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Old 07-05-2010, 12:12 AM
 
90 posts, read 409,964 times
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I was just researching hurricanes that had hit Florida in the past and after browsing all of the facts and damage photos, I have to admit I'm a little bit freaked out about what hurricanes can do.

I am thinking about moving to the Orlando area but now I'm afraid that the moment I move there I will lose my house. I'm not sure if I'm being reasonable, but I checked out these photos and just don't want to see this kind of thing happen:

Hurricane Charley Photos

So, my question is this: how do you recover from a hurricane like this and does the CENTER area of Florida get hit as hard as the coastline?
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Old 07-05-2010, 01:46 AM
 
Location: Houston, TX
4,678 posts, read 9,866,557 times
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I lived just north of Orlando right smack on the border of Lake Mary and Sanford when Hurricane Charley hit. The eye went right through Sanford and at the time had 100mph winds. (Cat. 2)

At the time, I was with my mother and father and we stood out on the front porch the whole time Charley was passing through and it was an awesome experience ! We lost power for about 2-3 days, The street in the subdivision flooded to the top of the curb due to storm drains being blocked by debris and the obvious few branches had fallen.

When morning broke and the sun had come up, I hopped in our Jeep and drove around to look at the damage and there was damage but nothing really significant. There were downed power lines and traffic lights. When power was restored there were only a handful of gas stations open and they were limiting the amount of gas you got to $20 but at the same time had jacked up their prices to roughly $6/gallon.

I would say unless it was a perfect storm, a 4 or 5 storm, Orlando would be fine through a Hurricane as was the case with Charley. I doubt Orlando will ever get a Cat. 5 Hurricane as it's too far inland for a 5 to sustain it's winds.

Andrew peaked my interest as a kid in Meteorology, Charley confirmed it. I'm going back to school and really hope to major in it.

edit: Almost all of the bad pictures you'll see from Charley are from SW-Florida around Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, and Wauchula areas..
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Old 07-05-2010, 06:13 AM
 
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The odds firstly of Orlando being destroyed by a hurricane aren't that large. Its inland its where people evacuate to when there IS a hurricane. .I've lived here 27 years been through quite a few humdingers including Charlie which hit just north of me but our worst in recent years was Wilma a cat 3 who's eye passed directly over us. With Charlie I lost power for over a week and with Wilma about 5 days. Thats the only two times in 27 years I can recall loosing power that long. I didn't evacuate for Wilma I drove 20 mins inland and rode it out. Never lost my house and I live under 10 mins from the beach. Newer construction is pretty sturdy and has to be up to hurricane code. Honestly we don't get horrible hurricanes (high cat 2-3) yearly that will actually make direct landfall here. Usually the skirt Fla's coasts. Its a part of life down here you'll have plenty of news updates when one is coming with predicted paths. All you can do is watch prepare and hope for the best. You live here long enough and you won't even evacuate until even the weather men are leaving..
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Old 07-05-2010, 06:38 AM
 
240 posts, read 384,865 times
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Post Be very afraid if you live on the coast

If the storm has wind speeds over one hundred and five and higher like Andrew. That storm had tornados enbedded in it and you probably saw the video on the news if you pay attention to that. Whole subdivisions were leveled. Even smaller ones like Wilma do a lot of damage because of the flying debris. In the condo canyons there were a lot of broken windows and balacony glass doors because they didn't have shutters to protect them. My son lost his roof in that one, it pealed the membrane right off the house in one peice and left it laying in his yard next to the house.
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Old 07-05-2010, 07:48 AM
 
1,468 posts, read 4,739,907 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ComposerRyan View Post
I was just researching hurricanes that had hit Florida in the past and after browsing all of the facts and damage photos, I have to admit I'm a little bit freaked out about what hurricanes can do.

I am thinking about moving to the Orlando area but now I'm afraid that the moment I move there I will lose my house. I'm not sure if I'm being reasonable, but I checked out these photos and just don't want to see this kind of thing happen:

Hurricane Charley Photos

So, my question is this: how do you recover from a hurricane like this and does the CENTER area of Florida get hit as hard as the coastline?
Pull up photos of auto accidents and you will never get in a car again. Of all the things to worry about laying awake at night worrying about getting hit by a hurricane would be at the bottom of my list. The probability of you getting hit by a hurricane and having serious damage is astronomically low. I have lived on the south east coast of Florida all my life.

Much of the damage you do see after any storm is the fault of the home owner. 60 foot high Ficus trees hanging over your house is asking for trouble. Or a 30 year old roof you haven't attended to with termite damage all over it, (That is always found when you see these roof sections on the ground after a storm) is the fault of the home owner. Take the total number of homes in Florida and divide them by the number of homes that have been damaged by storms be it a hurricane or just a summer thunder storm and you will find the odds are better you will hit the lottery then lose your home to a storm.

Last edited by mango23; 07-05-2010 at 08:10 AM..
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Old 07-05-2010, 07:52 AM
 
1,468 posts, read 4,739,907 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Profiler View Post
If the storm has wind speeds over one hundred and five and higher like Andrew. That storm had tornados enbedded in it and you probably saw the video on the news if you pay attention to that. Whole subdivisions were leveled. Even smaller ones like Wilma do a lot of damage because of the flying debris. In the condo canyons there were a lot of broken windows and balacony glass doors because they didn't have shutters to protect them. My son lost his roof in that one, it pealed the membrane right off the house in one peice and left it laying in his yard next to the house.
Your sons roof was no good then. How many of his neighbors lost their roof? Or in the whole town for that matter?
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Old 07-05-2010, 07:59 AM
 
Location: Hialeah, FL
55 posts, read 126,438 times
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Orlando is very safe. Move to a building/home that was built after the code enforcements (199?) avoid shingle roof and your probability will be almost zero
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Old 07-05-2010, 09:58 AM
 
Location: Miami
6,853 posts, read 22,413,674 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mango23 View Post
Your sons roof was no good then. How many of his neighbors lost their roof? Or in the whole town for that matter?
Yes the roof could of been built wrong or a tornado in the hurricane could of hit the house. As you know I went through Hurricane Andrew, our roof stayed in tacked through the Cat 5 storm. I agree that the wind wasn't the only thing that destroyed that persons roof.
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Old 07-05-2010, 10:09 AM
 
Location: Miami
6,853 posts, read 22,413,674 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ComposerRyan View Post
So, my question is this: how do you recover from a hurricane like this and does the CENTER area of Florida get hit as hard as the coastline?
How do you recover from a hurricane: you just do, one day at a time. If your house has repairs needed after a hurricane you file with your insurer hope you get enough money to cover the damages and then you have the damage fixed. It takes time, but people get it done if they want to stay in their home. Some people up and leave after a hurricane.

The center of the state never gets hit as hard as the coastline does. But that said, if you have a cat 5 storm like Andrew that starts at the coastline it may only be down graded to a Cat 3 or 4 over orlando. So it just depends on the storm. In 2005 Orlando got hit with two hurricanes that cris crossed across the state. At least in Orlando you will not have to worry about storm surge from the ocean. Hurricanes do also come with tornadoes that are embedded in the rain bands.

How I see it is every place, has some sort of natural disaster threat, it is what you decide to deal with.
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Old 07-05-2010, 11:28 AM
 
90 posts, read 409,964 times
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Wow, very informative posts everyone - thanks for your input!

I also have three pets (2 cats, 1 dog) and I was wondering: what do you do with your animals when you have to evacuate?
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