How bad do hurricanes suck? (Tampa, Largo: apartment, houses, transfer)

[Deef1]

How bad do they suck? Are you kidding me? They suck the big one!

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by Deef1

How bad do they suck? Are you kidding me? They suck the big one!

Not if the area you live in never gets hit by one.

[Spring Hillian]

I agree what they do suck, but how much they suck depends on where it lands in comparison to where you are. Hurricanes don't last too long. A few hours. Once it blows by it's over. The rain stops, the wind stops, the sun shines again. The damage your home and area incur is a different story. If you live a mobile home or a wood framed house and a hurricane comes over it you are generally screwed. However, if you live in concrete block home, reinforced rebar if you are close to the coast, proper windows or window coverings, a roof that is up to the current code, a generator, a bbq grill with an extra tank of gas, gasoline supply, a good hurricane kit, and some sense of adventure, they aren't too bad.

Hurricane Charley passed over my house in Orlando in 2004. It was the 2nd scariest evening of my life. The first one was a typhoon in Okinawa.
The aftermath of the hurricane was minimal. Wooden fencing blown down (actually the wind snapped the 4 x 4's which were rotted at the ground level and just broke there), a few trees in the area down. The big ones are the worse. One neighbor lost a shed, it just blew apart, another got hit by a falling tree and it crunched in part of his house. Lots of tree debris on the streets. No power for 6 days because the power lines were above ground on poles. Water was fine. We didn't have a generator for Charlie and the windows weren't covered either. There was little time to prepare because that storm was supposed to hit Tampa. By the time I got home from work and tried messing with the window coverings it was too late. Windy!

However, Tampa Bay hasn't had a hurricane hit since the 1920s.
That does not mean that there won't be 3 this year that hit.
Orlando didn't have a hurricane since 1961 or something until Charlie in 2004.

They aren't a common weather event, but Floridians should be prepared for them.

Originally Posted by GreenieTA

All joking aside ... really!? We're looking to move to FL this summer. I currently live in the Chicago suburbs so the worst thing we get are tornados. In my 26 years, I've never seen one. Though, there have been 2 (small ones) in my city in the last 3 years. Tornado sirens are a common thing in the spring time. I look forward to the thunderstorms. I do not, however, look forward to snow in the winter. We had a blizzard last month ... 21+ inches and it was like the world stopped dead! Cars were stranded for hours and hours, everything was closed ... it was crazy!

So tell me ... how bad are the threats of hurricanes and tropical storms? And when they do affect the area, what's it like? I've done a lot of research and reading and see there really hasn't been a *direct* hurricane hit in quite some time.

Any insight is much appreciated!

[Deef1]

Originally Posted by CHASLS2

Not if the area you live in never gets hit by one.

Even so... ALL our homeowner's insurance premiums in any state that CAN be hit is affected whether your home is in the direct path or not. IT SUCKS...and... count your lucky blessings if you have been spared. The tornadoes that spawn from the Hurricanes can still get you my pretty, and your little dog too! Ahhh HA HA HA...(sorry! I couldn't resist)

[num1baby]

Originally Posted by Maggi07

Yeah, sure, can't think of anything else. ROFL

My emergency kit actually has a couple bottles of wine in it. A friend recently reminded me I better put a corkscrew in there too. LOL

In all seriousness, here's a link to a kit if anyone needs to know: Supply Kit

Make sure your wine opener isn't an electric opener. It would be horrible to be stuck in the middle of the storm and realize your wine opener isn't charged.

I find hurricanes to be more annoying than scary. In 2004, we had just moved in to our first house. We moved in less than a month before Charley hit. We were without power for over a week (closer to 2 weeks)because we were on a very small electric grid. Somehow we are on a grid with only 1 other house (which was vacant). Our power came back on for a couple of weeks and we lost power again. We lost power for several days with each of the following 3 storms. It turns out there was a tree that kept hitting our pole and knocking power out much earlier than other houses. It was so humid in our house that we had to replace all of our interior doors after they all became so swollen that we couldn't close them any more.

