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Who invited Milton to the party?

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Bob from Florida said:
Here's the latest. Looks like the 12 hours from 2 AM - 2 PM Eastern for Central Florida with center nearest Orlando about 8 AM. Venice looks like ground zero but the Tampa Bay area is so populated! Tampa Bay General Hospital put up a barrier over 6 feet tall that kept Helene's water surge out. This may not be good enough this time. High tide Tampa Bay is 6:51 AM Thursday morning. This might be helpful as the wind direction may be opposing the tides by then. There was a storm in 1848 that put the area where downtown Tampa is today under 15 feet of water.
@AdamG - if memory serves, Ian paid your locale a visit. How are things looking in your neck of the woods?

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Rick Sykora said:
Hope all in Milton's path are able to get to safety!

Most notably our helpful moderator @AdamG :)
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Not looking good at present. We were unable to evacuate for multiple reasons. We will be riding out the storm. Steel shutters are up and all possible precautions and preparations have been taken. House is solid concrete reinforced with rebar and all the roof trusses are tied into the concrete walls and foundation. Ceramic tile roof. The only thing we can’t really prepare for is storm surge. We are approximately 36 miles from the shore/beach. We are close to a tidal river but again 36+ miles up the river. Thank you for the concern and well wishes. Any of you that wish to offer prays we will humbly take all we can get. I live south of Tampa and North of Sarasota. Will try to update this post after the hurricane rolls by. That is after they restore power and internet. Could be a few days/weeks. :oops:
 

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Hope you all make it through - also the one I heard interviewed this morning, who stayed, because he said that all the hotels are fully booked, and all the roads are full. I sincerely hope they interview him again soon, to hear that he made it, and was prepared beyond measure.

Curious question though. Could houses be made to withstand this weather much better? I mean.... these storms keep coming back - and apparently not at a slower rate or in milder form.
 
AdamG said:
Not looking good at present. We were unable to evacuate for multiple reasons. We will be riding out the storm. Steel shutters are up and all possible precautions and preparations have been taken. House is solid concrete reinforced with rebar and all the roof trusses are tied into the concrete walls and foundation. Ceramic tile roof. The only thing we can’t really prepare for is storm surge. We are approximately 36 miles from the shore/beach. We are close to a tidal river but again 36+ miles up the river. Thank you for the concern and well wishes. Any of you that wish to offer prays we will humbly take all we can get. I live south of Tampa and North of Sarasota. Will try to update this post after the hurricane rolls by. That is after they restore power and internet. Could be a few days/weeks. :oops:
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Oh... you kinda answered my question a bit. Stay safe, you seem to be prepared... and I guess... tried it before. So I believe you'll make it!
 
AdamG said:
Not looking good at present. We were unable to evacuate for multiple reasons. We will be riding out the storm. Steel shutters are up and all possible precautions and preparations have been taken. House is solid concrete reinforced with rebar and all the roof trusses are tied into the concrete walls and foundation. Ceramic tile roof. The only thing we can’t really prepare for is storm surge. We are approximately 36 miles from the shore/beach. We are close to a tidal river but again 36+ miles up the river. Thank you for the concern and well wishes. Any of you that wish to offer prays we will humbly take all we can get. I live south of Tampa and North of Sarasota. Will try to update this post after the hurricane rolls by. That is after they restore power and internet. Could be a few days/weeks. :oops:
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Adam -do the best you can. You have all the bases covered - are you close to the Myakka River?
 
Bob from Florida said:
Adam -do the best you can. You have all the bases covered - are you close to the Myakka River?
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The last graphic above. We are the blue dot. Yes we are close but not right on it.
 
Digital_Thor said:
Hope you all make it through - also the one I heard interviewed this morning, who stayed, because he said that all the hotels are fully booked, and all the roads are full. I sincerely hope they interview him again soon, to hear that he made it, and was prepared beyond measure.

Curious question though. Could houses be made to withstand this weather much better? I mean.... these storms keep coming back - and apparently not at a slower rate or in milder form.
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Historically, storms have been bad - 1848 storm for example or the 1715 November hurricane that sank the Spanish 1715 Plate fleet off Florida’s east coast. A 1921 storm demolished Tampa. The historic accounts don’t have the details we have nowadays, so accurate judgments pertaining to number and storm severity from a long term perspective - it will be decades before the picture becomes clear.

The real problem, in my view, is allowing building on the beach barrier islands. Wonderful place to be except when these storms inevitably come. It is not wise to build and live on the beach - an expectation should be that someday it will get damaged or washed away. Best you can do is deep foundation with building on stilts to let the water pass under the house.
 
AdamG said:
Not looking good at present. We were unable to evacuate for multiple reasons. We will be riding out the storm. Steel shutters are up and all possible precautions and preparations have been taken. House is solid concrete reinforced with rebar and all the roof trusses are tied into the concrete walls and foundation. Ceramic tile roof. The only thing we can’t really prepare for is storm surge. We are approximately 36 miles from the shore/beach. We are close to a tidal river but again 36+ miles up the river. Thank you for the concern and well wishes. Any of you that wish to offer prays we will humbly take all we can get. I live south of Tampa and North of Sarasota. Will try to update this post after the hurricane rolls by. That is after they restore power and internet. Could be a few days/weeks. :oops:
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If you need electrical work, found @restorer-john’s cousin working around the corner from me!

