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”Incredible timelapse video shows 15-foot storm surge from Hurricane Ian completely wipe out Fort Myers - as officials say it will remain without power for at least a month”
• Footage shot over several hours but neatly edited into a two-and-a-half minute video catches a stretch of highway close to the beach before the 15 foot storm surge came ashore washing away wooden buildings
• It is an apocalyptic scene for the residents of Fort Myers some of whom must know that they may never return to the place they once called home
Really good link! Thank you for sharing. I think I have been to where the video is shot.
I have friends in Ft Myers. So far, only heard back from one of them. Thankfully she and her family made through okay without much damage. Talking with her next week to find out more.
That's a common misconception. Academic research of actual data shows it is not true. "Outside investors" make for a convenient boogeyman, but the data show outside investors are not the major factor.
I'm not sure what research you are referring to but anyone who follows the real estate market in Florida at all knows that investors have absolutely played a role in over heating the market.
That isn't to say that there aren't other factors involved, as well, because Florida most certainly has seen an influx of people moving into the state. But there is no denying that investors have taken advantage of the escalating real estate prices - that's what investors do.
Ex: I was following the Jacksonville market for a little while and there were some old, crappy looking shacks going up on the market and being snatched up the moment they hit the MLS. You think that the average person looking to move to Florida would be buying a sketchy looking house without even seeing it in person first?
I follow this kind of stuff for the fun of it. I am not a real estate investor, just to clarify.
There are parts of Florida that have never seen and will never see a major hurricane. The risk of a Cat 4 hitting The Villages, for instance, is slim to none. Correct me if I'm wrong but in all the years The Villages has been there, I don't think that they've even had to evacuate.
Not a hurricane, but in 2007 the Groundhog Day tornado wiped out a lot of Sumter County.
But the Villages were able to rebuild pretty quickly.
Despite the narrative pushed by the financial wonks and varying cheerleaders Florida has not been a best place to retire since the 1980s. The carefree Golden Girls-era has moved on and now encompasses a much higher cost of living, ridiculous rents for those who wisely chose not to sink all or much of savings into FL real estate at an advanced age, inferior medical care/services along with a shortage of many specialists, sky-high insurance premiums (home/flood and auto) and precious few state social services if/when needed.
This was not the only hurricane we had to evacuate from - that was just an example of how unpredictable they are and cover much larger swaths. There were others that hit the LA coast or were projected to come close - so had to prepare to evacuate several times and actually evacuated a couple of times. I also lived in Florida and on the coast in other states so saw these storms there also but never had to evacuate from those places.
I also worked with FEMA on hurricane relief for Katrina (and Rita + Wilma) for about 5 months so well aware of the impact these storms cause. The damage from hurricanes is also wider area most of the time and there is more stress about what damage was done even in a near miss.
On the other hand, fires are much easier to evade and much less stress - fires are also able to be mitigated or contained in some cases. For hurricanes you always need to go farther out than for a fire. Our evacuation for hurricanes was several hundred miles, for fires was more like 20 miles.
The idea is to evacuate, not hunker down - that is really not a smart way to deal with it. Until you go through both, kind of hard to really feel the difference but to us, it is not even close - hurricanes are very much more stressful.
As far as tornadoes, only really had to shelter once - it was an EF-4 that hit about 15 miles away and leveled some buildings and was moving towards us but lifted before it got to us - rattled everything a bunch for about 10 minutes but no real damage other than some trees. Been through a couple of earthquakes that were 6+ that will knock things around and damage buildings and many much smaller ones. For both, the only real option is to shelter in place - they rattle you but not huge stress once the danger passes.
(PS - I also lived in Springfield Va for a year - never worried about hurricanes or fires there.)
No, huge wildfire embers can be carried as far as 20 miles. Wildfires are terrifying. Stop downplaying that.
Not a hurricane, but in 2007 the Groundhog Day tornado wiped out a lot of Sumter County.
But the Villages were able to rebuild pretty quickly.
Tornados can happen almost anywhere though. Why it happened in Sumter County that year, who knows.
Do they get a lot of tornado warnings in The Villages? If so, I haven't heard of it. The one thing that they do have some consistent issues with are sinkholes. Most owners never have an issue with them but those that do have a real mess on their hands.
Tornados can happen almost anywhere though. Why it happened in Sumter County that year, who knows.
Do they get a lot of tornado warnings in The Villages? If so, I haven't heard of it. The one thing that they do have some consistent issues with are sinkholes. Most owners never have an issue with them but those that do have a real mess on their hands.
Yeah, I remember one of those huge sinkhole stories where the guy was sleeping and his house fell almost completely into a sinkhole. The first thing that turned me off Florida back in the 80's was just the sheer number of seemingly wall street / ny types down there. After that the sinkhole thing pretty much firmed up I would never live/ retire there. For added measure the hurricanes seal the deal.
I did last in Houston 9 months in the 80's and the Tornado warnings were horrible (not to mention the enormous amount of bugs, the humidity, the rains every afternoon during the summer, etc., etc.). I have always and will always live out West.
”Incredible timelapse video shows 15-foot storm surge from Hurricane Ian completely wipe out Fort Myers - as officials say it will remain without power for at least a month”
• Footage shot over several hours but neatly edited into a two-and-a-half minute video catches a stretch of highway close to the beach before the 15 foot storm surge came ashore washing away wooden buildings
• It is an apocalyptic scene for the residents of Fort Myers some of whom must know that they may never return to the place they once called home
That video ought to be mandatory viewing for anyone living on a barrier island, or visiting Florida's beaches and barrier islands during hurricane season. It leaves no doubt about what a massive storm surge can do, and why you do NOT want to take the chance of "riding out the storm" if you might be in the path of a storm surge!
The newscasters (during the storm) said many of the homes right on the beach were most likely not insurable.
Not true - flood insurance is a federal run program - https://www.floodsmart.gov/flood-insurance - part of FEMA. Flood insurance is not that expensive unless in an area that floods regularly.
We were in New Orleans, LA (NOLA) for a little over 3 years, an area that is hit by hurricanes very regularly. Our house was about 2-3 feet below sea level (count on pumps to keep area dry when it rains) and just blocks from the mississippi river on one side and marsh land and a shipping canal on the other sides - not low risk area I would think. Our mortgage required flood insurance but it was less than 25% of the cost of required house insurance - pretty cheap considering.
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