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When planning your evacuation also consider where you will be going. Back in 04 a lot of Tampa/St. Pete residents evacuated to Orlando during Charlie and then the path turned and ended up missing Tampa but hitting Orlando badly. Inland is best but consider all the possibilities before deciding on where to go.
Be prepared for changes... If you are evacuating evaluate a few routes just in case that 50K drivers got the same plan on the way out/in...
Thanks so much for all of your replies I will be taking your advice and leave EARLY.
How soon do the highways start backing up? Does everyone pack up and leave the day the waches/warnings come out? I am terrified of storms so I want to be sure that I will not be stuck on the road when a storm hits. Also, I know that hurricanes often spawn tornadoes. Do the tornadoes usually stay around the eye of the storm or the outter rain bands? Do they spawn strong tornadoes? Sorry for all of the questions but coming from Wisconsin this hurricane thing is new to me.
I live in Wisconsin but will be moving to Florida in a few months to be near family. We are not sure on where we will be living yet because my husbands sister lives in Merritt island and my family just moved to Sarasota. We have been to Merritt Island many times and really like it but have not been to Sarasota, so we are trying to do as much research as possible before we make the move.
Usually the day before the storm hits is the worst of the traffic. Tornadoes can happen in any part of a hurricane. I believe though the upper right quadrant of a hurricane is the worst part of most hurricanes, that most of the tornadoes seem to happen in. In 2005 some people got killed in those hurricanes because of tornadoes. They key to hurricane season is to prepare starting in May/June, not to wait till a warning is put up otherwise it will be a mad house trying to get all your supplies with all the other slackers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by haileybailey
Thanks so much for all of your replies I will be taking your advice and leave EARLY.
How soon do the highways start backing up? Does everyone pack up and leave the day the waches/warnings come out? I am terrified of storms so I want to be sure that I will not be stuck on the road when a storm hits. Also, I know that hurricanes often spawn tornadoes. Do the tornadoes usually stay around the eye of the storm or the outter rain bands? Do they spawn strong tornadoes? Sorry for all of the questions but coming from Wisconsin this hurricane thing is new to me.
A link to the evacuation routes and some info about the new "contaflow" idea for the highways. This will change the incoming lanes to outgoing ones, so most lanes will allow traffic only heading out of "dodge".
Tampabays10.com | Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater | Determine your best evacuation route and how contraflow works (http://www.tampabays10.com/weather/hurricane/story.aspx?storyid=81014&catid=61 - broken link)
You will get about 3 days notice-watch the weather. If you are in the cone of probability then you need to make your own decision. A day or two before the storm strikes the authorities may make an evacutaion of certain areas mandatory-beachfront, etc. By that time, it's almost too late to get out of town-you are looking at a shelter.
Remember that in the event of a strike, you may not be be allowed back home even after the storm for days or weeks.
What about jobs? Are people held at there job until a warnig is issued? By that time it sounds like it would be too late to evacuate. Can you get fired for choosing to evacuate if no warning is issued? I assume it would depend on the job you do but I would like to know what most people do?
Yah it really depends on your job and the company you work for. I have worked for companies that close the day before a storm is suppose to hit so that employees can get prepared. And I have worked for companies that have required me to come to work even if a tropical storm comes that day (now a hurricane might of been different).
I remember I worked for a resort community that you had to take a ferry to get to the island (employees leave their cars on the mainland) a hurricane was suppose to only brush the coast, well I went to work (even with the warnings up, my boss didn't call and say stay home today), at some point in the day around lunch time I decided to leave so I wouldn't get stuck on the island. The coast guard shuts down the ferry at a certain wind speed 40 or 50 mph. My boss stayed, but I told her I am out of there (I think she was pissed though that I left without her saying leave first) Well I took the last ferry out, most of the employees (including my boss) gut stuck on the island and had to spend the night on the island.
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If you are evacuating evaluate a few routes just in case that 50K drivers got the same plan on the way out/in...
