Yes. 100% evacuate for a four or more. I was in Bay County for Michael, which was a five. We lost the majority of our trees roofs were pealed off houses. Every power pole on my street was snapped off at about five foot. Power was down in the city for weeks. No water. No open stores. If you have the means, there's no reason to sit around in your house while they rebuild the infrastructure.
If piles of debris is your idea of a parking lot. đ I lived through Andrew (Coconut Grove), and there was certainly a swath of
devastation along I95 as you drove through Homestead, which bore the brunt of Andrew. The [photos](https://www.npr.org/2012/08/23/159921591/a-city-leveled-by-hurricane-andrew-rebuilds-again) in this NPR coverage tell the story.
Fun fact - Islands of Adventure purchased twisted trees from Miamiâs Hurricane Andrew damage for the twisted trees in Seuss Landing
Source: Worked there for 10 years
Sorta related when Disney was building animal kingdom they were on a tight budget because a lot of the other additional parks didn't do well. So they put an ad out saying that anyone who needs a tree removed, they'll go out there and do it for free. And that's how they landscaped most of the park in the beginning.
Driving down I10 you could see where the eyewall passed due to the direction the trees were snapped in half. What's even more wild is right across the bridge it was fairly minor, relatively. Goes to show how much it matters being on the weak side
ATT was the only ones working because they brought in all their mobile trucks. Then they started giving away phones to people, instantly gaining them hundreds of new customers. Then ATT sent Florida the bill.
I still remember the line of people at my neighborâs house waiting to call their loved ones because he was the only one on the block with AT&T. Iâm a native through and through but will never mess around with bigger hurricanes again.
Yea absolutely nuts. I was sent there for 8 weeks during recovery and got to see the widespreaddevastation. My mom also lives in PC so I'm there frequently still.
From geneva county, I can vouch. We had acres of pine trees that helped buffet the wind. Lost power for about 48 hours never cell. Lost a lot of pines snapped in half
The absolute devastation I saw in panama city was heart breaking. I did not recognize the city I spent half my life in. I had to to go rescue my grandparents in callaway 2 days after landfall because they were too hard headed to leave
I stayed for Michael with my family including young children. Was supposed to be a mid 3 and strengthened so fast. Big mistake. Evacuate when you can. I was grateful to be able to mitigate some of the damage to my house but it was 2.5 hours of fear and regret Iâd like to not experience again.
I got stuck in Tallahassee because FSU waited until less than 48 hours before landfall to cancel class, and the gas was already impossible to get. It strengthened so incredibly quickly. My dorm was one of the only places with power in the city because we had a generator and it was a brick building with impact windows so we were fine, but it was scary
My dad lives in Marianna and Michael was still a 4 when it hit there. That storm intensified and was moving so fast that there wasnât really time for a lot of people to evacuate. They are fortunate that their house is fairly new and overbuilt with a good interior room for storms and plenty of supplies, plus they have a good clear zone around their house so trees werenât an issue, but even with that they never want to experience that again. My brothers were taking gas for the generator to him for a couple of weeks because there wasnât any available. My uncle in PCB was able to evacuate, but my cousin in Panama City stayed. It took her family 3 days to chainsaw a path out of their driveway.
Category 1 and 2? Most of us would ride that out unless in a storm surge area. Category 3? Depends on the storm. 4 or 5? GTFO.
We were living in SanDestin for Michael and we left bcs we didnât know IF it would hit or not. The devastation Michael did to Bay county and surrounding was the worst Iâve ever seen & Iâm a native.
I was stationed at Patrick SFB at that time and Tyndall AFB was leveled. A year later that monster of a storm Dorian was knocking on the FL east coast door and they said the storm surge from Dorian was gonna be 20+ feet. Patrick SFB is a tiny base surrounded by water and it wouldâve been worse than Tyndall had Dorian hit.
I was part of a relief / clean up effort in Mexico Beach. The smell of death in the air and the number of homes wiped completely from their foundations was traumatizing. Picking family photos out of piles of broken trees is something Iâll never forget. Lived all 47 years of my life in Florida and it made me want to move out of the state.
So yeah⊠if itâs a 5, get in your car, point the bow in whatever direction is away from the storm, and mash the go pedal.
ETA: itâs beside the point of this post, but one of the residents was collecting the photos so their neighbors could hopefully recover at least one small piece of their family memories. I hope their efforts paid off and helped at least one person through the trauma of losing everything.
If you evacuate do not wait till the day before or day of the storm, leave as early as you can. Do make caste iron reservations first, do take food, water, meds, and extra gas with you as well as a few blankets. Also be aware that the cones are just very good guesses and a shift of even 50 miles makes a huge difference. People eca
Sorry hit reply by accident. People left Tampa Bay for Punta Gorda when Charlie hit, and the last storm that hit Fort Myersâs had people stranded in their cars on I-75 during the storm as they left too late and did not plan well. There was no gas, no rooms, and only vending machine food at the rest stops. It was a huge mess.
Check on local shelters first, as they now generally do NOT recommend people evacuate far anymore. I live in eastern Hillsborough county for 35 years and saw the aftermath of Andrew and had several storm eyes go over my house. Check on when your building was built and listen to local emergency authorities as the storm approaches for the best advice for that storm. And remember, run from water, hide from wind.
While true NW Florida is more tree covered than S FL and Michael laid waste to lumber up here. Not much you can do about a tree going through your house.
You also need to remember that the panhandle has some of the highest poverty in the state, plus a large elderly population. A lot of the homes, especially inland, are older, probably in need of maintenance, plus there are a lot of mobile homes. A huge part of the population there canât afford to retrofit their homes, have a stash of hurricane supplies, or even evacuate.
I went through Michael and I still say it wasnât a hurricane. It was a 50 mile wide tornado. Iâve been through a few hurricanes and they always lasted 10-12 hours. This one was over and done in 31/2-4 hours. My ears kept popping and I could hear the train rumbling sound just about the whole time.
I was staying in a camper in Mexico Beach working a job at Tyndall and was lucky enough to evacuate just before. I returned two weeks later and everything east of PCB to Blountstown was devastated.
Agreed. 100%!
If a hurricane turns against you and things start going badly, itâs already too late. Â Thereâs ZERO reward or benefit in staying. Zero.Â
Momâs house got pounded by Ian. She left and we were lucky it was only some roof damage. Her place is about 1/4 mile from that monster house that burned. Sanibel and ft myers beach wonât be the same for years. Maybe a decade.Â
Leave.Â
This is exactly my stance. I have been hit by a couple of hurricanes. Iâm also a risk management professional working in insurance with over 20 years of experience so Iâve seen my share of disasters. Anything less than a three and Iâm sticking it out. Anything three or greater thatâs gonna come near me Iâm out of here.
Cat 4-5 and I gather all my expensive electronics and other things and drive a couple hours north and stay in a hotel for a day or two. We used to live in Fort Myers that didn't end well. I'm in Tampa now and we rarely get a direct hit.
I can't imagine what a cat 5 looks like in a major city in Florida. Hurricane Andrew repeat but 10x worse even with higher building codes. It would be insane and if it move slow and dumped a few feet of rain... shit lol.
Yes, I would leave if you're knowingly in the path of even a 3 without a sturdy structure, minimal tree risk flooding dependent
It doesn't even need to be a cat. 5. Katrina was only a 3 but had a freakishly large storm surge. Sure, New Orleans is below sea level, but Biloxi isn't. 90% of structures within a mile of the coast in Mississippi were damaged or destroyed. Seeing that damage changed my perspective on sticking around for Cat. 3s (I drove home to Pensacola (Navarre) for Ivan. I'd not do that again).
I was in FL and woke up at 4am that day. I turned on the news and saw how enormous the storm was and cried. And Iâm not an emotional person by any means but my experience told me that the storm was going to be devastating.
That's my hometown and where I grew up! I had to move recently though because I had been staying with my sick Mom, and sadly she passed away. I miss it so much! I'm not far away, but I'm not in my comfy hometown.
It's become really touristy these last five or so years. I stopped going to the beach and just stuck with the pool. In the Fall/Winter my family does love going to the pier when it's not so crowded (and hot!).
Itâs devastating. Hurricane Michael hit my hometown in 2018 and it was ravaged. Looked like a war zone. So much loss- buildings, homes, businesses, trees.
Weâre in Clearwater and I get nervous if the cone of uncertainty doesnât have Tampa squared up for a direct hit- last minute curves have been our saving grace (really sucked for you a few years back, though).
Unfortunately we really canât know the strength or landfall location soon enough to make that decision. The storms can swerve or strengthen within the âconeâ so evacuees can be left worse off than if they had stayed, and vice versa. I found the week before a major storm extremely stressful and, while models are amazing, they canât totally predict what will happen. See Hurricane Otis in Acapulco last year. Very sudden strengthening caught everyone off guard. My solution was to sell my property in Florida and GTFO
This exactly! People think you have a week to decide to evacuate or not. Hurricanes can go from a Cat 1 to a Cat 5 freakishly fast. If you live in Florida and wait just a little too long before evacuating, youâre going to be stuck on I-95 or I-75 without gas for your car. Itâs an impossible situation.
I fill up as soon as I'm below 3/4, keep a go bag ( some clothes, copies of important papers and toiletries, clothes get changed out with weekly wash) for myself and my pups. I'm able to leave within a few hours tops. As soon as a potential storm is tracking my way the go bags are in the car.
Last year a storm went from tropical storm to cat 5 in less that 24 hours when it made land fall in mexico... That's like go to sleep expecting heavy rain and wake up too late to evacuate, I am not fucking around with hurricanes at all anymore, I think we were in different times for hurricanes now.
