I live in Panama City FL in direct path of the hurricane and we got out.

Here's what we're dealing with:
-> Mandatory Evacuations of all the coastal counties
-> 6-8 ft estimated Storm Surge (8-12ft in some areas)
-> 150mph+ sustained winds (5mph from a Cat 5 storm)

This is the worst storm the area has ever seen.
As a comparison, the hurricanes that decimated Puerto Rico was ~160mph.

@Vigilante is fine, West Coast of Florida is fine.
@Get Right won't get in nearly as bad in Pensacola.

But this is bad.
The Panhandle is F*cked.

 

Exactly. Everyone thought it wouldn't be a bad storm, but it strengthened EXPONENTIALLY in only 2 days. Faster than anyone can prepare for.

 

I just text my ex-wife and she said she has the windows open enjoying the breeze. lol She lives in Navarre. My daughter lives up the road about 20 miles by Milton out in the country but they always have very bad cell reception so it's no surprise no one can get ahold of them. We can't get ahold of them when the weather is perfect most of the time.

Too bad too because after all this time they were just starting to rebuild hotels out on the island.

 

That was the biggest problem here. Pat last week the weatherman was saying “oh we have this little system by the Yucatán, but don’t worry, it won’t even develop into a system” Then in a matter of days, like 2, it went from Tropical Storm at landfall to Cat 4 at landfall.

This is the worst kind of hurricane. The gulf coast is so shallow, that storm surge is the real threat here. All of the water from the gulf gets pushed up into the inland areas. We’re going to see massive flooding. It’ll make Houston and North Carolina look like puddles.

Glad you got out @UnrealCreative !

Thankfully for @Vigilante and I, we’ve only been getting a drizzle all day.

 

Yeah, I saw Dunedin and Tarpon got some flooding. But, those places are pretty used to it for the most part. I’m working South Tampa today and it’s completely dry which is weird, because it floods so easily here too.

 

An unintended, but very beneficial side effect.

 

All good in Pensacola, thanks! I spend a lot of time in those cities taking a direct hit. For the most part they are poor communities with sub-standard housing. The impact(s) will be devastating.

I was literally on the fence on leaving. Despite poor predictions on strength, they nailed the track days out which led to my decision to stay. I left for Ivan and was very happy with that decision back in 2004.

If you like watching the details of these things check out Mike's Weather Page (FB) and his website spaghettimodels.

 

think it is happening so fast, no one is really doing anything. traffic blows anyway. hasn't started raining on our side of town yet.

 

Stay safe.

 

I can't remember a time when America had so many hurricanes in such a short period of time. I am no conspiracy theorist, but the amount of hurricanes America is dealing with is insane - it makes me wonder if there's really someone/something controlling our weather or is it linked to global warming phenomenon.

 

Well, I am beginning to be a conspiracy theorist regarding weather.

I have little doubt that we (they, the military-industrial complex?) have the ability to produce some negative results especially as a weapon when needed..

 

Doing it since the 70s, Operation Popeye.

This seems like something the Chinese would do though. Hmmm.

 

The poor people of Eastern NC are about to get more rain dumped on them. Good news for flooding is that it's a fast moving storm, but that increases wind speeds and tendency for tornadoes. Will be interesting to see how much damage there is here in the Carolinas.

Stay safe everyone!

 

Stay safe folks. Hurricanes suck.

 

A lot of scientists feel this trend is attributable to global warming. The same scientists forecast the occurrence of hypercanes before another decade is up. Let's hope they're wrong on that one.

 

I would love for my parents to sell their home in houston and move.

If this keeps up, they either won't have a home, or there won't be anyone left who wants to to buy it.

Global Warming and Hurricanes – Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

 

Best of luck to all of you who are (or have loved ones) in the line of danger.

Stay safe!