[macguy]

It sure has been a quick two years. Be sure to check out the photo galleries.
I guess with nothing happening since then I had sort of forgotten what it was like and how I was ready to leave right away back then.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...a_tab01_layout

[Katie1]

So sad that this has not been handled better. All the more reason not to get a condo.

[sunrico90]

Category 1 - Nothing to worry about! We’ve had plenty of those! They’re just tropical storms with a little more kick to it. Not!

By the time Wilma left us, trees were down, power was lost to over 3.2 million customers, windows blew out of high rise offices and condos, gas was hard to find, ice and water, too. Even brand new office buildings had their windows popping out! Wilma was definitely the storm of unexpected consequences!

So what lessons have we learned?

* Take every hurricane warning seriously and prepare for the worst.
* Review your hurricane preparedness and disaster plans every year prior to the hurricane season.

[Spree]

My inlaws live in Coral Springs and just moved back into their home in April, 18 mos after the storm. Wilma peeled their roof off while they were in the bathroom with a mattress over their heads. Their house pretty much had to be taken to the studs and rebuilt. I think my FIL aged 10 years through the whole process.

[tallrick]

People have short memories. In a few years the storms are forgotten. Then when we have the next hurricane cycle they are unprepared. I have never sustained hurricane damage for my home, but who knows how much longer I will be here.

[umscats]

The people who went through the worst of the storm will not have short memories; it's the folks who had little or no damage who won't remember what happened and be unprepared next time. I survived Andrew in 1992 and came away from that one with my dishes, pots and pans, and not much else. But I sure learned alot and never took Mother Nature [or living a normal life] for granted again. Anyone in "the cone" has to be prepared for the worst. I think people forget that high wind gusts/tornados often accompany hurricanes, so even a cat 1 can be very damaging. My neighborhood was great after Wilma, those with electricity ran extension cords to neighbors without, so at least they could run their refrigerators, TV's, coffee pots, and fans.


People have short memories. In a few years the storms are forgotten. Then when we have the next hurricane cycle they are unprepared. I have never sustained hurricane damage for my home, but who knows how much longer I will be here.[/quote]

[hiknapster]

And we're coming up on winter, which will bring a fresh batch of people sick of snow and longing for paradise. There will be endless posts about shoveling, scraping ice off windshields, how people can die in a snowstorm, blah, blah, blah.

Sorry, I lived in Mass. for 34 years, and NOTHING was as terrifying as Charley was to me.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Two years ago this week, the week Wilma happened, we were moving to northwest Florida from Denver.
As we drove across country, we tracked the storm.
We arrived in a very cool and windy but unscathed Port St Joe. However, some of those folks had suffered through Rita. Our new neighbors showed us the waterline from the storm surge.Their house, on pilings, was fine. Their barn was not. At our rental (also on stilts) there was still displaced stuff scattered here and there.
We took note of all this with great respect for Mother Nature.
We learned that you have to be prepared.

It does not do a whole lot of good to compare and contrast hurricanes versus other weather--but people always do it; it helps us rationalize the choices we make in life.

As we observe the tragedy going on in San Diego (some people, as they evacuated, had 15 minutes to decide what to take), we can see that scary, dangerous natural disasters happen everywhere, including places with pleasant climates. The proverbial trade-off is always there.

When the severe winter weather hits the rest of the country, I won't be gloating. I will merely be relaxing as the media scrutiny turns its relentless coverage someplace else.

[Tarastomsgirl]

I remember sitting in my house in Naples at 6 in the morning listening to the rafters of my house creaking and cracking.We honestly didn't think it would hold up. The pressure in the house was horrible. We had water being pushed through the screw holes of our front door nobs and then water started running down all the seams of the house where the walls met.. Myself and all my siblings spent two hours holding towels, bed sheets, whatever we could find under doors to keep the water from flooding into the house. That was with covering over the doors. And the sad thing is we were out in Golden Gate, where people were told to evactuate to.. The neighbors across the street weren't so lucky, they didnt' screw a board on the back of the house tight enough and it blew off and all the windows in their house exploded out from the pressure and wind, along with the boards.. They ended up hiding in a closet with their three kids for the better part of 5 hours. We evacutated ot Ocala , which took almost 9 hours the day before, and they said it was heading a different way and was gonna just be a small hurricane so we came back home. I have video of all of this but I can't get it on my computer. STUPID .... And I love how the News only covered downtown Naples , ohh the trees the trees and all the rich peoples houses.. Yah what they didnt' cover was Immokalee and how the places was all but WIPED OUT...There were NO HOMES in some areas, but CNN no Wink news never broadcasted a damn thing about those people.



Heres a great video from Naples, Marco and that area.. turn up the sound.. its like you're almost there..

Hurricane Wilma Link