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YES! As a Florida Native, I have been through several hurricanes the worst being hurricanes Andrew('92) and Wilma('05). I was 17 when Andrew(cat F5) came thru and I was living in Plantation. I was working at my first job which was at Publix supermarket. It was a CRAZY few days as I watched ppl fist-fight over carts and canned tuna. We had sustained winds of 130mph. We had windows all across the front of the house(Ranch style) and my bedroom faced the front but since it was the last room, there were windows along the side too. Needless to say, when the storm hit in the night, I didn't stay in my room, lol. I grabbed pillows & blankets and slept in the hall! People in Miami had it much worse. I had a friend in Kendall in the infomous development of Countrywalk. After the whole roof blew off, the ran to the garage, got in the car, and prayed all nite as the garage door was slowly peeled from the wall like the lid off a can. They all thought they were going to die!For Wilma, I was living in Coral Springs. We took a direct hit, I went outside when the eye came thru. So although Andrew was a stronger storm, Wilma was scarier because we got the full force of the storm. I watched out the only window not covered as ppl's roofs and belongings floated down the canal. We had one outside wall torn apart and lost several lg. trees. We also didn't have water for 3 days or power for 3 weeks! The worst part of a hurricane is the aftermath, the weeks following it when you have no power, a bunch of clean up, crappy food out of cans, extreme swealtering heat, and total boredom. If your neighboorhood is really destroyed, you also have to watch out for looters and opportunistic, often violent criminals. After Andrew, a friend had to help patrol his neighboorhood with a shotgun.
Yep,been in south Florida for 20 years and have been through my share....Wilma,Jean and Frances were the worst ones for me(I live over 75 miles from Miami so Andrew wasn't really an issue for us)
Hurricanes are very frightening to anyone who hasn't been through one before.It's a bit like a tornado but with more rain and less lightning(although you will see a great deal of lightning on occassion in a hurricane)Frances was horribly destructive,mainly because it hung around so long.75-120 mph for more than 15 hours.It was a nightmare come true.The wind shrieked and screamed like a living thing and the building we live in creaked and groaned for hours(and we live in a concrete building)Frances was the only time in 20 years of living in south Florida where I was actually terrified(and I grew up in Tornado Alley so i know bad weather)
The worst part of the hurricane is when the storm is over.Phone lines can (and do) go down for hours.You might be able to use your home phone but cell phones are dicey at best(many of the towers get destroyed in bad storms),plus the fact that everyone is trying to use their phones all at once.Electricity will most certainly be out and can be out for a week(we are lucky enough to live on the same grid as the VA Hospital so we were only without power for a day and half...rural areas usually have to wait a while)You probably won't be able to drive anywhere(and you really shouldn't)and if you need supplies you are going to find limited amounts.FEMA can not always be relied upon to deliver ice,water and MREs because even they run out of supplies.
Fortunately Florida is usually well prepared in the event of a hurricane(we have had lots of practice)so you will find quite a few businesses up and running in a few days and supplies do seem to get here rather quickly.Just take it in stride as part of living in Florida.
Native Floridian here! So been through everything from a tropical storm through a Cat 5 Hurricane Andrew. Andrew was the worst, the eye of the hurricane over my house to give you an idea of where I was in the storm. We all hunkered down in a small bathroom with all the animals. I literally sounded like a freight train was outside. I have to say this luckily my parents built our home and we had hurricane shutters as were were very fortunate compared to may other people in the area. The roof had extra hurricane straps and the house had other things extra that helped. The roof stayed in tack (a few shingles gone only), but we lost some french doors from flying debris from a neighbors detached garage roof and one window in the kitchen. So the kitchen was gone since it had gone through the second half of the hurricane with wind and debris hitting it Because the house had a vented roof, water got into the attic. I remember water dripping from the ceiling fixtures, so we had buckets under ever light fixture. The rugs were soaked and damaged (no more carpet, tile was put in afterwards) The shed was gone, pieces in the pool (which was black) and pieces not to be found. The pool slide and pool screen obviously were gone, never found all of it. Ohhh the trees, it looked like a bomb went off. Months without power and phone. We were able to cook as we had a gas stove in the house. I remember going to school without a/c in the classrooms in September, ughhh. Thank goodness we had generators and family came down to help and they brought supplies too. We were lucky in that we had water and a gas water heater to take a regular hot showers. So gas appliances are a very good thing. Many people were bathing in the canals. I remember people having signs in the yards "You loot we Shoot." scary...