Oh and did I mention that I was 7 months pregnant at the time? That was so miserable. It may also be why I remember the 2004 hurricane season as being so horrible. Others that lived just a few miles from me said they hardly remember it and that their power was only out for a couple of hours.

Like I said at the beginning though, I think they are more annoying than scary.

One tip: In our "hunker down" pack, we chose a few foods that we could also cook on the grill for after the rains but before power was back on. Choose these carefully. I, unfortunately, let my husband do the shopping for food because he does the cooking. He shopped at Sam's club. We ended up eating about 30 hot dogs each and countless cans of baked beans. I still, to this day, cannot eat hot dogs. Make sure you have a nice selection of food that can be cooked on a grill.

[Keeper]

Well I was in Tampa for Elena and Charlie. We had to evacuate our apt for Elena because we lived right on the bay. Spent the weekend at Leto HS.. Now that was fun.. not . There was little damage in tampa except for trees/branches down. Elena wondered around off shore for 2 days. Heck they were landing planes at TIA while we sat in our car at Leto. You couldn't sleep because of all the noise and if you didn't bring a lawn chair all you had was the floor. They did feed us and we helped out with the cooking/serving.

Contrary to what Starwin stated we lost power for over a week. Many areas lost power and depending on how close you were to a hospital or how many ppl were affected determined how fast you got your electric back.

We will make a thread in May or June so ppl can ask questions about hurricanes.

I can tell you I prefer a hurricane over a tornado even if the tornadoes are in the hurricane at least you expecting bad weather. Tornadoes every spring and fall are no fun.

We had a 'hurricane' box with food, water and batteries. I also made sure we had a grill with a cooking unit so you could heat up the food if necessary.

[starwins]

I live in Temple Terrace and close to USF, so my power comes on the soonest . Yeah, if you don't live in a major part of Tampa, you will be one of the last one to be served.

[Keeper]

Originally Posted by starwins

I live in Temple Terrace and close to USF, so my power comes on the soonest . Yeah, if you don't live in a major part of Tampa, you will be one of the last one to be served.

Not true.. it depends on how many ppl are affected by the power outage. I lived in a 'major' part of Tampa but there were only about 100 homes mol affected by the outage. Another area close to me got their power back quickly because their grid affected a hospital.

[thethinktank]

Originally Posted by GreenieTA

All joking aside ... really!? We're looking to move to FL this summer. I currently live in the Chicago suburbs so the worst thing we get are tornados. In my 26 years, I've never seen one. Though, there have been 2 (small ones) in my city in the last 3 years. Tornado sirens are a common thing in the spring time. I look forward to the thunderstorms. I do not, however, look forward to snow in the winter. We had a blizzard last month ... 21+ inches and it was like the world stopped dead! Cars were stranded for hours and hours, everything was closed ... it was crazy!

So tell me ... how bad are the threats of hurricanes and tropical storms? And when they do affect the area, what's it like? I've done a lot of research and reading and see there really hasn't been a *direct* hurricane hit in quite some time.

Any insight is much appreciated!

Hey there Greenie. Having lived in downtown Chicago for 8 years prior to my move (and tornado-capitol Iowa City another 2 years on top of that), I can calm your fears with one simple comparison. If a hurricane is approaching the Tampa Bay, you have a good four days notice to get your stuff together and get the hell out. In the midwest, a tornado isn't nice enough to give you a 96 hour forewarning.

[unkindravens]

To the OP: you're only real problem living by tampa with hurricanes is a phenomenon called "rapid intensification" --- ie, check out charley from 04- went from a cat 1 to a cat 4 very fast, caught a lot of ppl off guard who didn't prepare as much.

Say a cat 1 is heading towards tampa and then 36 hours before landfall it blows up into a 3 or 4 cuz it hit a warm eddy or just happened to orangize right quick -- you could be in trouble.

Just always prepare and if you get the big one, like andrew in 92, then have your wits about you and stay focused and alert and ride it through bro.

Its the price you pay for paradise.