ducklite said:
Although Charley might have been the worst for you, it wasn't even close for this area. In fact my friend checked the house for us (we had already closed on it), and called me to say "there wasn't a leaf off a tree". Jeanne was the worst for my area.
One of the reasons we chose to build here was so we were far enough inland that a four or five was an extremely high improbablility. If we ever take a hit that hard, the rest of the state has probably ceased to exist, and I will have evacuated long ahead of it.
Trust me, I DID see some areas of this town with flooded streets last year, and even earlier this year. But it was the STREETS that flooded, not houses. A foot of water in the street isn't going to keep a fire truck from getting to you. I don't think you are familiar with the territory in this area. It's very hilly, and while there are a few homes built right on lakeshores that could flood--well, again, its a risk you take for building where you have the conveneince of a dock in your back yard.
Are you sure about that? In this area there are several pet friendly shelters.
And considering there are a ton of rooms still available, why would someone not cancelling their vacation plans affect you?
The situation in LA was very different than that in FL, where a more comprehensive and proven evacuation scheme is in place. I know that some of teh shelters in the Punta Gorda area had damage last year, but the Orlando Red Cross has already indicated that they will open shelters in this area for people from the south once the hotels are full. No one will be left out in the storm because people contnue with their vacation plans.
I have no guilt over the situation in LA. I did everything in my power to help, including donating more than a couple months mortgage payments to several charities. I stand by my opinion that anyone with plans to come to Orlando for vacation should come on down. There are still plenty of rooms. Daytona is saying they have over 1000 available as well. Why turn people who will support the economy away when at this time there's no shortage of hotel rooms?
I believe in personal responsibility. I have a well prepared home, and am also prepared to evacuate and can stay with friends in LA, GA, VA, NJ, PA, NY, or TN if I ever needed to.
Anne
Are you sure about that? In this area there are several pet friendly shelters. I am 110% sure on that, in this area there aren't any. They said they were going to start one up after Charley hit & never did.
And considering there are a ton of rooms still available, why would someone not cancelling their vacation plans affect you? It isn't affecting me, I just felt that your reasoning for telling someone not to cancel wasn't very nice in lieu of what is happening in this part of the state. I hope people do not cancel their Disney plans this time around. The chance of getting hit there are very slim. I am aware of the rooms in the Orlando area. What concerns me is the traffic & the gas situations that will arise after the storm hits.
Although Charley might have been the worst for you, it wasn't even close for this area. In fact my friend checked the house for us (we had already closed on it), and called me to say "there wasn't a leaf off a tree". Jeanne was the worst for my area That storm may have been the worse for your particular house/street area, but not the greater Orlando area in general. I do believe that Charley came thru with more punch & depending on what side of the punch you were at was what damage you got.
One of the reasons we chose to build here was so we were far enough inland that a four or five was an extremely high improbablility. If we ever take a hit that hard, the rest of the state has probably ceased to exist, and I will have evacuated long ahead of it. You are miles inland compared to many in the state of FL, but the probability isn't as slim as you think. You are (I believe) less than 120 miles either way from each coast. If a CAT 5 was to hit Daytona or Tampa area's & the hurricane force winds extended outward 170 miles or so..you will get some pretty bad damage. I am not doubting that you would be safer than on the coast, I am only trying to make you see that you are not hurricane proof. Then to say something as senseless as you did about those on the coast is just uncalled for especially when something like this is happening.
Trust me, I DID see some areas of this town with flooded streets last year, and even earlier this year. But it was the STREETS that flooded, not houses. A foot of water in the street isn't going to keep a fire truck from getting to you. I don't think you are familiar with the territory in this area. It's very hilly, and while there are a few homes built right on lakeshores that could flood--well, again, its a risk you take for building where you have the conveneince of a dock in your back yard. You haven't seen much if you have only seen a foot in the road. My actual neighborhood doens't require flood insurance for a mortgage (believe it or not & I am at 7fl above sea level and 10-15 miles from the coast). I have been here for 14 years & I have seen more flooding on our streets from summer rains than I have during any tropical storm or hurricane coming thru. I have seen 3 feet of water on my street with catfish swiming by...no it didn't get into my house & yes, fire & resuce can get thru. Just 3 weeks ago it rained so hard for only 30 minutes that my entire street was under water, I opened my sliders to go out to the lanai & my lanai had ankle deep water in it! The pool didn't overflow, but the rain runoff came into my lanai... Do you have a pool? If so your deck should have a slant going away from your pool. The run off will go there & build up if it rains hard enough in a short period of time. That is how my lanai floods. My pool deck is very large, my lanai is closed in & there is a drain that seperates the deck from the lanai yet some rains cause flooding becasue the drain cannot handle the large amounts of rain in short time frames. This has nothing to do with living on a hill. I lived on hills for 30 years in NY & 3 in CT...I know what they are. Yes, if you live on a hill or are as far inland as you are you will not get a storm surge, but you can still get flooding. They are 2 different things. I don't think you understand the difference in them. Half of New England is flooding now from rains..they are hilly areas.
I believe in personal responsibility. I have a well prepared home, and am also prepared to evacuate and can stay with friends in LA, GA, VA, NJ, PA, NY, or TN if I ever needed to. I agree with you, I believe in personal responsibility also, I have my hurricane supplies as well, I have places that I can go to also that isn't the point here..the point was your comment on why someone shouldn't cancel their ressie..just because someone choose to live on the coast (and as I said not all of us exactly choose it willingly) that they should be punished by the storms if they don't evacuate & in your mind if they didn't have their hotelroom by now too bad
When you are here for several years then tell us what we can expect & not expect. People that have lived all thier lives in the middle of the state
never thought they would see the damage from last years storms. Each year the storms seem to be getting worse, it is all stemming form the El Nino & El Nina and globle warming... unless you have some super powers that the rest of us don't have, don't say what can or cannot happen in your area.
My point in a nut shell to you is:
1. You comment on why one shouldn't cancel the room was uncalled for. You have no right to judge people.
2. No place in the entire state of Florida is hurricane proof. There is a possibility that anywhere in this state can get hit. Heaven forbid, if what happened Christmas time last year with the tsunami happened here, we are all gonners and yes, it is possible, will it....more than likely (hopfully) not, but can it...yes it can.
I am not telling anyone to cancel their trip to Orlando... by all means they should come. The most Orlando
should get from this storm is rain... and they get it every day from June to Sept anyway. They should however monitor what is going on. (There is always the slim possibility that something can go that way with the stike zone cone & margin of error. Orlando is or at least was in the cone.) There will be more traffic to deal with, there can be a gas shortage (our state is famous for that when a storm comes around), there may be some travel delays at the airport, bus & train stations. On the other hand, if someone was saying they were canceling because they didn't want to add to an already congested area, I would say "thank you for thinking of us" instead of what you had said.
