speculation homes in those places then they need to pay into a special fund for storm damage cleanup. And pay annually for as long as the house/apartment building, etc. is in existence. For existing homes it becomes harder because those people often didn’t make that choice to build there, just to live there… but I think it is fair to make flood zones and the risk pool and premiums for people choosing to live in those areas their own risk pool. We do that with other kinds of insurance.
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Kidsandliz @pmarin Yep, I’m in a house that’s 100 years old, on the highest point in town (probably ~8 feet above sea level, haha) about 20 minutes from the beach with lots of drainage nearby. It’s probably seen its fair share of storms, and weathered them well to still be standing.
I’m glad we’re in a good spot, but I feel for all the people in the newer constructions that built up in the swamp and didn’t do a ton of investment in drainage. That’s playing with fire, and we haven’t seen a lot of storms in the past 20 years to test them.
@Cerridwyn @Felton10 @Kidsandliz Yeah, but the first point is kind of moot because the new constructions are already required be built up to a code that prevents flooding by raising the main living area up by about a story.
I think they do something similar with the risk pooling for flood zones, but I don’t live in one so couldn’t say for sure. I know there’s complicated legislation and there’s certain point where they can’t raise the insurance premiums too high but are still obligated to offer a degree of coverage.
Anyway Helene update from Asheville NC (from friends): about 1 week in no power or water yet in city suburb. They say maybe tomorrow; report of up to 40 line trucks staged for work as of yesterday. Can’t activate lines until confirmed no potential live lines on the ground. My friend sent pics stepping over fallen power pole with wires on ground. Limited phone coverage but there are now emergency net/phone towers in multiple locations and often food/water supply for anyone that needs.
People are resourceful and helping each other. Wish I could be there was planning to be there next month. Not sure which roads will even be open by then.
You Florida and Gulf coast people don’t have it easy either; not meaning to make light of that.
@pmarin The folks in Tampa are getting justifiably nervous.
@werehatrack yeah understandably so. My niece and her husband almost moved to Fort Meyers but then for various reasons (hurricane threat not among them) remained on high ground in “mile high” city for now anyway.
@pmarin @werehatrack Some of the Tampa people got flooded already once (a friend and her family lost both of their cars to the water in Tampa - my friend had just bought in June 2024 and it only had 1500 miles on it) with Helene and so the soil is really, really saturated which isn’t going to help the situation.
@pmarin I hear from friend, the Ham Radio fokes were out in full force, providing communication for all the emergency service workers, hey with Towers down. Count on you Geeky Ham Radio friends
Well crap.
We have friends in Tampa.
Helene hit a bunch of friends and family members in the mountains of NC. Lots of property / road damage. A couple of our friends had to be evacuated by helicopter and 5 people in their neighborhood died. So tragic.
I hope all of you in the hurricane path are safe and your homes stay safe too. I have friends and family that are in the area so I’m praying each night for everyone.
So far, the motion of the storm has been slower and less definite in direction than initially expected. This is not unusual. Folks in Florida still need to continue storm prep, folks elsewhere should continue to monitor, as things could change.
Close friend near Kissimmee is only just now finished recovering from the foot of water Hurricane Ian put inside his house. If they get flooded again, he’s probably moving out of Florida. I feel terrible for him…
I’m in Tampa. Just went through and charged all batteries/headphones/speakers/lights/ powerbanks… and I might have bought a few too many of some of these things on meh.
But, all 7 pairs of noise canceling earbuds are now fully charged. So at the very least I can block out the sounds from the wind.
@ddbelyea Mostly you should get out of Tampa. Really - if you don’t have to be there, get out and be safe!
Holy crap. Nine minutes ago the NY Times just announced that Hurricane Milton has reached category 4. From the news article.
“Milton Becomes a Major Hurricane as It Barrels Toward Florida
Milton is a Category 4 hurricane and is expected to bring life-threatening hazards to Florida this week, the National Weather Service said.”
@Kidsandliz Cat 5 now although only expect to be Cat 3 when makes landfall. Like to invite all the climate change deniers to the West Coast of FL for the fun. And Marjorie Taylor Green can take her space lasers and stick it up any one of her available openings for saying that the Democrats can control the weather.
@Felton10 Glad to hear it will likely drop in category. My sister and her husband are leaving this afternoon. They want to miss all the traffic and get a decent hotel room.
@Felton10 It would be ok to skip the political yammering for a while and stick to the topic, no?
@shahnm No-not when it is made worse by politicians who made it worse and lie about it.
@Felton10 Ah. Then this is probably not the right forum for you. Certainly not the right thread. The Meh powers-that-be have provided a thread in which you are welcome to go vent your spleen as much as your heart desires. Shitting all over a thread that should be for those affected by, or interested in, the hurricane is just childish, petty, and so very, very tedious.
@shahnm Since I started the thread (or didn’t you notice), I felt I had a little bit of poetic license to give credit to those who were at least partially responsible for the hell I and others in this area are about to experience.
Is it my comments that offend you or do they hit too close to home with your beliefs? If either, just like you don’t care to hear from me likewise I don’t care to hear from you.
@Felton10 I don’t want any political beliefs to be spewed in non-political threads, irrespective of which side they fall on. There are places for that, and that’s where those comments belong. It doesn’t matter who creates the thread. Why is that so hard for you?
@shahnm If don’t have to justify my comments or actions to you. If they offend you, please feel free either not read them and not comment on them.
