Parts of Florida have many pluses for retirees - not this week though (benefits, mother)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It depends on the part of Florida. Inland would be less expensive than coastal.
It really doesn’t matter what part of FL you live, some parts like coastal areas are obvious. But overall the state can easily get swallowed up by direct hit of any cat 3+ storm. The risk is too great, with the hotter ocean temps. We are seeing almost annually Cat 4+ storms in the Atlantic. Are you ready for this kind of risk?
I thought about moving to FL a long time ago but decided against it due to the risk I predicted back then. I don’t have the risk tolerance for having to dodge storms as an annual event.
It really doesn’t matter what part of FL you live, some parts like coastal areas are obvious. But overall the state can easily get swallowed up by direct hit of any cat 3+ storm. The risk is too great, with the hotter ocean temps. We are seeing almost annually Cat 4+ storms in the Atlantic. Are you ready for this kind of risk?
I thought about moving to FL a long time ago but decided against it due to the risk I predicted back then. I don’t have the risk tolerance for having to dodge storms as an annual event.
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.
This is one of the reasons why I don't think I could ever live in FL. Facing possible evacuation every year is just something I would want to have to worry about.
Where would you live?
When I lived in Fort Lauderdale... Hurricane Wilma.
When I moved to Crofton, Maryland in 2011... within the first three months, an earthquake, then later that year, massive flooding... many died in Glen Bernie and "the dina," and then a hurricane, and then as I was leaving Feb of 2014, the worst snowstorm in over 20+ years.
When I moved back to Fort Lauderdale, nice and calm for 3 years.
Then I moved to San Antonio, Texas in 2017... hurricane (yes), and then the state's worst Flood in over 50 years, followed them by the worst cold snap and snow storm in modern history (literally snowed two of the four years I lived there 2018 and 2021).
Then I lived in Afghanistan for 6 months when I was deployed in 2019... Earthquake... and I won't blame nature for the other stuff.
Then I moved to Tampa... 2020 and the 5th worst hurricane to hit the East Coast in modern history (Ian)
So... unless it's just me... it seems everywhere has problems... and everything above was literally in the last 20 years. Something is going to kill you, eventually. But I love the state...
Anybody remember Camille? That had a 30' storm surge that plowed inland for a mile or more as such. Compared to Camille, Ian was a candycane. Camille was a hurricane.
Florida is too humid and hot for 4-5 months. Last time I was there in June I almost croaked in the heat/humidity.
I would add second homes to that list as well. Why should the government pay to reimburse me for the loss of my vacation cottage or my winter snowbird home? Those are luxuries. Nobody NEEDS more than one house.
I also think we should be getting realistic about what global warming is going to do to southern Florida and to coastal areas all throughout the Gulf and the eastern seaboard, and start using buyouts to encourage people to relocate to safer locations. In the long run, that will be cheaper then trying to rebuild in a bad location over and over again.
I know someone who lost their beach house in Sandy. They were not permitted to rebuild. I don't know if that was a municipal call or a state one.
I remember the woman showed me a photo of her jouse after the storm, and at first glance it looked OK. Then she said, "Do you remember there were five steps leading to the front door?" and I realized the sand was up to the front door. The steps were buried. Plus the house next door was now leaning against it. The whole area a certain distance from the beach would be cleared and not rebuilt.
Anybody remember Camille? That had a 30' storm surge that plowed inland for a mile or more as such. Compared to Camille, Ian was a candycane. Camille was a hurricane.
Florida is too humid and hot for 4-5 months. Last time I was there in June I almost croaked in the heat/humidity.
Myers, no e.
I agree about the heat and humidity. My ex's family had mostly moved there, and they would get married in Juky and August, two of them multiple times. It was horrible, disgusting. I never felt dry or clean.
In your situation you had to watch a much longer portion of the coast because you were in Panama City, FL and your wife and kids were in New Orleans. When the hurricane passed you by and headed towards your family, you then had to make a long drive into an evacuation zone to pick them up and get them to safety. I can certainly see how that would be extremely stressful.
For someone living on the coast what happens is a little different. Days ahead of the storm there are predictions as to where the storm is going to go. If you are in the "cone of uncertainty" you start laying in supplies, fill the cars up with gas, make sure the generator is working, etc. If the storm looks like it's going to be a bad one, you figure out where you will evacuate to, you put on the hurricane shutters, put sandbags wherever they may be needed, make sure that trees/shrubs are trimmed back from the house and you secure any outdoor patio furniture and other items. When it becomes clear that the storm is headed in your direction, you either evacuate or hunker down. Certainly if it's a Category 4 it would be wise to evacuate. That might mean driving a few hours inland to get away from the devastating winds and storm surge.
It's not like you are dealing with something sudden like an F-5 tornado where all you can do is huddle in the most interior bathroom and pray. With hurricanes you do have warning, you do have time to prepare.
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.)
I agree about the heat and humidity. My ex's family had mostly moved there, and they would get married in Juky and August, two of them multiple times. It was horrible, disgusting. I never felt dry or clean.
Oh yeah - no "e".
But I can top it...My mom always pronounced it Ft Myerson (as in Bess Myerson) I guess she never got What's My Line out of her head.
Last edited by TwinbrookNine; 10-03-2022 at 07:11 PM..
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.)
I have never experienced a fire evacuation and I hope I never do. I suppose if you have plenty of time to get out of the area and the fire isn't actively encroaching on you, it wouldn't be as stressful.
As far as Northern Virginia goes, you might be surprised to learn that the DC area actually does get hit by hurricanes some years. They are generally Cat 1 by the time they get over Northern Virginia, but the damage can still be pretty bad. For one thing, the trees and plants are not meant to withstand hurricane force winds, so there are a lot of downed trees and power lines in a bad storm. Also, the buildings/homes aren't up to hurricane code so there can be some structural damage even in a Cat 1 storm.
In 2003 hurricane Isabel rolled through the area taking out electricity and water in some areas, including Springfield, VA.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
