Do Hurricanes hit or effect Central Floriday? Please help! (tornadoes, hot, earthquakes)

[clarissairene]

This offer that my husband has from work (here in california) seems to go to turn down and I am now coming to realize that we may for sure move to florida.

I am terrified of Hurricanes. Earthquakes I can deal with but rain I am scared of, especially driving. So do hurricanes hit central florida. We would be going to either sumter county or lake county. What about Orlando.

And freeways, are they like out here in california or are they all 1 laned freeways?

Thanks for any help you can give. We are going out there this weekend i think to check it out..... whats the weather like?

[bamboosmom]

The more inland you go away from the coast won't be as bad.
But when Hurricane Charley hit the Pt. Charlotte area it went straight across
the state. Orlando sustained some damage but not like what Pt. Charlotte received. Anywhere in Florida or along the East Coast of the USA is a target for hurricanes.

[cltsig]

C'mon, are you serious with these questions? Everywhere in the county is third world except California. "Freeways" are one lane..uh huh, sure. Weather? Hurricanse manuever around Orlando.

If you have the ability to find this website, I'm sure you can search weather.com for weather or figure out if freeways have more than one lane.

I smell a troll...

[OneBadApple]

I've lived near Orlando since 1989. The worst hurricane year was of course 2004 when Charlie, Frances and Jeanne blew through within about 6 weeks.

The people who live on either coast easily have the most to fear, since the winds are at their strongest coming off the water. Once over land, they diminish enough where our biggest problems in the center of the state are cleaning up downed trees, and living without (or with only generator) power for 2-3 days. The local utilities and county governments did a fantastic job getting the power restored and the huge piles of tree debris taken away WAY more promptly than I had imagined.

Traffic is congested in Orlando, but nowhere near what larger cities around the country get. Your biggest concern should be that we have a VERY high ratio of poor and/or ignorant drivers, so you must always be alert to a lot of dumb driving behavior (and yes, we have gen-u-ine multi-lane highways, just like you city-slickers...)

P.S. Check out Seminole County, especially Lake Mary (where I live). Best schools, lowest crime rate in Central Florida.

[Dee2e]

I'll take hurricanes over earthquakes any day! With hurricanes, I get warnings!

Like OneBadApple, I've lived here since the 80s and am just down the road in Longwood. The last hurricane to do major damage prior to 2004 was Donna in the early 60s!

Seminole County is a great place to live and work. We have really good schools here too! PM me if you need school info, I'll be glad to send it to you.

[mich2fla]

Yes! Hurricanes have hit NYC also!

We've had earthquakes in Grand Rapids, Michigan back in the 1980's!

My wife's grandparents lives in Punta Gorda for more than 20 years. 2004 was the first time they received extensive damage from hurricanes.

Just count on hurricanes hitting in Florida, just like tornadoes in the central US. Typically, hurricanes get weaker as they get more in-land. That was not the case back in 2004. You will need to be prepared for anything.

[deanhubb]

Originally Posted by clarissairene

I am terrified of Hurricanes. Earthquakes I can deal with but rain I am scared of, especially driving. So do hurricanes hit central florida. We would be going to either sumter county or lake county. What about Orlando.

And freeways, are they like out here in california or are they all 1 laned freeways?

Thanks for any help you can give. We are going out there this weekend i think to check it out..... whats the weather like?

Well Clarissa, until two years ago it had been forty years since a hurricane hit central Florida. I live in Orlando. My cousins in their fifties, lifelong residents, had never experienced a hurricane. You might get lucky if you move here.

The TV stations will make a hurricane sound like the end of the world. It isn't. It may mean the end of your roof's shingles and the end to that nice big hibiscus but, mostly, it's just a bunch of windy rain for a few hours.

Driving rain will penetrate most of the badly applied stucco homes here. Thousands of new home owners had standing water in their house. Nothing was done about it. Developers rule and govern in Florida led by W's developer brother, Jeb. ("Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named 'Jeb'...")

It's hot with thick humidity from May to October. I like it but it's not for everyone. During the summer we have thunderstorms almost every afternoon that start around 4pm. The winters are very dry, but with humidity and generally in the 70's. We get to wear our sweater (just the one) on a couple of mornings in January until about ten in the morning. Nights can be chilly in the 50's, 40's in winter; November(ish) to March.

Californians will feel at home on our freeways. In fact, a recent study shows that ours are more crowded than Los Angeles. The good news is that we have a lot fewer freeways than L.A., but we're among the most congested region in the entire country. So, you won't have any problem adjusting there.

I don't know what you mean by "one lane freeways" but all of our very large subdivisions are built around two lane roads. Don't mention the one lane versions or the developers may get the idea to try that, too. We have multilane freeways but everyone except the people with a fish symbol on their car are driving in the left lane only. Traffic would move better here if every lane were labled "This is a Left Lane".