Community Chat

[SurferWife]

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@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

I'm talking about people on the U.S.

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Respectfully @Plaid Pants2...the US Virgin Islands is a part of the United  States. They are American citizens, too and have lost everything. Literally nothing left. They deserve our attention, our concern and above all our prayers.

[Noel7]

Houston and most of what we are seeing of Florida is so different visually because of the many low homes in Texas that were flooded, visually compared to the high rises in Miami etc.   

We have to remember there's more to the destruction than the high rises. 

[sidsmom]

@Plaid Pants2

I totally understand what you are saying.

I thought the same thing.

No matter what any newscaster/weather station said,

no matter how many people were evacuated or news reports

interviewing local officials, I saw the hurricane colors on the forecast 

and that thing was h.u.g.e.....

and I really thought Miami would be blown off the map and/or

the topography to a large part southern part of Florida would be

permanently changed....gone.

But....it's not over yet.

Yes, there have been & will be deaths

Yes, there is major property & Oceanside damage.

Yes, people will be recovering from this for a long while.

If there wasn't a mandatory evacuation, would there be more 

deaths?  We'll never know, but the land/property damage would 

be the same with/without people. 

But, no it's not a wipe-a-major-US-city-off-the-map bad as 

I thought it would be.  

Thank goodness.

[tedEbear]

And people think,   how bad can it be with reporters driving all over the place, up down and across the area. Then you have the real idiots that stand out there in the elements and tell how wet it is and look how I am blowing around , because of the wind--tedEbear

[JaneMarple]

Irma is a record breaker:

(CNN)There hasn't been a storm like Irma to hit the US. Ever.

Consider these stats from CNN's meteorology team:

• Irma is the strongest Atlantic basin hurricane everrecorded outside the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
• It spent three days as a Category 5 hurricane, the longest Category 5 hurricane since satellite storm-tracking began
• No storm on record has maintained winds 185 mph or above for as long as Irma (total of 37 hours)
• It prompted the largest evacuation in the history of the Bahamas -- and potentially the largest in the US

[catchersmom]

@Plaid Pants2 I think I understand what you are saying. I know I've learned a lot from Irma, and the worst of the weather hasn't hit my area yet. Hopefully others will use this experience to learn from it and not become complacent because they might have made out better during the storm than expected.

My takeaways (so far):

1. There will always be those that ignore the storm warnings. My mother falls into that category. Denial is her coping mechanism and it makes storm prep and potential evacuation extremely stressful. I suspect there are many people out there like that.

2. Everyone that doesn't evacuate however isn't because they are in denial or being arrogant or ignoring warnings--I have family in Florida (near Tampa) and they were specifically advised to shelter in place as they were not in the evacuation zone and were in sturdy shelters. The reasoning? To free up evacuation routes so those ordered to do so could get out as quickly as possible.

3. Even with all the advancements in technology and weather prediction it is almost impossible to get it all right all the time. The landfall of Irma was one of the trickiest forecasts I can remember for these tropical systems. I believe they do the best they can.

4. The intensity of a storm is even more difficult to forecast. I've seen two major hurricanes that blew up at the last minute before landfall and people did not have enough time to evacuate.  Then there's Irma that we saw lose some steam before landfall after interacting with Cuba. The mainland U.S. is fortunate some of that intense energy was spreadout a bit. Again I think the meterologists do the best they can.....Mother Nature just runs the show and is going to do her thing.

5. If you are going to evacuate voluntarily, do it as early as possible. They have a lot of kinks to work out with massive evacuations; running out of gas and being stuck on the side of the road is a scary and unsettling possibility.

I'm curious to see if they got the forecast for my area right; praying they didn't get it right but won't know for sure until tomorrow. I hope everyone is safe out there and that none of you suffered too much damage. Stay strong and be smart.

[momtochloe]

@catchersmom thanks for your terrific post and perspective as it helps those of us that do not live in hurricane impacted areas understand the more intricate details of what you deal with.  Good thoughts and prayers to you, your family and your community in the coming hours and days . . . please be safe.

[Toppers3]

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@JaneMarple wrote:

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@Plaid Pants2 wrote:

I've had the news on all day, and from what I've seen so far, and yes, it's still early, it seems that Irma didn't live up to it's apocalyptic hype.

I did not want that to happen.

But next time there really is a dangerous cat 5 hurricane, how many people will listen and heed the call to evacuate?

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We should ask the people of Barbuda, Saint Martin/Sint Maarten, Puerto Rico, The US/British Virgin Islands, Cuba and the Bahamas that question. 

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Hi @JaneMarple,

I have been looking at the photos in the photo gallery on the weather channel's website.

They are mixed photos from all of the recent hurricanes, starting from hurricane Harvey in Texas, to hurricane Irma that hit all of the islands, and Florida. 

The devastation from these storms is so incredibly horrendous.

I have been so sad thinking about all of it, with tears in my eyes.

These dear souls, without homes and food and power and sanitation, and some without their family members or friends/loved ones because some of them have lost their lives.

It's very upsetting, and I'm very sorry for these people who have been affected all over. 

[IMW]

Ask residents of The Keys how bad Irma was.

[Tribesters]

I think the building codes probably helped limit the damage this time around. The buildings are built to withstand extreme conditions. There are hurricane proof windows that can withstand 200 mph winds. Although Kenny Chesney says his windows didn't last on his home in the Virgin Islands.

Maybe all the precautions paid off? Is that why Florida fared better than the islands? But like your post suggests maybe that will give them a false sense of security the next time around & they won't heed the evacuation warnings.