[cmcray1]

My family will be moving to florida soon. My wife says that the Gulf side is way more dangerous because of hurricanes. I say, yeah the Gulf side gets more, and they are worse, BUT hurricanes in any GIVEN LOCATION is relatively rare, and only one of many criteria to choose a location to settle in. It is my contention that properly prepared families tend to be fine when the hurricane does eventually hit any given location. I hate to rule out one whole coastline due to a fractionally larger chance of destruction hitting a given point on Gulf coast. Nonetheless, if she remains uncomfortable with the idea, we wont consider the gulf side. Cape coral and Tampa are the main cities under consideration, but the whole coast would be under consideration.

Thanks!

[2bohemians]

Originally Posted by cmcray1

My family will be moving to florida soon. My wife says that the Gulf side is way more dangerous because of hurricanes. I say, yeah the Gulf side gets more, and they are worse, BUT hurricanes in any GIVEN LOCATION is relatively rare, and only one of many criteria to choose a location to settle in. It is my contention that properly prepared families tend to be fine when the hurricane does eventually hit any given location. I hate to rule out one whole coastline due to a fractionally larger chance of destruction hitting a given point on Gulf coast. Nonetheless, if she remains uncomfortable with the idea, we wont consider the gulf side. Cape coral and Tampa are the main cities under consideration, but the whole coast would be under consideration.

Thanks!

The truth of the matter is: hurricanes can strike anywhere ... it just wouldn't be fair to say that one side of the coast gets more storms than the other .... what about the middle of the state? Sometimes the storms make landfall and move across the middle of the state and back out the other coast ..... if you are going to live in Florida, it is just part of the equation. Natural disasters happen everywhere! Being prepared is key! At least you have a pretty good idea when a storm might be coming your way and you can plan accordingly. With some disasters like earthquakes, you have no idea it's coming!

[Lilybeans]

Don't make a decision about where to live because of hurricanes. Hurricanes are big storms. Big. If you are worried about hurricanes you should consider the midwest.

And who knows where they will come ashore? Here on the east coast, in Martin County, we had two direct hits (the eye passing overhead) three weeks apart in 2004. That sucked, let me tell you.

[ssg II]

Check out the Hurricane Section in the Florida forum. Lots of good reference there.

The "Panhandle" of Florida is the most frequently traumatized on the gulf coast, but inland cental suffered some of the most damage in the 2004 season.

You can't base your relocation on hurricane stats, it's where you want to live, right?

[Mike Peterson]

You can check landfall county by county at this site.

Florida Landfall Climatology