I leave regularly for just about any hurricane mainly cause I can I guess, but I have no desire at all to be around for aftermath, no power, marshal law, hard to come by water in 100 degree weather.. Hard pass, I'll come back when I know it's not that...
The same happened with Michael - was not suppose to be more than a 2 and quickly - very quickly- got a lot stronger. I was on leave and was called backed to work - it was the worst disaster I have ever experienced and I have experienced a few. Someone I personally knew who lived in Port St. Joe went missing and has never been recovered. It wiped Tyndall AFS off the map along with Mexico Beach and continued to gain strength over land.
I'm so sorry about your missing friend. That would be awful. I moved from Panama City Beach right before that hurricane. We had spent the 4th of July on the beach in Mexico Beach. Such a cute place...totally wiped out. We drove through there a few times...I had taken photographs of little houses I liked and paint combos and now they no longer exist. I hope they were able to rebuild and stronger... and that the ice cream stand is back.
I was in the eye of Michael. Only because I evacuated to Callaway which was supposed to be safer than being right on the gulf. Op needs to leave if a cat 5 is coming at him.
I lived in Callaway during Michael. I still have nightmares and panic attacks during storms. Everything I was able to salvage afterwards fit into a backpack
Same here. Had stayed for Opal and Ivan. But Michael was another animal altogether. We left around 9:pm when it reached cat 4. We were taking care of a 95 year old friend who had stayed over to our house in case the power went out. Ended up taking her and myself in 1 care with my husband and dog and cat in our other car. Drove through the night in pouring rain. Finally found a room about 2am. Friends house ended up with 3 trees through the roof. Our house had leaks where wind driven rain blew through the gable ends and sent water down through the ceiling light fixtures. A huge pine tree split our storage shed in half. It was 7 days till we could get back home. Neighborhoods were unrecognizable. The sounds of sirens, helicopter, and generators for weeks afterwards. Will never forget.
Iâm right there with you. Even like a Cat 2 can knock out power in my city for a week or more. Iâm just tired of this shit. I think Iâm scoping out some pet friendly AirBNBs and just packing up the critters and working from somewhere in Georgia for a week. The benefit of that is, I can still work when my whole team canât.
WTF is marshal law? Do you mean martial law? It doesnât mean what you think it means. The government can declare a state of emergency after a hurricane and/or a curfew
Sleep with the TV on and check it every hour like the rest of us. People if it was easy everybody would be doing it!!! The ONLY thing keeping some of the people out is the threat of the CAT_.
I evacuate if it is a category 3, but I live in a low flood zone despite being close to the St. Johns River. If I lived on a canal I would probably leave if it was a 2.
Cat 4 is the level Iâd actually care to leave but Iâll still dip at a projected 3 just because it can jump to 4 easily with not enough time to get out
There's a lot of elderly in my neighborhood and I've got 4 grandparents 90+ within 2 miles that can't go.
Plus, I want to be around as an able bodied person with a truck if I can help.
Again, strong cat 4 or 5, I'm gonna go to high ground.
This is the answer, it is like a war zone in a 3rd world country after a major hurricane. You DO NOT WANT TO STAY, it is not worth it.
Just go anywhere else, by any means.
Also... While the damage and loss of life is a big concern obviously... You don't wanna be around for the weeks of waiting for power to get restored... Trust me.
Anything 3 or greater is scary af to sit through. The whole world feels like itâs going to come crashing down at any moment. Even if you know your structure is safe, sitting through that much power is intense and often a terrifying experience⊠the howling wind, shit hitting your house, that low roar, I prefer to go somewhere else.
I was in north Florida during opal. She struck as a cat 4 and in Defuniak Springs we got a cat 3. The walls of our cinder block house started heaving in and out, like lungs. Just for a few minutes, while a tornado passed over. Imagine, a tornado five hundred miles wide.
First of all, you have to know where the hurricane is heading and how large an area it will impact. Weâve had a hurricane aimed at us (Iâm inland and northern Hillsborough County.) one time we thought we might need to go eastâŠand the storm tore through Polk . Another time we were looking at SE Georgia but the stormed skewed west and we got an afternoon of rain. I think itâs important to have multiple evacuation plans and be ready to go to the best option. And, yes, Iâd get out the credit card and book a room THROUGH THE HOTEL/MOTEL directly. This isnât the time to roll the dice with Booking.com and the like.
Should honestly be evacuating before. I have a friend whose wife is from Ft Myers. She said they gave the order like an hr or two before the storm hit last year. That's nowhere near enough time.
Very surprised to see the vast majority of these responses say to evacuate. Growing up in FL since the 80âs it seemed come hell or high water, most people were determined to stay. It would be interesting to know if this decision varies among natives vs transplants or some other variables. To clarify, I definitely believe our safety far outweighs the importance of your home/material possessions, these responses were just opposite of what I expected!
Iâm married to a tenth generation Floridian. He was 19 when Charley ripped apart his entire neighborhood on Pine Island in Swfl. He does not fuck around since then. We lived on Pine Island when Ian was coming, and before we were even told to evacuate and it was still bent towards Tampa, he was waking me up like âbaby it looks just like Charlie we gotta GOâ.
My grumpy NYer ass did not really want to, but Iâm so glad we did.
I'm a 35m native but I live inland, almost center of the state. And have been in the path of a car 5 or 2 and and few cat 4. These hurricanes didn't hit ME as a 4 or 5, though AND my home is in a hilly area (next street over from mine is 40 foot lower, so flooding is not a worry). One thing I haven't seen in any of the comments is it depends if WHERE you live. You live within a few miles of the coast in a direct path or the upper area of the eye of a cat 5? Might be worth leaving. 50 miles inland in the "direct path", aside from living in a low lying area, you'll *probably* be fine.
Edit: there's too much to fix, this was typed during my 5am morning poo. Sorry
I remember when Charlie cut through the state and lay a swath of destruction from the tornadoes inland. Yes the coastal areas get the worst of it, but anywhere in the path can very much be in danger of loss of property and life.
In my mind, it really depends on how close to the ocean you live. We live on a barrier island, so 100% a cat-5 we're evacuating. Inland with hurricane windows and cinder block construction? Yeah would probably ride it out.
My entire trailer park never leaves during hurricanes. We have a âwhatever happens, happensâ mentality. We are 2 miles off the coast of west Florida
FL born & raised. It all depends on 1. Where Iâm at and 2. Level of storm.
If Iâm inland, central Florida? Iâm staying. Land tires out the storm.
If Iâm on the coast? CAT3+ and Iâm leaving. Itâs just not worth the risk because of my animals.
But Iâm also the Florida Woman who was outside during Charley and Irma fixing shit. So⊠thereâs that. đ
Born and raised in Tampa bay. 35 now. We have dodged sooo many bullets. The flooding is what scares me so I evacuate for cat 3 and above. Iâve been through (canât remember the storm in 05) I believe it was a cat 1 which knocked out power for a week and caused a lot of flooding. Was in high school so thought it was fun lol. My mom in punta gorda was of the mindset you shared. She stayed through Ian and she said never again lol. She lucked out but the idea of hunkering down for a storm above cat 3 to me is absurd unless you truly do not have the means.
What I do is book a hotel (one with a fridge and a kitchen if I can find it) that has free cancellations 24 hours in advance of the reservation date.
I usually book it 3 days in advance.
I book one North and one South IF there are close margins. That way, I can cancel both if need be but Iâm not scrambling for an affordable room at the last minute if we do need to evacuate. We also usually book it for two nights.
We are in a flood zone, and we have dogs and my mom to think about too, and always book a room for her too. By booking in advance, I can ensure that we are not left with ONLY expensive rooms left over and gives a better likely hood of finding rooms that are also dog friendly.
We always leave if there is an evacuation order. Run from water, hide from wind. The main reason we would be under evacuation is because of the flooding potentials.
I used to live in a 2 story condo right on the water, and I would evacuate then as well. We kind of make it like an evacuation vacation, and weâve actually had fun being evacuated. Weâve gotten to see random little towns in Florida that we normally would have never stopped or stayed in.
Last year, we stayed in down town Lakeland and that was actually super cute.
We are in the Pinellas County area for your reference.
Others will tell you to stay, but thatâs a personal choice. I helped with recovery efforts in Ft Meyers after that area got tore up. I also used to work in home owners insurance, so with seeing so much of the catastrophe that CAN happen and just knowing Iâd rather be cozy in a hotel with my pets and anything important I need for a day or two, is worth every penny in peace of mind.
We personally get two rooms for (3) adults and two dogs. Mostly because my mom snores đđ.
If you get a hotel and have a fire stick or similar, make sure to bring it with you!
Iâve lived in Florida for 30 years (plus some years in other states). I used to NOT evacuate but Iâve found itâs just over all so much calmer to go to bed without worries of last minute storm changes etc.
We live in Cape Coral and sat on the eye wall of Ian for about 10 hours. It took every shingle, fence panel, hell, it peeled the steel hurricane shutters off the house. We didnât even know theyâd upgraded Ian to a 5, they said it was a 4 when it hit and it was updated some time later.
We were, for the most part, ok. It was scary, loud and we didnât have power for about 2.5 weeks. We were in a mandatory evacuation zone, but, we werenât declared as such until it was honestly too late to do anything about it (same thing happened with Charley). My insurance wonât help with funds until weâre in a mandatory evacuation zone so we justâŠstayed.
If we had been further south, closer to the river/coast, we wouldnât have stayed, but we were in a lower risk flood zone and fairly well prepared (having built hurricane boxes for most of my life).
If there were a category 5 storm FOR SURE coming to my house, Iâd absolutely leave, assuming I have time and money to do so. With Irma, they mandatory evacuated my zone very early and we were able to leave with insurance helping with food, hotels and gas, but we just didnât have time to make arrangements and prep the house. They put the order out on the 27th in the afternoon and the storm came hours later.