@Felton10 No you don’t. These aren’t my policies, nor am I the exclusive beneficiary of people abiding by them.
@Felton10 @shahnm I don’t consider this political.
Except the bald face lies are so extremely political, one sided, and harmful to the people that should be reaching out for help. To the government trying to help them… IDK how you can not say something.
@Felton10 @unksol It’s political because, for example, your comment sounds like you’re accurately lambasting the Harris-Biden administration. I don’t think that was your intent, and any discourse about that will inevitably (and immediately) turn into one of those cliché yeah-but and whaddabout arguments that we come to Meh to get away from…
@Felton10 @shahnm
What Lambasting means?
Yes. One side. Trump. Is doing that. Directly spreading lies and misinformation during a disaster. The government is doing their jobs.
Period. Full stop.
Normally I agree with keeping it in the politics BS thread but this level of disaster escapes that. There is a serious disaster and people need to reach out for help. That is available and standing by. And they are being lied to. That is a serious problem/over the line.
If the mods want to quarantine this that’s fine. But this is so egregious…
The Republican governors of those states are contradicting… It’s only political because Trump made it. Us normal people care about each other
@Felton10 @unksol Q.E.D.
Be safe, @Felton10 and all who are in the line of fire of this monster storm.
@Felton10 @shahnm I don’t think anyone has anything to prove/show. We are now stacking hurricanes. I hope everyone is ok. We know most in Tampa aren’t ready.
The politics would be the down the road funding.
The immediate harm beyond is the lying.
@shahnm @unksol The moderators already took me to task for making a political comment in another thread and created a separate one for political comments. I have to assume if they thought my comment was overly political or inappropriate for this thread they would have either deleted it or move it. They did neither.
@Felton10 So far.
@Felton10 @werehatrack it’s touchy. But what we should be focused on is countering lies so people get the help they need.
Now at 175 MPH???
OMG!!! 
/giphy OMG
@IndifferentDude It has now hit 185. But the water temps will fall a bit as it ranges across the Gulf, so the engine driving the winds will have less energy.
The increasing shear should take some of the force out, too.
This whole thing is very stressful. Every newscast brings more bad news. Plus trying to file the couple of individual tax returns that are due on 10/15. 185 MPH now. By noon tomorrow when it either makes or doesn’t make the turn north, its tract will pretty much be set.
Fingers, toes and anything else I can cross will be crossed.
@Felton10 You evacuating?
@Kidsandliz Nope
@Felton10 I hope you get those tax returns done prior to losing cell service and internet.
You out of the flood zone area? My sister is at 45’ above sea level but they decided to leave due to the possibility of run off flooding from rain and the inconvenience of loss of utilities (they have a whole house generator but running out of fuel and not being able to get more due to downed trees factored into this). She said their house is “good” through a cat 4 (of course that is if it was built right - a new build).
Good luck on both the taxes and everything else. I hope your bird doesn’t freak out due to the pressure changes in the air.
@Kidsandliz Not in a flood zone but do have flood insurance. Bought an coleman electric generator on meh a couple months ago and hope it works unlike some of the other stuff I have bought on meh-need something to keep my ozempic (for my diabetes) cold. At over $ 700 for a three month supply can’t afford to have even two months of it go bad.
Bird got freaked out when she saw me moving stuff off the lanai.
Hopefully the building code for a less than 5 year old house will keep us safe plus the hurricane windows and doors I paid extra for when the house was built (ie lieu of the hurricane panel that came with house and have to be put up.)
@Felton10 @Kidsandliz That Coleman will keep an already-cold seldom-opened small fridge operational for a while, but if Milton’s effects are what I expect, you’re going to need a real fuel-powered generator if you’re anywhere between the north side of Naples and Cedar Key. (I will admit that NextEra is a shitload more efficient at major hurricane recovery than Centerpoint, but widespread damage like what Milton can do is still going to knock out a lot of major transmission lines.)
I like I’ll take wildfires for 1000 Alex
What’s kind of mental is they almost NEVER form in the gulf. Growing up in South Louisiana, we were always watching the cape of Africa. I just looked it up and there have only been 14 that have originated in the Gulf of Mexico and none of them were higher than a 4 from what I can see and only 2-3 made it to cat 3. Cuckoo bananas!
@sillyheathen Well this one went from 50 mph to over 150 mph in less than 24 hours maxing out at 185 mph.
@Felton10 it’s nuts!
@sillyheathen There have been a hell of a lot more than 14.
https://www.weather.gov/crp/tropical_cyclone_tracks
@werehatrack I’ll have to do some digging. I was going off a different map. I do know that growing up in the gulf that storms almost always came through the Atlantic and into the gulf. From my recollection, which is addled at best, storms that started in the gulf typically never made it past a tropical storm. Also that was a long time ago so I should do more research.
Am fingers crossed for anyone in the path and for their homes
I’m wondering how this impacts Centcom
@f00l CENTCOM? I would hope that the USAF experience in Homestead would have caused them to harden MacDill against storms - but if they haven’t, command and communications will roll over to the designated backup site. It’s not something that any military organization would allow to have a single point of complete failure.
Please be safe all my fellow Florida meh-peeps! Hope we can all make it through relatively unscathed… I’m in central Tampa (zone E so no mandatory evacuation), boarded up, generator ready with plenty of supplies
on hand. Love all you guys, please check in on the other side when you can.
Meantime I’ll be…
/youtube Riding the Storm Out