Huricane Matthew (how much, hotels, homes)

[Nypafl4u]

There is talk of 9 foot surges. It will be a mess and I do hope most have left by now. In NY, this storm is all over TV. We know what Sandy did to us and we hope and pray you guys get through this unharmed and with minimal damage. Power will be down, that will be for sure. Stay safe first, you can always rebuild later.

[Coachgns]

Hoping something happens and this storm misses the Coast. But unfortunately, not looking likely.

I do have a question though about evacuations. They are asking well over 1 million people to evacuate. Where the heck is everybody supposed to go? It's fine if you have friends or relatives within driving distance, like on the w coast or atlanta or someplace like that. But what if you don't? Certainly there are not enough shelters or hotel rooms. THat must be a huge concern for a great many people.

I wonder about this as I am on west coast, and we have no relatives or close friends on the east coast or even inland. Don't know where the heck we would go.

[FLHfan]

Originally Posted by Coachgns

Hoping something happens and this storm misses the Coast. But unfortunately, not looking likely.

I do have a question though about evacuations. They are asking well over 1 million people to evacuate. Where the heck is everybody supposed to go? It's fine if you have friends or relatives within driving distance, like on the w coast or atlanta or someplace like that. But what if you don't? Certainly there are not enough shelters or hotel rooms. THat must be a huge concern for a great many people.

I wonder about this as I am on west coast, and we have no relatives or close friends on the east coast or even inland. Don't know where the heck we would go.

You could go test drive a new camper for a week.

[chopchop0]

Forecast models currently put Florida’s Palm Beach County at the heaviest point of impact for the impending storm. If Matthew makes landfall, it will be the first hurricane to directly hit the state since Hurricane Wilma in October 2005.

https://weather.com/news/news/hurricane-matthew-florida

[ByeByeLW]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

Forecast models currently put Florida’s Palm Beach County at the heaviest point of impact for the impending storm. If Matthew makes landfall, it will be the first hurricane to directly hit the state since Hurricane Wilma in October 2005.

https://weather.com/news/news/hurricane-matthew-florida

Wilma seemed to do more damage around 441 than she did on the east side where I am.

I actually moved into my house just after the storm and the main problem was power outages; not many restaurants were open. I didn't see much structural damage around here.

I keep telling myself that Palm Beach county covers a very large area; it's a long coast . Helps to keep me from freaking out too much.

I'm pretty sure this is the last time I'll ride a storm out at home (unless it's a 2 of less).

My concern for my house is surpassed by my concern for my car and my life. The concern for the car kinda says something about how I feel about LW. I know logically the house is more important lol.

Here comes a really big band! Perhaps I should cue relaxing music on the headphones!

[headingtoDenver]

Originally Posted by Coachgns

Hoping something happens and this storm misses the Coast. But unfortunately, not looking likely.

I do have a question though about evacuations. They are asking well over 1 million people to evacuate. Where the heck is everybody supposed to go? It's fine if you have friends or relatives within driving distance, like on the w coast or atlanta or someplace like that. But what if you don't? Certainly there are not enough shelters or hotel rooms. THat must be a huge concern for a great many people.

I wonder about this as I am on west coast, and we have no relatives or close friends on the east coast or even inland. Don't know where the heck we would go.

I would spend the night in a Honda Civic in some WalMart parking lot in Tampa if I knew it would keep me from drowning due to not evacuating.

[jghorton]

There hasn't been a direct Cat 3/4 hit in Brevard County since 1979 when Hurricane David skipped over -- Prior to that, there wasn't one for about 50-years. However, that is not a reason to believe Matthew will not be "the one." One of the reasons people treat Florida hurricanes casually - is the media. They start panicking like their hair is on fire ... as soon as a named hurricane is spotted off the coast of Africa.

Since 2004/5, nothing more than a tropical storm has hit Florida. But, prior to then, the media had over-hyped 3-4 storms with talk of mass evacuations ...yet, they never even came close to the coastline. IMO, this is more than a "better safe than sorry." It is irresponsibly hyping an ongoing storm story with one-upsmanship reporting.

As soon as the wind starts-up, several reporters dash down to the Barefoot Bay mobile home community where they camp-out like vultures waiting in the wind with their blue blazers - for a piece of aluminum siding to get blown off. We used to speculate that they kept a damaged mobile home in a warehouse there and pulled it out whenever a storm approached.

It looks like Matthew could be serious and directly hit Florida with a Cat 3-4 storm. But, nobody knew that a week ago when the media started hyping a direct Florida hit from a storm still in the Atlantic. I'm not certain exactly what my point is, except we've been in Florida for over 40-years and every time the storm hype begins the question becomes, "Is this real or another media over-reaction?" ... unfortunately, this leaves many people in harms-way, with the media taking no responsibility.

[headingtoDenver]

Originally Posted by jghorton

There hasn't been a direct Cat 3/4 hit in Brevard County since 1979 when Hurricane David skipped over -- Prior to that, there wasn't one for about 50-years. However, that is not a reason to believe Matthew will not be "the one." One of the reasons people treat Florida hurricanes casually - is the media. They start panicking like their hair is on fire ... as soon as a named hurricane is spotted off the coast of Africa.

Since 2004/5, nothing more than a tropical storm has hit Florida. But, prior to then, the media had over-hyped 3-4 storms with talk of mass evacuations ...yet, they never even came close to the coastline. IMO, this is more than a "better safe than sorry." It is irresponsibly hyping an ongoing storm story with one-upsmanship reporting.

As soon as the wind starts-up, several reporters dash down to the Barefoot Bay mobile home community where they camp-out like vultures waiting in the wind with their blue blazers - for a piece of aluminum siding to get blown off. We used to speculate that they kept a damaged mobile home in a warehouse there and pulled it out whenever a storm approached.

It looks like Matthew could be serious and directly hit Florida with a Cat 3-4 storm. But, nobody knew that a week ago when the media started hyping a direct Florida hit from a storm still in the Atlantic. I'm not certain exactly what my point is, except we've been in Florida for over 40-years and every time the storm hype begins the question becomes, "Is this real or another media over-reaction?" ... unfortunately, this leaves many people in harms-way, with the media taking no responsibility.

When I lived in Florida during the 04/05 storms, we saw a lot of televised reports similar to this one. This particular video is from Jersey, but it proves the point of the sensationalism that journalists will go through to make things seem so much worse than what they are.


reporter hurricane canoe - Bing video

[SanyBelle]

I lived on the barrier islands in Brevard during the 2004 storms, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan. They were not cat 3 when they reached us, but they did damage. Tropical Storm Fay in 2008 did almost as much damage, I was living in Viera then.

Emergency management has a "Damned if they do, Damned if they don't" job. These storms can change in an hours notice (look at Andrew) and it's probably best to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Currently I'm in Miami and we have dodged the brunt of Matthew. I'm happy to have prepared even thought we didn't need it.... this time.

[ByeByeLW]

All of a sudden our area is out of the cone according to NBC6.

Their statement is a bit misleading and confusing, however. It says "South Florida spared direct hit" when it really means Miami-Dade and Monroe are out of it.

The way hurricanes move around who knows!

When it's completely past us I'll believe it.

I'm in PBC. All I can says is, after all the hoopla (yes I'm grateful for so much warning) that was fast!

So happy it it passed you guys by!

We're getting the heaviest bands yet now, but I'm a heckuva lot less nervous.