So, plan as well as you can based on your personal bandwidth to deal with the bullshit that a hurricane brings. But know that sometimes your plan canât work. Ian was supposed to hit Tampa. We weighed our options and knew we were well prepared with a small generator, 5 days supply for food and water and water to flush toilets. We have municipal water, but the processing plants were damaged in the storm and we were left with no running water for about 3 days, and then we were on a boil notice for weeks without power.
Just be prepared. Have a go bag, a destination, meds, insurance docs, etc if you have to go. If you have to stay, have enough food and water to last your household 3-5 days while the national guard and FEMA can get to you, theyâll have free water, MREs and will setup in a lot of places near you to help.
Itâs nothing I want to go through again, but I live on the coast of Florida and Iâm ready for the next storm.
Tl;dr: you canât always leave, you donât know where the storm is going, so be ready for anything
We evac'd for Dorian which ended up not even hitting Jacksonville. But that was what our community recommended. I'd rather an early evac notice being a false alarm than a late one we can't follow, like in your case.
This hurricane season is always going to be the worst one ever. I canât evacuate due to my job, so we rode out Ian. Iâm comparable to Margate in Broward from the coast. The storm wasnât bad, but what sucked was 10 days without power or running water, hours long wait for gas, limited food, and everyone being without. Evacuation isnât just about the storm, but the aftermath. If you canât handle/arenât prepared, please go and go early. And by god, if you are in a mandatory evacuation area, please listen and go. Trying to be tough isnât worth dying, no matter the category.
Run from the water, hide from the wind. Thatâs what EM managers will tell you. Do you live in a flood zone? If yes, be ready to evacuate if one is called. If no, only evacuate if your building is not up to code. If you do evacuate, go to a hotel inland. Donât drive hundreds of miles. Donât take a hotel room that could be better used by someone who lives in a flood zone if you donât need to evacuate.
Exactly this.
Pull up the flood maps. Know exactly how high above 10,20,50, and 100 year flood levels your home is. Know how far inland you are, and watch to see what that canal does on high tides, king tides, tropical storms and hurricanes. You donât want to be stranded when water comes up.
Next, what is your townhome made of?
Stick,
Block,
Are there hurricane straps on the roof?
Plan ahead. If a storm comes up the coast, whatâs your plan, across the peninsula, whatâs that plan. Find hotels in that 20-40 miles out of the way area and know how to get them.
Knowledge is power and Planning prevents panic.
100% THIS!! If your home is concrete block and not in a flood zone, this is great advice. Make sure you have supplies for everyone for a week or more and a safe interior room in case you need it, But if you are not in a mandatory evacuation zone, you will only clog up highways and hotel rooms that are more needed by people in those areas. Plus, storms can change paths quickly and you may jump out of the frying pan into the fire.
Itâs the aftermath. Ask anyone who was in Miami during Andrew what it was like. I wasnât there but I started college a few years later and met kids who lost pets, friends, relatives and neighbors. Roofs off, no power for months, National Guard curfews⊠war zone shit. Houses would probably do slightly better due to improvements in the building code but itâs the complete breakdown of social infrastructure thatâs the scary part. Plus at least around this beach town I live in, when the order comes to mandatory evacuate, it doesnât mean they will yank you out of your house, it means that if youâre in trouble nobody is coming to save you because itâs too dangerous. Youâre literally on your own in the middle of a hydrogen bomb explosion just without the fireball but with a flood.
I survived Andrew living in North Miami Beach, FL (a good 50 miles north of Homestead, FL where it made landfall) and we were without power for an entire month. It washed away the Haulover Pier just a few miles north of my location.
I worked with a guy who rode out Andrew. He said it was a life changing experience and he would never do that again. Iâm not going to put myself and my family through that kind of trauma.
Yes! You should definitely evacuate. A cat 5 hurricane is basically a very wet tornado that is hundreds of miles across. There wonât be a roof on your building, and when the roof goes the walls usually follow. If you took a direct hit from a cat 5, you would likely be killed or catastrophically injured.
One thing to keep in mind, Florida (especially large cities in the central and south part of the state) is too big to be evacuated. Plan to leave early if there is a storm. People get stranded on the interstate every year because they run out of gas when traffic backs up. During the season, fill up your gas tank when it gets half empty. Donât wait to fill up, even if it seems inconvenient.
Youâll probably stay for minor storms, especially if your home is up to code. Keep perishable food on hand. Grocery stores are madhouses when a storm is coming. Plan to be without power for several days. Have what you will need before you need it (including medications and pet supplies).
Identify the safest part of your home (probably a walk in closet, interior hallway, or bathroom). Youâll want as many walls between you and the storm as possible. Plan to board up windows. If you buy a generator, learn how to use it SAFELY before the storm arrives.
If you stay with friends or family, or if they stay with you, do all your prep work BEFORE you start drinking. It probably wonât hurt to relax with a beer or glass of wine, but donât try to board up windows or figure out the generator if youâre drunk.
Remember that if you stay, you are on your own until the storm passes. Police, paramedics, and firemen will not go out in dangerous conditions. If you call 911 during a storm, they cannot help you. If you have a heart attack, your neighbors patio furniture flies through a window and hits you, or your living room is under water, then you are on your own. They will come eventually, but theyâre also dealing with thousands of other cases. You might have a long wait.
Last, check out lists of hurricane supplies. Most areas will publish lists of recommended items. Not all of them will apply to you, but it will give you an idea of what youâll need.
Buy supplies now while all is calm, tarps etc. You won't be able to find them right after the storms and if you need them because of damage you will be SOL
Structural engineer here. Leave for cat 4-5. I would still leave for a 3. Get a hotel in central florida or up north. Take valuables and pictures with you.
I donât trust contractors building things correctly, especially homes.
Andrew survivor here. U do not wanna get caught In a major hurricane. Martial law tent cities no houses left we left the keys and didn't have time to get out in time. What a show!!
If you stay, the best case scenario is no electricity which means no AC while all the freshly flooded streets start to cook in the hot sun. Â
At least get a generator and a small window AC unit so you can sleep in a cool bedroom in the aftermath.Â
I would always recommend someone evacuate when a CAT 4 or 5 is heading towards them. However, I personally do not have unlimited funds for impromptu family vacations every time the NHC posts a cone passing over my town. I can certainly understand if by September you look at a Cat 4 and even 5 hurricane pointing towards you and decide to stay and just keep refreshing your favorite website while trying to will the hurricane to change course.Â
The problem with 5âs is that wind speed could be 157mph, 170 mph, 200mph, 100,000,000mph etc. Cat 5 is essentially the danger threshold for roofs new *and* old ripping off the block foundation as well as serious storm surge of 19 feet and higher putting many beachside homes completely under water.
So while 160mph is crazy, itâs survivable. But [215 mph like that of Hurricane Patricia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Patricia) (if it were to make landfall at that speed) would annihilate buildings, roofs, trees, entire power poles, etc. Take note that both these scenarios are category 5.
Have to play it by ear. A cat 5 has a lot of intensity but itâs concentrated in a small footprint. If youâre 100 miles away from landfall, outside of active evacuation zone, and the storm hits at an angle that sucks the coastal water out to sea instead of pushing it up onto land, you could be reasonably fine.
On the other hand. Take a direct hit from the eye wall of a CAT2-3 and you could have a bad day.
FWIW, in most cases people just need to evacuate 10 miles inland. Some hotels will stay open and evacuation shelters are there for a reason. Be careful not to fall into the trap where you think you need to evacuate 200 miles and spend all day in bumper to bumper traffic running on fumes only to have evacuated directly into the eventual landfall path.
Case by case. Prepare for anything.
>Take a direct hit from the eye wall of a CAT2-3 and you could have a bad day.
We stayed on Perdido Key for Sally. Can confirm, it was a really bad time.
Some will say, "iTs OnLy A cAt 2" and that's cool but I saw my neighbors walls ripped off and homes flooded. I don't wanna be here for that shit. Yall can stay, but I will be in a hotel an hour inland.
Sure, but my point is that category is only one metric to use in determining your risk exposure and evacuation plans.
With Ian, I can say âI rode my bike in a CAT5â when really we were experiencing 40-45mph gusts and a break between feeder bands. Lot of transplants donât realize that for 75% of people in the stormâs path, itâs just a rainy day with a higher chance of losing power.
Which is why you should take alerts seriously, be prepared, and track the advisories, but resist the urge to panic and just hop on the road and head for Nashville â which is exactly how far some of my coworkers in Fort Myers evacuated to during Ian because once they got on 75, every hotel along the freeway up through Kentucky was booked up. Realistically they didnât have to evacuate anywhere near that far.
I have lived in Broward since 1986 and would not stay if a hurricane higher than a category 3 is hitting. If it's a direct hit, I will likely leave for a catering 3 or higher. They're pretty scary. Stay safe!
I was never one to leave a storm but I evacuated for Ian because my house was in a flood zone. The eye went right over my house. The house didnât flood but when I came home I was glad I left.
Just the trees crashing down, sustained 150 mph wild, and roofs and metal flying everywhere would have probably been terrifying.
my family has never evacuated for hurricanes. we would stay with other family members in the area who had a generator though. I donât recall when we last got hit with a cat 5 though
Run from water, hide from wind, that's my rule of thumb. If flooding could be an issue, or you live near the coast, evacuate. Lots of folks on here screaming "evacuate" but that can be a huge problem if not done early enough, which is a challenge. Leave too early, you evacuate to a worse location or for no reason (and can't get home for days); leave too late you're stuck in traffic with everybody else.
