What would be great is if we could some how send something into a hurricane to make it less severe, like from category 4 to 1 (I think sometimes we do need the wind and rain).
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Here is an interesting article about that subject: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/09/16/stop-hurricanes-weather-climate-change/#.
I have two friends who live on the bay in Tampa. Both evacuated today to beat the traffic and chaos. Happy they made that decision, but worried what kind of mess they’ll return home to.
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A neighbor’s daughter attends a university that is evacuating - I always think…where do all these out of town/state kids go??? I haven’t seen the mom to ask her.
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They usually go home. Or to a Roomate/ friends parents house.
Does anyone know how much of ft Myers is under a mandatory evacuation order?
Here’s the interactive evacuation map: ArcGIS Web Application
Zones A and B are under mandatory evacuation orders.
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We are supposed to fly to Virginia on Thursday morning. Anticipating flights may be impacted, even though we aren’t going to an affected region.
Watching this horrible storm approaching Florida makes me think that if I lived there, I’d feel like I was being stalked by a monster. I’m very worried about the people there. My D’s FIL lives just south of Tampa and last I heard, he was considering hunkering down. I’m hoping he has revised that plan. He could go stay with his D in Atlanta or with his son and my D in NC.
Bracing for the bad news that is sure to follow. Thinking of all of you who live there!
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My kids’ aunts (their dad’s relatives) live at St Petes right on the water. They told me last night that they are going to stay with a friend on a higher floor (10th floor). I think that’s crazy. They said the evacuation roads are packed - that should tell them something. I hope they change their minds today.
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Well looks like I will have the Eckerd boys for a few more weeks. They were evacuated for Helene, campus had enough damage that they were told they could return Oct. 18th at the earliest, now we have Milton aiming straight at them. They were doing online classes but those were put on hold again this week so the professors could have time to get ready for Milton. Last night while watching the updates they were making jokes about what schools they would transfer to after Eckerd gets swamped by the 10 foot storm surge. 
I have seen a few updates on the parent’s FB page from people who made it back to campus to grab stuff from their dorms. Sound like Helene left a lot of debris, mud and mess but the main problem was the saltwater intrusion to the electric systems. I feel bad for the kids who left their cars on campus. They were told they could move them to the highest lot and in the school update it sounded like that lot was fine. Then a parent went to get a car and although it did look fine from the outside the inside was full of water, even the stuff in the glove compartment was wet. One mom said her daughter’s car was full of ants, they must have been trying to find high ground during the storm.
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That is all awful.
You are a savior to these boys and I hope their parents appreciate you. I hope they are helping out!
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We can help if they need it.
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I’ve read that for many, there’s no evacuation possible because their cars were drowned… and all rentals were snapped up after Helene😭
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Thank you, that’s very kind of you. I just called them. They sounded like they were packing, but couldn’t talk. Fingers crossed.
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My daughter went to school in Florida. Four hurricanes (you know it is bad when Ginger Zee from CBS is broadcasting from your front yard). Twice she went to NJ to her boyfriend’s parents (flew out of Orlando) and once she went to Orlando to a hotel. That one I know turned out worse in Orlando than in Melbourne.
They have a lot of international students at her school. Sometimes they were all moved to a more secure building, either on campus (like the gym) or to a public shelter. The dorms at the school were pretty solid concrete structures but there was always the problem of losing power. None were high rises, so losing elevators was not a problem, but it is at all the big schools like UF, FSU, USF.
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Tampa resident here. The latest track is the worst possible case for the city. We live 1/4 mile from the Tampa Bay and evacuated this morning to Disney. I felt like I was saying goodbye to my house when we pulled out. We can take a 10 foot surge but not 12-15 like I’ve seen reported. We are surrounded by oak trees and palms. We’re already 20 some inches over the yearly rainfall amount so the ground is really saturated. I’m afraid of both flooding and an oak tree hitting the house. That makes for difficult house prep. We moved a lot of things upstairs, but are the photo albums better up there or on a higher shelf downstairs? I can only hope we’ve moved things to safer spaces. We did the best we could and there isn’t anything more I can do at this point.
We really debated where to go and had a few options. Orlando isn’t the best place weather wise, but we’re in a beautiful new hotel that can withstand whatever Milton brings this way. And we’re close enough to get home quickly to start dealing with the damage. I set up a camera in my office so as long as we have Internet I can watch the floor for water.
My son is a police officer in the Tampa area. He will report to work tomorrow prepared to stay at the station 2 weeks. They will work 12 hour shifts every day until the worst has passed. His wife and 2 babies are with us at the hotel. Definitely not how I imagined our first trip to Disney with the grands!
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That is sweet but I have to admit since we are empty nesters it has been fin for us to have a house full of kids again! The parents are very appreciative, I know the international parents are especially nervous because they have never gone through this before. What makes me laugh is one boy is from VA - he could easily fly home but is having too much fun here! 
They are a good group, they help out and like to hang out with us. This past weekend we left them alone while we visited D21 in CO. We came home to a pretty clean house, flowers on the table and a basket with 6 bottles of wine they had picked out as a thank you!
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Hoping your post suggests they may pack to leave, not to just go upstairs. Their building may have generators for the elevators to work , but possibly not power or water. My friends in NC have been without power and have to go buy water every day, even to flush their toilets.
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