There is a picture someplace, but I remember seeing it. It is a huge royal palm tree with a 2x4 through it. Just image if that was someone window or house. A friend of mine lost a family member during the hurricane, really sad, these things are nothing to mess with. Please if you live in a wood/stick home and a hurricane is coming please do not stay in it. Pack up what you can take your animals and get out, your life is more important.
Today, I get prepared in June, at the same time will not stay for anything worse than a Cat 3 ever again. Hubby wants to stay to protect the house from looters.
I have been in 4 hurricanes...Francis & Jeanne in 2004 and Katrina & Wilma in 2005. By far the worst two for me were Hurricane Jeanne in 2004 and Wilma. I lived in Fort Lauderdale at the time but I was in Gainesville for the Florida - Kentucky football game the day before Jeanne hit and ended up driving down to Melbourne (in Central Florida, east of Orlando right on the coast) where my parents live as I couldn't make it all the way back down to Fort Lauderdale safely before the storm hit. It was actually quite an experience, the craziest thing about it was the sound of the wind as the storm blew through..sounds like a huge jet engine on full throttle is the best way I can describe it. There was quite a bit of external structural damage, power outages, and downed trees after that one.
Wilma was marginally worse in South Florida, though the damage was much more widespread due to the higher population and development in the area. The sound of the wind during the storm was again the most intriguing thing. However, though the hurricane itself was quite interesting to live through, life after the storm was not so pleasant. Everything was pretty much turned upside down for the next three weeks after the storm, with power outages, broken traffic lights, and store closures everywhere. Our condo development, as well as multiple others, all faced paying large assessments based on the amount of storm damage, in addition to the multitudes of home owners that had to file insurance claims. I really wouldn't want to have to deal with a higher category of storm other than Wilma, which was only a category 2 when it passed over South Florida. One can only imagine how much worse it could really get in terms of destruction if South Florida got hit dead-on by a major storm.
Just one small one, Hurricane Gloria, in '85. It was comparatively weak, but much of the state was without power for a week or more. Hopefully they've upgraded the power lines to be a little more resilient for the next one that comes.
Cruxan - That looks as if it would repel a horde of Vikings.
I was on one of the last planes off St. Croix before the closed the airport for a hurricane that turned. But it didnt hit STX.
Had a near miss with Dean while in Playa
Was on the edge for Rita when in Houston. Roads were packed so I setted in and listened to transformers explode. Scary.
The few people I've known to experience a hurricane dead on said it was "the stupidest thing I ever did". I wasn't here for Ike but most say if its a Cat 3 or higher they are leaving.
I lived in Mobile County Alabama from 1959 through 1988. I have a fair amount of experience with hurricanes, including five that I worked as a disaster service worker.
Camille, 1969. Hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast just west of us. We got a pretty good shellacking from Camille's northeast quadrant. The Mississsippi coast was destroyed.
Agnes, 1972. Came ashore just east of Panama City FL. Didn't do a lot of damage to us, and only mild to moderate damage in Florida. Agnes moved through Georgia and into the Atlantic, where it strengthened and did a lot of damage to the Atlantic coast.
Eloise, 1975. Also hit the Florida panhandle. Did a lot of damage in Florida, not so much in Mobile County. We got a LOT of rain, causing some coastal flooding.
Frederic, 1979. Hit Mobile County head-on. Did a lot of damage -- the area looked like it had been shelled. Only one storm-related death in Mobile County. Official records say the wind gusted to 140mph. What they don't say is that the anemometer (the wind measurement instrument) blew off at that point, and disappeared. So, I think, the record should actually note that the wind gusted to at least 140mph!
Elena, 1985. Elena wandered east and west not far off the coast before making landfall near Biloxi. Again, we took a fair pasting from Elena's northeast quadrant, but nothing like Frederic or Camille.