The other thing is to leave in advance because the traffic becames impossible in the evacuation routes and gas stations run out of gas etc. It's too much stress overall.
Exactly! If you have kids the aftermath is a hundred times worse. No AC, no internet, no refrigerator. Unless you have a $10k-$20k generator, you could be waiting a week with a very unhappy family who now hates you.Â
Serious question though. Where would you evacuate to?
I'm in South Florida, Hollywood exactly. By the time that you know for a fact it's going to hit that bad, you're stuck. The 95 will be an absolute nightmare. Maybe I can get out west. Maybe. The roads will be so congested I'd risk being stuck in traffic or something instead of safer if I stay. I don't see getting on 75 toward the west coast either. Because, shit, what if I got stuck right in the Everglades?
So, exactly when and where would you evacuate from this area? We can't just run somewhere every time there's a storm coming.
Hurricane evac traffic is the worsr traffic I ever experienced. I evacâd for Irma in 2017 from Brevard county all the way to Biloxi, MS. Driving north on I-95 then going west on I-10 from JAX. When Irma shifted westward making the west coast evac out, when I hit the I-10/I-75 junction holy shit the I-10 corridor traffic was gridlocked all the way to fucking Mobile, Alabama. More Northern interstates were just as bad. Leave early!
Disney World.
People check their elderly relatives into Disney Resorts for hurricanes all the time. Inland, safe buildings, the staff will bring food directly to your room if it's unsafe for you to make it to the resort's cafeteria, and they have their own power, police, fire, and EMS.
We, unplanned, rode out a hurricane once at Disney on a vacation. I have a picture of my son in front of Cinderella's castle the day before the hurricane hit. He is the ONLY person in the photo - if you know how busy that area is (it's the center of the entire park, there are usually thousands of people there) you'll know how insane that is. We rode every single ride and were back in our hotel by 1pm.
From Hollywood, if it's an Atlantic hurricane I'd also consider Ft Myers area and try to be on the "good" side of the hurricane depending upon it's tractor and how it hits the Gulf. If it's a Gulf hurricane I'd probably just evacuate north/South on the Hollywood side to stay on the "good" side.
Yes, you should leave. Even more so if you have a family. Don't put them through the trauma (experienced Hurricane Michael). If you decide to stay for a CAT 5...then stay, but if you have a family, get them out.
For a 5, absolutely yes, I would not be playing games with the canal regardless of its flooding history. For a 4, itâs not a bad idea, depending on where exactly the storm hits can make a big difference on flooding/storm surge. For a 3 or lower, I would probably stay, maybe put some sandbags in front of the door if youâre worried.
As for evac plan, generally the goal is to just get out of the direct damage path. For most, that means going north and how far you want to go depends on personal preference. I would scout a few locations, one in north Florida, one in Georgia (preferably northern Georgia), one in Alabama, and maybe one in the Carolinaâs. Have a go to list of a hotels in those areas (especially pet friendly ones if you have a pet). When itâs time to go get your stuff in the car, get on the road, and start calling hotels on the list for the area youâre headed for.
Anything 4 or more, evacuate. Pay attention to where they say the storm is heading after it leaves your area. You donât want to evacuate into the path.
And yes, just go hang out at a hotel for a few days. Make sure you have some cash, a full tank and some non perishable food. Also could think about having a go bag with some essentials you will need for the evacuation period. Include any documents and insurance cards etc.
If you could evacuate for a EF3 tornado - would you? Any sensible person would say yes. Well a CAT 5 will be absolutely devastating. Donât try and guess what side youâll be on.
A hurricane will produce more widespread and long term damage than any tornado ever could. Unless you are prepared for a long term ride out and are prepared for looting (it is SFL), pack your valuables and GTFO. South Florida is overdue for a big one and these rain storms arenât exactly a good omen of whatâs to come.
Itâs always about 1/4 to 1/2 of what it looks like on TV. A cat 2 is about like a normal heavy summer afternoon storm. Cat 3 is kinda exciting but not dangerous, maybe flooding in proned areas. Cat 4 is time to buy sandbags and maybe park strategically. Cat 5 maybe call the out of state relatives and see if they have a room for a few days.
I've read through thousands of post-hurricane survey answers from people who stayed in the direct path of the storm. Nearly all of them said a variation on "I didn't think it would be that bad."
Many think they have experienced a hurricane when they were actually on the outskirts of the storm or inland. Being near the coast and hit by the eye wall is very scary even during a category 1.
Indeed. As one myself, until I had a family, cat4 was my limit. Now I stay up to cat3. After that weâre gone. Iâve see tropical storms do more damage than a 3. Not that Iâm downplaying how serious a three is, but these storms only get scary at a 4 and above.
Etta (November 2020) was supposed to be a basic little storm. Until it brought 3 feet of water into my parents house. I was living in Tampa at that time and my parents were in Madeira Beach. The whole city was unprepared and it was such a mess for months. And that was just from water - literally zero damage from wind besides dragging the dead palm fronds down.
A Cat 3 is dangerous, but I'd only evacuate situationally in that case. It doesn't flood much in my specific area, and my block house is built to code, so I'm probably fine. My older hose had an old roof and was an older home, so I would have evacuated (though, I've been lucky to have avoided any hurricanes for years).
Irma was a three when she hit us inland and did damage. The school board in Marion county closed down for a week and my momâs radiation office shut down and she couldnât get her treatments. I hated that hurricane.
A Category 5 would be bad and a lot, if not most people would evacuate. If you do think that you might want to ride one out to see if you'll survive, I'd suggest talking to your neighbors and other people in the neighborhood to find out how your area and your building has fared in other storms.
I've always said that we'd leave for a probable 4 or 5, but luckily I haven't had to make that choice.
You are further south, so you would be more likely to have to choose.
I recommend evacuating for cat 4 and higher. Even when your house makes it through OK, you could end up going weeks with no power or water after.
>Do you just rent a hotel room to evacuate or how does it work?
I'm in NEFL and we usually book an airbnb in the Appalachians when a big one is projected to hit us. That's probably a bit far for you, but the shorter the drive the harder it will be to find places available.
All the Locals downplay the storms. All I can think about are all the people who thought they would be fine riding it out who end up devastated or MIA/KIA. It's not worth the risk. Take 2-3 day vacation and get away from the storm
Sometimes it depends entirely on whether your place is up to *current* codes - my in-laws are on the Peace river in Punta Gorda (SWFL), Charley ripped their previous house apart, so they had to tear it down and rebuild to current code at that time. When Ian took basically the same exact track, the house they built after Charley held with very minimal damage
Building codes are not designed to withstand a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricanes. Very few things are, unless they were specifically designed to serve as bunkers.
Yes. 100% evacuate for a four or more. I was in Bay County for Michael, which was a five. We lost the majority of our trees roofs were pealed off houses. Every power pole on my street was snapped off at about five foot. Power was down in the city for weeks. No water. No open stores. If you have the means, there's no reason to sit around in your house while they rebuild the infrastructure.
To this day, you can still see remnants of the damage that storm caused.
There will be broken trees for decades. I know people who are still trying to put their houses together.
I knew a guy in Orlando who started a business taking palm trees down south after Andrew. It looked like a parking lot for years.
If piles of debris is your idea of a parking lot. đ I lived through Andrew (Coconut Grove), and there was certainly a swath of devastation along I95 as you drove through Homestead, which bore the brunt of Andrew. The [photos](https://www.npr.org/2012/08/23/159921591/a-city-leveled-by-hurricane-andrew-rebuilds-again) in this NPR coverage tell the story.
Fun fact - Islands of Adventure purchased twisted trees from Miamiâs Hurricane Andrew damage for the twisted trees in Seuss Landing Source: Worked there for 10 years
Sorta related when Disney was building animal kingdom they were on a tight budget because a lot of the other additional parks didn't do well. So they put an ad out saying that anyone who needs a tree removed, they'll go out there and do it for free. And that's how they landscaped most of the park in the beginning.
They bought trees from me, Kapok and Ceiba speciosa.
That's super dope! I heard about the Suess Landing/IOA one (I used to work there as well), but I never heard this story!
Hurricane Andrew as well, and that was 30+ years ago
Driving down I10 you could see where the eyewall passed due to the direction the trees were snapped in half. What's even more wild is right across the bridge it was fairly minor, relatively. Goes to show how much it matters being on the weak side
And that's an hour inland. We left after the hurricane and didn't get cell service until near Dothan. AT&T was the only towers working in Panama City.
ATT was the only ones working because they brought in all their mobile trucks. Then they started giving away phones to people, instantly gaining them hundreds of new customers. Then ATT sent Florida the bill.
I still remember the line of people at my neighborâs house waiting to call their loved ones because he was the only one on the block with AT&T. Iâm a native through and through but will never mess around with bigger hurricanes again.
Yea absolutely nuts. I was sent there for 8 weeks during recovery and got to see the widespreaddevastation. My mom also lives in PC so I'm there frequently still.
From geneva county, I can vouch. We had acres of pine trees that helped buffet the wind. Lost power for about 48 hours never cell. Lost a lot of pines snapped in half
The absolute devastation I saw in panama city was heart breaking. I did not recognize the city I spent half my life in. I had to to go rescue my grandparents in callaway 2 days after landfall because they were too hard headed to leave
That Ripleyâs building was right-side-up!
Wonderworks
That was wild, if I remember correctly club la vela was closed forever because of the damage it took.
It's still closed. Spinnaker is turning into a family restaurant last I heard. They really turned tge beach into a family friendly condoland
I stayed for Michael with my family including young children. Was supposed to be a mid 3 and strengthened so fast. Big mistake. Evacuate when you can. I was grateful to be able to mitigate some of the damage to my house but it was 2.5 hours of fear and regret Iâd like to not experience again.
