If hurricanes are so bad.... (Orlando: real estate, houses, rent)

[vtec525]

if hurricanes are so bad, why doesnt everyone leave florida?? why not be proactive?

every other post, someone cannot stand the hurricanes, while others say they been here so long and it is only cat 1 or 2 hurricanes and u will get struck with lighting b4 a hurricane.

so confusion for people tryin to move to warm place.

[mels]

Almost every part of the US has some potential for natural disaster. Florida, the rest of the Gulf coast and the entire eastern seaboard has hurricanes, California has mudslides, wildfires, and earthquakes, the Pacific Northwest has earthquakes, tsunami potential and volcanic activity, the entire north and midsection of the country has potential for ice storms, tornado alley is self explainatory....where are you going to run and hide? You have to live your life somewhere, and any place you pick there is potential disaster waiting.

[Skylynx]

Well, take your pick. I'd rather deal with hurricanes than earthquakes and tornado alley, which give you no warning. I've lived near Orlando, FL, for 60 years, and only one was really terrible, and that was Donna in 1960. This far inland gets 130 MPH winds down to about 90. If you buy a decent house on high ground, and cut down huge trees close to the house, you will be okay. If you're nervous, you can go to one of the shelters opened at nearby schools. We did that for hurricane Francis in '04 and was a good experience at the shelter.

[bale002]

The fact is that hurricanes are not so bad.

What is so bad is that after an unprecedented series of hurricanes in the space of only two years, property insurance rates went up to the point where they have basically bankrupted a significant portion of people with property in the state.

[tallrick]

The problem is that structures and utilities have been constructed with little regard to possible storms. You can see the same mentality in California where highly flammable homes are built in natural fire areas. More damage is caused in Florida by termites than hurricanes. More buildings are demolished purposely than by hurricanes. High-density low quality development concentrated vast amounts of bubble money in the most vulnerable portions of the state. Rampant fraud in south Florida vastly inflated repair costs. Hurricanes are not the problem, people are.

[GR82BAGATOR]

Originally Posted by mels

Almost every part of the US has some potential for natural disaster. Florida, the rest of the Gulf coast and the entire eastern seaboard has hurricanes, California has mudslides, wildfires, and earthquakes, the Pacific Northwest has earthquakes, tsunami potential and volcanic activity, the entire north and midsection of the country has potential for ice storms, tornado alley is self explainatory....where are you going to run and hide? You have to live your life somewhere, and any place you pick there is potential disaster waiting.

AMEN! I live in North Central FL so we do not get any direct hits...but Frances did show us that there is potential for severe damage during hurricanes. Personally I do not lay awake at night worrying about Hurricanes, never have in 32 years and probably never will BUT what I hate is what it has done to insurance costs. Mine has went up quite a bit and I am "inland" and I have NEVER had any HO claims. That is what you need to keep in mind before you move to Florida....we may have some great "warm" weather but you are gonna PAY a pretty penny for it!

[Kali's Grandma]

Originally Posted by vtec525

if hurricanes are so bad, why doesnt everyone leave florida?? why not be proactive?

every other post, someone cannot stand the hurricanes, while others say they been here so long and it is only cat 1 or 2 hurricanes and u will get struck with lighting b4 a hurricane.

so confusion for people tryin to move to warm place.

That's cuz some people need to be dramatic....they want to leave so they use the hurricanes as an excuse.

We had a tornado ONCE in one of the towns I lived in and I still hear that someone doesn't want to live there because of the threat of tornatos.....Same thing with hurricanes..
2004-This was the 1st time in over 100 years that we had a season like this. And speaking of Orlando only.....we haven't had much of anything since.
Yet you still have people that were so "tramatized" by the storms they panic everytime a stiff breeze goes by.

People just react to things differently.

[Mikis]

I've here for 26 years (minus 5 yrs away for college), and have only been through 2 serious hurricanes (Andrew, Wilma). If a cat 4 or 5 comes within 20 miles of your home, kiss it bye bye. On the flip side, that rarely ever happens

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by vtec525

if hurricanes are so bad, why doesnt everyone leave florida?? why not be proactive?

every other post, someone cannot stand the hurricanes, while others say they been here so long and it is only cat 1 or 2 hurricanes and u will get struck with lighting b4 a hurricane.

so confusion for people tryin to move to warm place.

I have a couple of more years to go until I can leave Florida. I am here because I committed to a job and have to stick it out. Please realize that many people cannot just up and leave. If you are older and have just a few more years before retirement you are really stuck--your reemployment options with benefits are extremely limited. In fact, that goes for many younger folks, too. Life is not always so simple. Sometimes folks just get trapped. Many of us are just ordinary people who did not necessarily move here for the weather alone--we came because of a job. We will finish our job and get out. But I do agree it does no good to keep carping about hurricanes. I do think Florida will fare a bit better with better building codes in the future. But we will get slammed again--only a matter of time. Oh, I should mention that some of us cannot sell our house at a decent price and the insurance is eating us up. Until the real estate market turns some are stuck in a bad place.

[THASPECIAL]

Originally Posted by Mikis

I've here for 26 years (minus 5 yrs away for college), and have only been through 2 serious hurricanes (Andrew, Wilma). If a cat 4 or 5 comes within 20 miles of your home, kiss it bye bye. On the flip side, that rarely ever happens

That's true.....most hurricanes don't do alot except cause flooding and knock some trees over and some shingles off the roofs of houses.....but when you do get one that is category 5 or 4 it can be deadly....most people that live in Central Florida really have no clue of how dangerous they can really be ....those that live near the coast on the other hand have a real reason to fear them



but even during hurricane Charlie my neighbor lost his roof and someone got injured when it collapsed so it can be bad in some cases