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The great majority of hurricane-related deaths come, not from wind damage, but from drowning. So, while you're making your plans, take a good look at where you're situated. Get a flood map, or a topographic map, of your area. See what an additional 12-20 feet of water is likely to flood. Also check to see whether the flooding and water action is likely to cut you off.
And if the authorities recommend that you evacuate, don't let the screen door hit you on the way out!
I was on the outskirts of Camille, that was my first one in the south but we were far enough away from it that we didn't get very much damage.
Andrew, I spent at my daughters house along with a bunch of other relatives and only once did we get scared of that one.
For Katrina, I was out of state when it hit but was horrified at what I would find when I got home. No damage,thank GOD!
Gustav was by far, the worst for me. Again we rode it out at my daughters house with relatives and it really didn't seem to be that bad either... until a tree limb came crashing through right above where I was sitting. Suddenly there was banging on the front door and a barefoot man was standing there with a ax in his hands asking if we were alright, they saw the tree fall on the house and just knew someone was hurt... My son in law said " No tree fell on this house!"... Barefoot man said "OH YES IT DID, we watched it fall!"
I went to the kitchen window and called my daughter in there to look at what happened... She took one look, screamed and started to cry! The biggest tree in their yard behind the house had fell on her carport, taking it down to their new SUV and son's truck and took out the breezeway to the house all the way up to the back door... That limb that came through the roof above me was part of that tree. The actual damage to the house itself was small but it demolished the carport completely.
It also blew down another tree in their front yard but it fell where it didn't do anything but block the street.
I have to say, that was a horrible experience but one of the most amazing ever! The whole neighborhood pitched in to help, people cooked for us, made runs for gas or groceries that took them away for miles and miles every day looking for supplies needed. Others got chain saws and just started sawing, cutting and dragging heavy limbs. It was a community effort, helping to get the tree off the carport, then dismantling the fallen carport, keeping us fed, keeping us in supplies, keeping us clean (allowing us to bathe at their house)...
Note here, the electrical lines to her house ran through the carport so they couldn't even hook up a generator until the carport was dismantled and they could cut those wires. Everyone else had generators and that is how they were able to cook and heat water for baths. They took turns cooking enough to feed everybody who helped and one guy had 2- 100 gallon drums and he would leave every few days before daylight to go look for gasoline and not come back until he had 200 gallons... some days, he would travel over 200 miles in his search. When he got back, he would go house to house letting people buy what they needed at the price he paid for it.
My daughters house had the worst damage of any in the subdivision they lived in but the worst of the damage couldn't be seen from the road because the damage was at the back of the house..
Now, a funny story here... One day, a few days after the storm, we noticed a constant flow of traffic going by the house and people stopping to look. The traffic was like that all day long and we couldn't figure out what was going on. Every car would stop and look, move on and another would take it's place and they would just gawk at us and the house.. I found out later, that my brother in OREGON who has contacts everywhere had heard there was a local radio station in our area that wanted to hear peoples stories about damage in our area so he called them from Oregon, told them about what happened to my daughters house and gave the address! LOL! That is how they found out and come to see for themselves.. I am still laughing about that!
The tree on the house. Where the guy is in the bluse shorts is where the limb came through the celing. There's a BIG hole there..
The back of the house where the tree fell....
The root of the tree that fell on the house
The SUV once the tree and carport was removed, still sttting where it was when the tree fell.. IT was totaled, to much frame and chasie damage underneath.
I was at my parents house when David hit - 1979. Just a cat 2 but it was a bit dicey as they were on the water. They lost some trees. First they told us not to evacuated, then they told us we should have evacuated but it was too late. Watching the water come up over the seawall was a bit intimidating.
My dad and I went out and walked around in the eye and that was pretty cool (We did not go far, just out in the yard and went inside when it started to pick up again)
My kids went through Erin down there.
My dad probably had the most exciting experience because he was on a Gantry (Rocket support) during a hurricane but I can't recall which one and don't think it was a direct hit. Sometime in the mid 60s.
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