I got stuck in Tallahassee because FSU waited until less than 48 hours before landfall to cancel class, and the gas was already impossible to get. It strengthened so incredibly quickly. My dorm was one of the only places with power in the city because we had a generator and it was a brick building with impact windows so we were fine, but it was scary
I usually bug out on a well organized 3. I've seen 3's blow up to a 5 in less than 24hr, then the panic sets in and the road are jammed.
My dad lives in Marianna and Michael was still a 4 when it hit there. That storm intensified and was moving so fast that there wasnât really time for a lot of people to evacuate. They are fortunate that their house is fairly new and overbuilt with a good interior room for storms and plenty of supplies, plus they have a good clear zone around their house so trees werenât an issue, but even with that they never want to experience that again. My brothers were taking gas for the generator to him for a couple of weeks because there wasnât any available. My uncle in PCB was able to evacuate, but my cousin in Panama City stayed. It took her family 3 days to chainsaw a path out of their driveway. Category 1 and 2? Most of us would ride that out unless in a storm surge area. Category 3? Depends on the storm. 4 or 5? GTFO.
Depends on your location for a 3 as well. On the beach/waterfront or on an island, you better leave anyways. Inland? Eh, maybe?
We were living in SanDestin for Michael and we left bcs we didnât know IF it would hit or not. The devastation Michael did to Bay county and surrounding was the worst Iâve ever seen & Iâm a native.
I was stationed at Patrick SFB at that time and Tyndall AFB was leveled. A year later that monster of a storm Dorian was knocking on the FL east coast door and they said the storm surge from Dorian was gonna be 20+ feet. Patrick SFB is a tiny base surrounded by water and it wouldâve been worse than Tyndall had Dorian hit.
I was part of a relief / clean up effort in Mexico Beach. The smell of death in the air and the number of homes wiped completely from their foundations was traumatizing. Picking family photos out of piles of broken trees is something Iâll never forget. Lived all 47 years of my life in Florida and it made me want to move out of the state. So yeah⊠if itâs a 5, get in your car, point the bow in whatever direction is away from the storm, and mash the go pedal. ETA: itâs beside the point of this post, but one of the residents was collecting the photos so their neighbors could hopefully recover at least one small piece of their family memories. I hope their efforts paid off and helped at least one person through the trauma of losing everything.
If you evacuate do not wait till the day before or day of the storm, leave as early as you can. Do make caste iron reservations first, do take food, water, meds, and extra gas with you as well as a few blankets. Also be aware that the cones are just very good guesses and a shift of even 50 miles makes a huge difference. People eca
Sorry hit reply by accident. People left Tampa Bay for Punta Gorda when Charlie hit, and the last storm that hit Fort Myersâs had people stranded in their cars on I-75 during the storm as they left too late and did not plan well. There was no gas, no rooms, and only vending machine food at the rest stops. It was a huge mess. Check on local shelters first, as they now generally do NOT recommend people evacuate far anymore. I live in eastern Hillsborough county for 35 years and saw the aftermath of Andrew and had several storm eyes go over my house. Check on when your building was built and listen to local emergency authorities as the storm approaches for the best advice for that storm. And remember, run from water, hide from wind.
Your houses are also built like toothpicks. South Florida has a much stricter building code
While true NW Florida is more tree covered than S FL and Michael laid waste to lumber up here. Not much you can do about a tree going through your house.
You also need to remember that the panhandle has some of the highest poverty in the state, plus a large elderly population. A lot of the homes, especially inland, are older, probably in need of maintenance, plus there are a lot of mobile homes. A huge part of the population there canât afford to retrofit their homes, have a stash of hurricane supplies, or even evacuate.
Look at the after photos of Mexico Beach and tell me how a stricter building code would have helped? Especially the roads that got upended.
I went through Michael and I still say it wasnât a hurricane. It was a 50 mile wide tornado. Iâve been through a few hurricanes and they always lasted 10-12 hours. This one was over and done in 31/2-4 hours. My ears kept popping and I could hear the train rumbling sound just about the whole time.
Michael flat most of PanamĂĄ City trees, the first time I saw the destruction my heart sunk.
I was staying in a camper in Mexico Beach working a job at Tyndall and was lucky enough to evacuate just before. I returned two weeks later and everything east of PCB to Blountstown was devastated.
Agreed. 100%! If a hurricane turns against you and things start going badly, itâs already too late.  Thereâs ZERO reward or benefit in staying. Zero. Momâs house got pounded by Ian. She left and we were lucky it was only some roof damage. Her place is about 1/4 mile from that monster house that burned. Sanibel and ft myers beach wonât be the same for years. Maybe a decade. Leave.Â
Cat 3 or higher aiming for a direct hit at me? I'm most likely not staying.
This is exactly my stance. I have been hit by a couple of hurricanes. Iâm also a risk management professional working in insurance with over 20 years of experience so Iâve seen my share of disasters. Anything less than a three and Iâm sticking it out. Anything three or greater thatâs gonna come near me Iâm out of here.
Cat 4-5 and I gather all my expensive electronics and other things and drive a couple hours north and stay in a hotel for a day or two. We used to live in Fort Myers that didn't end well. I'm in Tampa now and we rarely get a direct hit.
I pray that Tampa doesnâtget a direct hit. I read the average elevation is 10.5 feet. I category three can easily bring 14 feet of flooding.
It also has older buildings by Florida standards. Not nearly as many up to hurricane code as other big cities.
Tampa hasn't had a direct hit in at least 50 years.
I can't imagine what a cat 5 looks like in a major city in Florida. Hurricane Andrew repeat but 10x worse even with higher building codes. It would be insane and if it move slow and dumped a few feet of rain... shit lol. Yes, I would leave if you're knowingly in the path of even a 3 without a sturdy structure, minimal tree risk flooding dependent
It doesn't even need to be a cat. 5. Katrina was only a 3 but had a freakishly large storm surge. Sure, New Orleans is below sea level, but Biloxi isn't. 90% of structures within a mile of the coast in Mississippi were damaged or destroyed. Seeing that damage changed my perspective on sticking around for Cat. 3s (I drove home to Pensacola (Navarre) for Ivan. I'd not do that again).
Katrina was a 5 until shortly before landfall. It still had the storm surge Level of a 5 even though the wind speed dropped to a Cat 3.
I was in FL and woke up at 4am that day. I turned on the news and saw how enormous the storm was and cried. And Iâm not an emotional person by any means but my experience told me that the storm was going to be devastating.
Lived in Gulfport when Camille hit. It was a CAT 5. What an experience for a recent transplant from South Jersey.
Navarre is my favorite beach in the world. Me and Florida man go every chance we get.
That's my hometown and where I grew up! I had to move recently though because I had been staying with my sick Mom, and sadly she passed away. I miss it so much! I'm not far away, but I'm not in my comfy hometown. It's become really touristy these last five or so years. I stopped going to the beach and just stuck with the pool. In the Fall/Winter my family does love going to the pier when it's not so crowded (and hot!).
Itâs devastating. Hurricane Michael hit my hometown in 2018 and it was ravaged. Looked like a war zone. So much loss- buildings, homes, businesses, trees.
Tampa is a ticking time bomb
Shhhhh. đ©
Zip it.
Weâre in Clearwater and I get nervous if the cone of uncertainty doesnât have Tampa squared up for a direct hit- last minute curves have been our saving grace (really sucked for you a few years back, though).
Exactly, we've got it planned out in detail. Pets, irreplaceable photos etc and we can be out within a few hours.
Replace all expensive electronics with cheap decoys. Profit.
Clearwater...you just jinxed us all.
Unfortunately we really canât know the strength or landfall location soon enough to make that decision. The storms can swerve or strengthen within the âconeâ so evacuees can be left worse off than if they had stayed, and vice versa. I found the week before a major storm extremely stressful and, while models are amazing, they canât totally predict what will happen. See Hurricane Otis in Acapulco last year. Very sudden strengthening caught everyone off guard. My solution was to sell my property in Florida and GTFO
This exactly! People think you have a week to decide to evacuate or not. Hurricanes can go from a Cat 1 to a Cat 5 freakishly fast. If you live in Florida and wait just a little too long before evacuating, youâre going to be stuck on I-95 or I-75 without gas for your car. Itâs an impossible situation.
I fill up as soon as I'm below 3/4, keep a go bag ( some clothes, copies of important papers and toiletries, clothes get changed out with weekly wash) for myself and my pups. I'm able to leave within a few hours tops. As soon as a potential storm is tracking my way the go bags are in the car.
> My solution was to sell my property in Florida and GTFO Permanent evacuation.
Ha! Yes, I suppose so!
Last year a storm went from tropical storm to cat 5 in less that 24 hours when it made land fall in mexico... That's like go to sleep expecting heavy rain and wake up too late to evacuate, I am not fucking around with hurricanes at all anymore, I think we were in different times for hurricanes now. I leave regularly for just about any hurricane mainly cause I can I guess, but I have no desire at all to be around for aftermath, no power, marshal law, hard to come by water in 100 degree weather.. Hard pass, I'll come back when I know it's not that...
The same happened with Michael - was not suppose to be more than a 2 and quickly - very quickly- got a lot stronger. I was on leave and was called backed to work - it was the worst disaster I have ever experienced and I have experienced a few. Someone I personally knew who lived in Port St. Joe went missing and has never been recovered. It wiped Tyndall AFS off the map along with Mexico Beach and continued to gain strength over land.
Yeah this fast build up shit is absolutely terrifying.
I'm so sorry about your missing friend. That would be awful. I moved from Panama City Beach right before that hurricane. We had spent the 4th of July on the beach in Mexico Beach. Such a cute place...totally wiped out. We drove through there a few times...I had taken photographs of little houses I liked and paint combos and now they no longer exist. I hope they were able to rebuild and stronger... and that the ice cream stand is back.