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Bob from Florida said:
The real problem, in my view, is allowing building on the beach barrier islands. Wonderful place to be except when these storms inevitably come. It is not wise to build and live on the beach - an expectation should be that someday it will get damaged or washed away. Best you can do is deep foundation with building on stilts to let the water pass under the house.
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A friend of my wife's has a duplex house on Captiva. We vacationed there twice a few years back. As a civil engineer, places like that always make me a bit concerned. Whenever there is a hurricane in the Gulf I worry about them, but the storms always seem to skirt Captiva and Sanibel. I did not check to see if Helene hit them hard. And with this one it seems they are pretty vulnerable.

Their house, and many of the houses around them, are not raised up above the ground . And I doubt they are more than 5 feet above sea level, although there is a 'barrier' dune that provides protection against a few more feet of surge. But once it gets topped the water will flow downhill to all the houses.
 
AdamG said:
Not looking good at present. We were unable to evacuate for multiple reasons. We will be riding out the storm. Steel shutters are up and all possible precautions and preparations have been taken. House is solid concrete reinforced with rebar and all the roof trusses are tied into the concrete walls and foundation. Ceramic tile roof. The only thing we can’t really prepare for is storm surge. We are approximately 36 miles from the shore/beach. We are close to a tidal river but again 36+ miles up the river. Thank you for the concern and well wishes. Any of you that wish to offer prays we will humbly take all we can get. I live south of Tampa and North of Sarasota. Will try to update this post after the hurricane rolls by. That is after they restore power and internet. Could be a few days/weeks. :oops:
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Best wishes from the Panhandle.
 
BlackTalon said:
A friend of my wife's has a duplex house on Captiva. We vacationed there twice a few years back. As a civil engineer, places like that always make me a bit concerned. Whenever there is a hurricane in the Gulf I worry about them, but the storms always seem to skirt Captiva and Sanibel. I did not check to see if Helene hit them hard. And with this one it seems they are pretty vulnerable.

Their house, and many of the houses around them, are not raised up above the ground . And I doubt they are more than 5 feet above sea level, although there is a 'barrier' dune that provides protection against a few more feet of surge. But once it gets topped the water will flow downhill to all the houses.
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Ian whacked Fort Myers, Captiva, and Sanibel in 2022.

Hurricane Ian’s Path of Destruction

On Sept. 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in southwestern Florida as a dangerous, high-end Category 4 storm after plowing a path of des
www.nesdis.noaa.gov www.nesdis.noaa.gov
 
We are in Odessa, FL (North Tampa). We aren’t in any flood or evacuation zone and won’t be unless authorities decided to evacuate Hillsborough County. A bit late for that. We have all impact glass, metal seamed roof, and a lot of steel in the ceiling across the open living area. Going to be a long night.
 
Reed said:
We are in Odessa, FL (North Tampa). We aren’t in any flood or evacuation zone and won’t be unless authorities decided to evacuate Hillsborough County. A bit late for that. We have all impact glass, metal seamed roof, and a lot of steel in the ceiling across the open living area. Going to be a long night.
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Best wishes.
 
11 AM EDT update. Cold front starting to mess with Milton, ironically projected to make things gustier than usual on the normally “calmer” Northwest side. Fingers crossed that it comes ashore with intensity on the lower forecast range - ie Cat 3 instead of 4.

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And as if things aren't scary enough I've just been watching reports of multiple tornados touching down across Fla triggered by Milton. o_O
 
Digital_Thor said:
Curious question though. Could houses be made to withstand this weather much better? I mean.... these storms keep coming back - and apparently not at a slower rate or in milder form.
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Apart from location location, you can build higher and sturdier. I went through 4 years of hell with an HOA and with the city to be allowed to build my bunker.

Please note: I am not at risk of major impacts (edit: from MILTON) since I'm in Broward County/Greater Ft Lauderdale.

I bought a lot inland in an area with modern utilities and all underground power lines. Also very close to a major hospital since they get power back to those quickly.

We built up the lot to a finished elevation of 11 feet above 100 year flood. All roof drains are plumbed to a canal behind the property. All exterior walls (and some interior) are 8 to 10" of poured concrete, poured concrete roof, "hurricane" windows and doors; reinforced garage doors. Large generator with a huge fuel tank. 2 safe rooms also. Landscaping was also chosen based on how sturdy the trees (required) are. No wood, no spanish tiles nor shingles.

It gets very pricey but it reduces the stress when the recurring storms come by.

Disclaimer: I specialize in determination and measurement of damages. During the past 40 years I have seen and been to disaster areas in various continents. After this and growing up in the Caribbean you learn quite a bit.
 
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Category 3 may be less intense at it's core, but typically also has a bigger footprint than Cat 4 or 5. Went through tense times with a Cat 3 at my mom's house, which predated any hurricane codes, had lots of plate glass, none of it tempered or laminated. Fortunately, no major damage and no storm surge, but power was out for days, and downed trees made some routes impassible.

Back then, merchants weren't totally reliant on computerized point of sale systems, and still remembered how to use old-fashioned cash registers and credit card swipers, but today..?
 
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