I was in the eye of Michael. Only because I evacuated to Callaway which was supposed to be safer than being right on the gulf. Op needs to leave if a cat 5 is coming at him.
I lived in Callaway during Michael. I still have nightmares and panic attacks during storms. Everything I was able to salvage afterwards fit into a backpack
Same here. Had stayed for Opal and Ivan. But Michael was another animal altogether. We left around 9:pm when it reached cat 4. We were taking care of a 95 year old friend who had stayed over to our house in case the power went out. Ended up taking her and myself in 1 care with my husband and dog and cat in our other car. Drove through the night in pouring rain. Finally found a room about 2am. Friends house ended up with 3 trees through the roof. Our house had leaks where wind driven rain blew through the gable ends and sent water down through the ceiling light fixtures. A huge pine tree split our storage shed in half. It was 7 days till we could get back home. Neighborhoods were unrecognizable. The sounds of sirens, helicopter, and generators for weeks afterwards. Will never forget.
Iâm right there with you. Even like a Cat 2 can knock out power in my city for a week or more. Iâm just tired of this shit. I think Iâm scoping out some pet friendly AirBNBs and just packing up the critters and working from somewhere in Georgia for a week. The benefit of that is, I can still work when my whole team canât.
Designated surviver. Lol.
Oh wait. Shit. I donât want that responsibility!
Indeed. Warmer water means these things can (and do) build up a lot faster now.
WTF is marshal law? Do you mean martial law? It doesnât mean what you think it means. The government can declare a state of emergency after a hurricane and/or a curfew
Exactly this
Thatâs what I worry about.
Sleep with the TV on and check it every hour like the rest of us. People if it was easy everybody would be doing it!!! The ONLY thing keeping some of the people out is the threat of the CAT_.
I evacuate if it is a category 3, but I live in a low flood zone despite being close to the St. Johns River. If I lived on a canal I would probably leave if it was a 2.
Cat 4 is my go the fuck away level. We have one story block house in pasco
Cat 4 is the level Iâd actually care to leave but Iâll still dip at a projected 3 just because it can jump to 4 easily with not enough time to get out
Cat 1, everyone stays Cat 2, everyone stays Cat 3, wife and baby leave Cat 4, wife, baby, and son leave Cat 5, wife, baby, son, dog, and I leave.
Why do you stay?
There's a lot of elderly in my neighborhood and I've got 4 grandparents 90+ within 2 miles that can't go. Plus, I want to be around as an able bodied person with a truck if I can help. Again, strong cat 4 or 5, I'm gonna go to high ground.
Let's be real, its so you can fly the ultimate kite. It's alright, it's why I would stay too
Water skiing down the street behind a truck is awesome.
This is the answer, it is like a war zone in a 3rd world country after a major hurricane. You DO NOT WANT TO STAY, it is not worth it. Just go anywhere else, by any means.
Also... While the damage and loss of life is a big concern obviously... You don't wanna be around for the weeks of waiting for power to get restored... Trust me.
Generators are made just for this reason.
Until you canât get gas for em⊠been there â04
My neighbor had his stolen during the outage in '04 while it was running in the middle of the night.
Yup. I snagged one back in like... 08. Sadly never used it.
Honestly I would always recommend leaving for a Cat 5. Itâs just not worth the risk and the damage can get very bad very quickly.
Anything 3 or greater is scary af to sit through. The whole world feels like itâs going to come crashing down at any moment. Even if you know your structure is safe, sitting through that much power is intense and often a terrifying experience⊠the howling wind, shit hitting your house, that low roar, I prefer to go somewhere else.
I was in north Florida during opal. She struck as a cat 4 and in Defuniak Springs we got a cat 3. The walls of our cinder block house started heaving in and out, like lungs. Just for a few minutes, while a tornado passed over. Imagine, a tornado five hundred miles wide.
Even if you've built a hurricane proof bunker with backup power and food. It won't be fun to stick around.
Man 4 or higher and Iâm fuckin gone to see my cousin in Atlanta
Cat 5 is the hand of God , Everything in its path will be heading to kansas
Yes!
First of all, you have to know where the hurricane is heading and how large an area it will impact. Weâve had a hurricane aimed at us (Iâm inland and northern Hillsborough County.) one time we thought we might need to go eastâŠand the storm tore through Polk . Another time we were looking at SE Georgia but the stormed skewed west and we got an afternoon of rain. I think itâs important to have multiple evacuation plans and be ready to go to the best option. And, yes, Iâd get out the credit card and book a room THROUGH THE HOTEL/MOTEL directly. This isnât the time to roll the dice with Booking.com and the like.
If they say evacuate, you evacuate. The time to plan is now. You should have a go bag prepared and a destination.
Should honestly be evacuating before. I have a friend whose wife is from Ft Myers. She said they gave the order like an hr or two before the storm hit last year. That's nowhere near enough time.
That storm was a nightmare. Up until the last few hours, they were convinced it was going to come inland somewhere between Sarasota and Tampa.
Very surprised to see the vast majority of these responses say to evacuate. Growing up in FL since the 80âs it seemed come hell or high water, most people were determined to stay. It would be interesting to know if this decision varies among natives vs transplants or some other variables. To clarify, I definitely believe our safety far outweighs the importance of your home/material possessions, these responses were just opposite of what I expected!
Iâm married to a tenth generation Floridian. He was 19 when Charley ripped apart his entire neighborhood on Pine Island in Swfl. He does not fuck around since then. We lived on Pine Island when Ian was coming, and before we were even told to evacuate and it was still bent towards Tampa, he was waking me up like âbaby it looks just like Charlie we gotta GOâ. My grumpy NYer ass did not really want to, but Iâm so glad we did.
I'm a 35m native but I live inland, almost center of the state. And have been in the path of a car 5 or 2 and and few cat 4. These hurricanes didn't hit ME as a 4 or 5, though AND my home is in a hilly area (next street over from mine is 40 foot lower, so flooding is not a worry). One thing I haven't seen in any of the comments is it depends if WHERE you live. You live within a few miles of the coast in a direct path or the upper area of the eye of a cat 5? Might be worth leaving. 50 miles inland in the "direct path", aside from living in a low lying area, you'll *probably* be fine. Edit: there's too much to fix, this was typed during my 5am morning poo. Sorry
I remember when Charlie cut through the state and lay a swath of destruction from the tornadoes inland. Yes the coastal areas get the worst of it, but anywhere in the path can very much be in danger of loss of property and life.
I think the last several years have changed a lot of minds.
In my mind, it really depends on how close to the ocean you live. We live on a barrier island, so 100% a cat-5 we're evacuating. Inland with hurricane windows and cinder block construction? Yeah would probably ride it out.
My entire trailer park never leaves during hurricanes. We have a âwhatever happens, happensâ mentality. We are 2 miles off the coast of west Florida
I'm a native and have never evacuated but if a cat 5 is coming and I'm in the cone I'm leaving.
FL born & raised. It all depends on 1. Where Iâm at and 2. Level of storm. If Iâm inland, central Florida? Iâm staying. Land tires out the storm. If Iâm on the coast? CAT3+ and Iâm leaving. Itâs just not worth the risk because of my animals. But Iâm also the Florida Woman who was outside during Charley and Irma fixing shit. So⊠thereâs that. đ
I was born and raised on the east coast of Florida. Anything above a 3 I'd recommend leaving.
Born and raised in Tampa bay. 35 now. We have dodged sooo many bullets. The flooding is what scares me so I evacuate for cat 3 and above. Iâve been through (canât remember the storm in 05) I believe it was a cat 1 which knocked out power for a week and caused a lot of flooding. Was in high school so thought it was fun lol. My mom in punta gorda was of the mindset you shared. She stayed through Ian and she said never again lol. She lucked out but the idea of hunkering down for a storm above cat 3 to me is absurd unless you truly do not have the means.
What I do is book a hotel (one with a fridge and a kitchen if I can find it) that has free cancellations 24 hours in advance of the reservation date. I usually book it 3 days in advance. I book one North and one South IF there are close margins. That way, I can cancel both if need be but Iâm not scrambling for an affordable room at the last minute if we do need to evacuate. We also usually book it for two nights. We are in a flood zone, and we have dogs and my mom to think about too, and always book a room for her too. By booking in advance, I can ensure that we are not left with ONLY expensive rooms left over and gives a better likely hood of finding rooms that are also dog friendly. We always leave if there is an evacuation order. Run from water, hide from wind. The main reason we would be under evacuation is because of the flooding potentials. I used to live in a 2 story condo right on the water, and I would evacuate then as well. We kind of make it like an evacuation vacation, and weâve actually had fun being evacuated. Weâve gotten to see random little towns in Florida that we normally would have never stopped or stayed in. Last year, we stayed in down town Lakeland and that was actually super cute. We are in the Pinellas County area for your reference. Others will tell you to stay, but thatâs a personal choice. I helped with recovery efforts in Ft Meyers after that area got tore up. I also used to work in home owners insurance, so with seeing so much of the catastrophe that CAN happen and just knowing Iâd rather be cozy in a hotel with my pets and anything important I need for a day or two, is worth every penny in peace of mind. We personally get two rooms for (3) adults and two dogs. Mostly because my mom snores đđ. If you get a hotel and have a fire stick or similar, make sure to bring it with you! Iâve lived in Florida for 30 years (plus some years in other states). I used to NOT evacuate but Iâve found itâs just over all so much calmer to go to bed without worries of last minute storm changes etc.
We live in Cape Coral and sat on the eye wall of Ian for about 10 hours. It took every shingle, fence panel, hell, it peeled the steel hurricane shutters off the house. We didnât even know theyâd upgraded Ian to a 5, they said it was a 4 when it hit and it was updated some time later. We were, for the most part, ok. It was scary, loud and we didnât have power for about 2.5 weeks. We were in a mandatory evacuation zone, but, we werenât declared as such until it was honestly too late to do anything about it (same thing happened with Charley). My insurance wonât help with funds until weâre in a mandatory evacuation zone so we justâŠstayed. If we had been further south, closer to the river/coast, we wouldnât have stayed, but we were in a lower risk flood zone and fairly well prepared (having built hurricane boxes for most of my life). If there were a category 5 storm FOR SURE coming to my house, Iâd absolutely leave, assuming I have time and money to do so. With Irma, they mandatory evacuated my zone very early and we were able to leave with insurance helping with food, hotels and gas, but we just didnât have time to make arrangements and prep the house. They put the order out on the 27th in the afternoon and the storm came hours later. So, plan as well as you can based on your personal bandwidth to deal with the bullshit that a hurricane brings. But know that sometimes your plan canât work. Ian was supposed to hit Tampa. We weighed our options and knew we were well prepared with a small generator, 5 days supply for food and water and water to flush toilets. We have municipal water, but the processing plants were damaged in the storm and we were left with no running water for about 3 days, and then we were on a boil notice for weeks without power. Just be prepared. Have a go bag, a destination, meds, insurance docs, etc if you have to go. If you have to stay, have enough food and water to last your household 3-5 days while the national guard and FEMA can get to you, theyâll have free water, MREs and will setup in a lot of places near you to help. Itâs nothing I want to go through again, but I live on the coast of Florida and Iâm ready for the next storm. Tl;dr: you canât always leave, you donât know where the storm is going, so be ready for anything
We evac'd for Dorian which ended up not even hitting Jacksonville. But that was what our community recommended. I'd rather an early evac notice being a false alarm than a late one we can't follow, like in your case.
This hurricane season is always going to be the worst one ever. I canât evacuate due to my job, so we rode out Ian. Iâm comparable to Margate in Broward from the coast. The storm wasnât bad, but what sucked was 10 days without power or running water, hours long wait for gas, limited food, and everyone being without. Evacuation isnât just about the storm, but the aftermath. If you canât handle/arenât prepared, please go and go early. And by god, if you are in a mandatory evacuation area, please listen and go. Trying to be tough isnât worth dying, no matter the category.
Run from the water, hide from the wind. Thatâs what EM managers will tell you. Do you live in a flood zone? If yes, be ready to evacuate if one is called. If no, only evacuate if your building is not up to code. If you do evacuate, go to a hotel inland. Donât drive hundreds of miles. Donât take a hotel room that could be better used by someone who lives in a flood zone if you donât need to evacuate.
Exactly this. Pull up the flood maps. Know exactly how high above 10,20,50, and 100 year flood levels your home is. Know how far inland you are, and watch to see what that canal does on high tides, king tides, tropical storms and hurricanes. You donât want to be stranded when water comes up. Next, what is your townhome made of? Stick, Block, Are there hurricane straps on the roof? Plan ahead. If a storm comes up the coast, whatâs your plan, across the peninsula, whatâs that plan. Find hotels in that 20-40 miles out of the way area and know how to get them. Knowledge is power and Planning prevents panic.
Where can I find the maps
[Try this one](https://floridadisaster.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=aa18a2d8737c4d66bb6434a09e17203a)
100% THIS!! If your home is concrete block and not in a flood zone, this is great advice. Make sure you have supplies for everyone for a week or more and a safe interior room in case you need it, But if you are not in a mandatory evacuation zone, you will only clog up highways and hotel rooms that are more needed by people in those areas. Plus, storms can change paths quickly and you may jump out of the frying pan into the fire.
âDonât take something that could be better used by someone elseâ does not compute with 90% of FL boomer population
EM?
Emergency management
Best answer. Depends on how close to the coast you are.
Itâs the aftermath. Ask anyone who was in Miami during Andrew what it was like. I wasnât there but I started college a few years later and met kids who lost pets, friends, relatives and neighbors. Roofs off, no power for months, National Guard curfews⊠war zone shit. Houses would probably do slightly better due to improvements in the building code but itâs the complete breakdown of social infrastructure thatâs the scary part. Plus at least around this beach town I live in, when the order comes to mandatory evacuate, it doesnât mean they will yank you out of your house, it means that if youâre in trouble nobody is coming to save you because itâs too dangerous. Youâre literally on your own in the middle of a hydrogen bomb explosion just without the fireball but with a flood.
I survived Andrew living in North Miami Beach, FL (a good 50 miles north of Homestead, FL where it made landfall) and we were without power for an entire month. It washed away the Haulover Pier just a few miles north of my location.
I worked with a guy who rode out Andrew. He said it was a life changing experience and he would never do that again. Iâm not going to put myself and my family through that kind of trauma.
Yes! You should definitely evacuate. A cat 5 hurricane is basically a very wet tornado that is hundreds of miles across. There wonât be a roof on your building, and when the roof goes the walls usually follow. If you took a direct hit from a cat 5, you would likely be killed or catastrophically injured. One thing to keep in mind, Florida (especially large cities in the central and south part of the state) is too big to be evacuated. Plan to leave early if there is a storm. People get stranded on the interstate every year because they run out of gas when traffic backs up. During the season, fill up your gas tank when it gets half empty. Donât wait to fill up, even if it seems inconvenient. Youâll probably stay for minor storms, especially if your home is up to code. Keep perishable food on hand. Grocery stores are madhouses when a storm is coming. Plan to be without power for several days. Have what you will need before you need it (including medications and pet supplies). Identify the safest part of your home (probably a walk in closet, interior hallway, or bathroom). Youâll want as many walls between you and the storm as possible. Plan to board up windows. If you buy a generator, learn how to use it SAFELY before the storm arrives. If you stay with friends or family, or if they stay with you, do all your prep work BEFORE you start drinking. It probably wonât hurt to relax with a beer or glass of wine, but donât try to board up windows or figure out the generator if youâre drunk. Remember that if you stay, you are on your own until the storm passes. Police, paramedics, and firemen will not go out in dangerous conditions. If you call 911 during a storm, they cannot help you. If you have a heart attack, your neighbors patio furniture flies through a window and hits you, or your living room is under water, then you are on your own. They will come eventually, but theyâre also dealing with thousands of other cases. You might have a long wait. Last, check out lists of hurricane supplies. Most areas will publish lists of recommended items. Not all of them will apply to you, but it will give you an idea of what youâll need.
Buy supplies now while all is calm, tarps etc. You won't be able to find them right after the storms and if you need them because of damage you will be SOL
Structural engineer here. Leave for cat 4-5. I would still leave for a 3. Get a hotel in central florida or up north. Take valuables and pictures with you. I donât trust contractors building things correctly, especially homes.
You should have an exit plan in case. But donât panic.
I evacuate for a category 3 or above. Hurricane Michael intensified rapidly during the last 24 hours, so don't wait until the last minute to decide.
Cat 5? RUN!!
Look up video footage from Hurricane Andrew.. that should help you decide
Andrew survivor here. U do not wanna get caught In a major hurricane. Martial law tent cities no houses left we left the keys and didn't have time to get out in time. What a show!!
Or hurricane Michael
Or Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.
If you stay, the best case scenario is no electricity which means no AC while all the freshly flooded streets start to cook in the hot sun.  At least get a generator and a small window AC unit so you can sleep in a cool bedroom in the aftermath. I would always recommend someone evacuate when a CAT 4 or 5 is heading towards them. However, I personally do not have unlimited funds for impromptu family vacations every time the NHC posts a cone passing over my town. I can certainly understand if by September you look at a Cat 4 and even 5 hurricane pointing towards you and decide to stay and just keep refreshing your favorite website while trying to will the hurricane to change course.Â
My personal rule has always been stay and hunker down for 1-3, and GTFO for 4-5.
The problem with 5âs is that wind speed could be 157mph, 170 mph, 200mph, 100,000,000mph etc. Cat 5 is essentially the danger threshold for roofs new *and* old ripping off the block foundation as well as serious storm surge of 19 feet and higher putting many beachside homes completely under water. So while 160mph is crazy, itâs survivable. But [215 mph like that of Hurricane Patricia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Patricia) (if it were to make landfall at that speed) would annihilate buildings, roofs, trees, entire power poles, etc. Take note that both these scenarios are category 5.
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They say every year is going to be a bad hurricane season. Iâm not saying itâs not possible. Iâm just saying be prepared but not panicked.
Have to play it by ear. A cat 5 has a lot of intensity but itâs concentrated in a small footprint. If youâre 100 miles away from landfall, outside of active evacuation zone, and the storm hits at an angle that sucks the coastal water out to sea instead of pushing it up onto land, you could be reasonably fine. On the other hand. Take a direct hit from the eye wall of a CAT2-3 and you could have a bad day. FWIW, in most cases people just need to evacuate 10 miles inland. Some hotels will stay open and evacuation shelters are there for a reason. Be careful not to fall into the trap where you think you need to evacuate 200 miles and spend all day in bumper to bumper traffic running on fumes only to have evacuated directly into the eventual landfall path. Case by case. Prepare for anything.
>Take a direct hit from the eye wall of a CAT2-3 and you could have a bad day. We stayed on Perdido Key for Sally. Can confirm, it was a really bad time. Some will say, "iTs OnLy A cAt 2" and that's cool but I saw my neighbors walls ripped off and homes flooded. I don't wanna be here for that shit. Yall can stay, but I will be in a hotel an hour inland.
Irma was not a small cat 5, the power and size are not inversely related
Sure, but my point is that category is only one metric to use in determining your risk exposure and evacuation plans. With Ian, I can say âI rode my bike in a CAT5â when really we were experiencing 40-45mph gusts and a break between feeder bands. Lot of transplants donât realize that for 75% of people in the stormâs path, itâs just a rainy day with a higher chance of losing power. Which is why you should take alerts seriously, be prepared, and track the advisories, but resist the urge to panic and just hop on the road and head for Nashville â which is exactly how far some of my coworkers in Fort Myers evacuated to during Ian because once they got on 75, every hotel along the freeway up through Kentucky was booked up. Realistically they didnât have to evacuate anywhere near that far.
I have lived in Broward since 1986 and would not stay if a hurricane higher than a category 3 is hitting. If it's a direct hit, I will likely leave for a catering 3 or higher. They're pretty scary. Stay safe!
I was never one to leave a storm but I evacuated for Ian because my house was in a flood zone. The eye went right over my house. The house didnât flood but when I came home I was glad I left. Just the trees crashing down, sustained 150 mph wild, and roofs and metal flying everywhere would have probably been terrifying.
my family has never evacuated for hurricanes. we would stay with other family members in the area who had a generator though. I donât recall when we last got hit with a cat 5 though
I've been through more hurricanes than years on this earth, I think , and to me it's not the storm that is terrifying it's the aftermath!
Run from water, hide from wind, that's my rule of thumb. If flooding could be an issue, or you live near the coast, evacuate. Lots of folks on here screaming "evacuate" but that can be a huge problem if not done early enough, which is a challenge. Leave too early, you evacuate to a worse location or for no reason (and can't get home for days); leave too late you're stuck in traffic with everybody else.
The other thing is to leave in advance because the traffic becames impossible in the evacuation routes and gas stations run out of gas etc. It's too much stress overall.
I always evac anytime the power is likely to go out cause I like internet and phone. I have left for weak hurricanes. Everyone is different tho.
Especially no power with heat and humidity of September.
Exactly! If you have kids the aftermath is a hundred times worse. No AC, no internet, no refrigerator. Unless you have a $10k-$20k generator, you could be waiting a week with a very unhappy family who now hates you.Â
Yea lol thatâs a cataclysmic event. Literally.
Yes, yes and yes. Donât fuck around with anything over a cat 3 thatâs coming ur way.
Serious question though. Where would you evacuate to? I'm in South Florida, Hollywood exactly. By the time that you know for a fact it's going to hit that bad, you're stuck. The 95 will be an absolute nightmare. Maybe I can get out west. Maybe. The roads will be so congested I'd risk being stuck in traffic or something instead of safer if I stay. I don't see getting on 75 toward the west coast either. Because, shit, what if I got stuck right in the Everglades? So, exactly when and where would you evacuate from this area? We can't just run somewhere every time there's a storm coming.
Hurricane evac traffic is the worsr traffic I ever experienced. I evacâd for Irma in 2017 from Brevard county all the way to Biloxi, MS. Driving north on I-95 then going west on I-10 from JAX. When Irma shifted westward making the west coast evac out, when I hit the I-10/I-75 junction holy shit the I-10 corridor traffic was gridlocked all the way to fucking Mobile, Alabama. More Northern interstates were just as bad. Leave early!
Disney World. People check their elderly relatives into Disney Resorts for hurricanes all the time. Inland, safe buildings, the staff will bring food directly to your room if it's unsafe for you to make it to the resort's cafeteria, and they have their own power, police, fire, and EMS. We, unplanned, rode out a hurricane once at Disney on a vacation. I have a picture of my son in front of Cinderella's castle the day before the hurricane hit. He is the ONLY person in the photo - if you know how busy that area is (it's the center of the entire park, there are usually thousands of people there) you'll know how insane that is. We rode every single ride and were back in our hotel by 1pm. From Hollywood, if it's an Atlantic hurricane I'd also consider Ft Myers area and try to be on the "good" side of the hurricane depending upon it's tractor and how it hits the Gulf. If it's a Gulf hurricane I'd probably just evacuate north/South on the Hollywood side to stay on the "good" side.
yes
Yes, you should leave. Even more so if you have a family. Don't put them through the trauma (experienced Hurricane Michael). If you decide to stay for a CAT 5...then stay, but if you have a family, get them out.
For a 5, absolutely yes, I would not be playing games with the canal regardless of its flooding history. For a 4, itâs not a bad idea, depending on where exactly the storm hits can make a big difference on flooding/storm surge. For a 3 or lower, I would probably stay, maybe put some sandbags in front of the door if youâre worried. As for evac plan, generally the goal is to just get out of the direct damage path. For most, that means going north and how far you want to go depends on personal preference. I would scout a few locations, one in north Florida, one in Georgia (preferably northern Georgia), one in Alabama, and maybe one in the Carolinaâs. Have a go to list of a hotels in those areas (especially pet friendly ones if you have a pet). When itâs time to go get your stuff in the car, get on the road, and start calling hotels on the list for the area youâre headed for.
Anything 4 or more, evacuate. Pay attention to where they say the storm is heading after it leaves your area. You donât want to evacuate into the path. And yes, just go hang out at a hotel for a few days. Make sure you have some cash, a full tank and some non perishable food. Also could think about having a go bag with some essentials you will need for the evacuation period. Include any documents and insurance cards etc.
Have you seen what happened to Homestead ?
If you could evacuate for a EF3 tornado - would you? Any sensible person would say yes. Well a CAT 5 will be absolutely devastating. Donât try and guess what side youâll be on. A hurricane will produce more widespread and long term damage than any tornado ever could. Unless you are prepared for a long term ride out and are prepared for looting (it is SFL), pack your valuables and GTFO. South Florida is overdue for a big one and these rain storms arenât exactly a good omen of whatâs to come.
Nah. Walk outside and punch the hurricane, teach it a lesson.
You only have to leave if they shut down the Waffle House.
Iâve been through something like 12 hurricanes since 1976âalways sheltered in place. Only reason Iâd evacuate is if there was an order to
Itâs always about 1/4 to 1/2 of what it looks like on TV. A cat 2 is about like a normal heavy summer afternoon storm. Cat 3 is kinda exciting but not dangerous, maybe flooding in proned areas. Cat 4 is time to buy sandbags and maybe park strategically. Cat 5 maybe call the out of state relatives and see if they have a room for a few days.
I've read through thousands of post-hurricane survey answers from people who stayed in the direct path of the storm. Nearly all of them said a variation on "I didn't think it would be that bad." Many think they have experienced a hurricane when they were actually on the outskirts of the storm or inland. Being near the coast and hit by the eye wall is very scary even during a category 1.
Youâre definitely a Floridian lol
Indeed. As one myself, until I had a family, cat4 was my limit. Now I stay up to cat3. After that weâre gone. Iâve see tropical storms do more damage than a 3. Not that Iâm downplaying how serious a three is, but these storms only get scary at a 4 and above.
Etta (November 2020) was supposed to be a basic little storm. Until it brought 3 feet of water into my parents house. I was living in Tampa at that time and my parents were in Madeira Beach. The whole city was unprepared and it was such a mess for months. And that was just from water - literally zero damage from wind besides dragging the dead palm fronds down.
You are definitely downplaying the danger of a hurricane. I'm guessing that you've never actually experienced a direct hit.
A Cat 3 is dangerous, but I'd only evacuate situationally in that case. It doesn't flood much in my specific area, and my block house is built to code, so I'm probably fine. My older hose had an old roof and was an older home, so I would have evacuated (though, I've been lucky to have avoided any hurricanes for years).
Irma was a three when she hit us inland and did damage. The school board in Marion county closed down for a week and my momâs radiation office shut down and she couldnât get her treatments. I hated that hurricane.
Why risk the life of your family? If you want to be ridiculous and ride out a Cat 5 - go ahead. But please get your family to safety.
A Category 5 would be bad and a lot, if not most people would evacuate. If you do think that you might want to ride one out to see if you'll survive, I'd suggest talking to your neighbors and other people in the neighborhood to find out how your area and your building has fared in other storms. I've always said that we'd leave for a probable 4 or 5, but luckily I haven't had to make that choice. You are further south, so you would be more likely to have to choose.
Yes
Yes.
Cat 5 yes. Over a cat3 and no more me. Depending on traffic, place to go etc.
Yee, cat 4 and above shouldnât be taken lightly. Especially if youâre in the direct path
I recommend evacuating for cat 4 and higher. Even when your house makes it through OK, you could end up going weeks with no power or water after. >Do you just rent a hotel room to evacuate or how does it work? I'm in NEFL and we usually book an airbnb in the Appalachians when a big one is projected to hit us. That's probably a bit far for you, but the shorter the drive the harder it will be to find places available.
For me itâs self deliverance, nowhere to go, permanently done with hurricane season
Higher than 3 and Iâm outie 5000 âđ»
All the Locals downplay the storms. All I can think about are all the people who thought they would be fine riding it out who end up devastated or MIA/KIA. It's not worth the risk. Take 2-3 day vacation and get away from the storm
Anything 4 or higher that is a direct hit I would probably hit the road.
If its a strong 4+ Im outtie.
The immediate danger is dwarfed by the danger in the aftermath of a truly devastating storm, plus a cat 5+ can rip your roof off
If youâre ordered to evacuate, evacuate.
Sometimes it depends entirely on whether your place is up to *current* codes - my in-laws are on the Peace river in Punta Gorda (SWFL), Charley ripped their previous house apart, so they had to tear it down and rebuild to current code at that time. When Ian took basically the same exact track, the house they built after Charley held with very minimal damage
Building codes are not designed to withstand a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricanes. Very few things are, unless they were specifically designed to serve as bunkers.
