say it ain't so....punta gorda again?
reminds me of a little town down here in south texas called indianola. it was a busy little port circa late
1800's....until they got there second storm in a span of about two years. that was all she wrote...all
the inhabitants left and it became a ghost town (what was left of it).
being a hurricane veteran myself (yes, i've done the ice lines and no electricity for three weeks), one can be only heart sickened by that forecast. let's hope they are wrong this time. once you've been in a good one, the perfect storm will always be in the back of your mind (ie category 4 with a 20' + tidal surge). it makes you wonder why we live on the coast (the older you get, the harder it is to go through the preparation scenario...and the madder you get if it's a false alarm). if i lived in florida, after seeing what we saw with the evacuation for frances, i'd probably think about
splitting ahead of time (hell there's no need to board up....everybody should already be boarded up from the last
one). it's just not worth it if you've seen what i've seen (or better yet.....what the real old timers have seen and
conveyed when they were still around). the tidal surge is the killer. let's pray this one won't be the perfect storm.
it could certainly change the price of barrier island real estate.
tex
btw, my experience is with beulah, carla, and celia. lucky for us, celia didn't have a mammoth tidal surge, but the last
standing wind gauge broke at 161. and carla...it was another gem...sat stationary for three days...we had sustained 80 mph winds for three solid days although it missed us...hit a fishing community called port o'connor 80 miles away....in the aftermath, all that was left were slabs where buildings once stood. beulah...it was a rainer....20+ inches in some areas...big storm...130 mile miss. but, the 1919 storm (wasn't here yet for that one) was described to me as having a 20' tidal wave by the old timers.... that's right...not a surge...a wave. it took weeks to round up the dead as some were found up to 15 miles away from where they were last seen. they told about people they knew (survivors) that had clung to floating rooftops and drifted miles in the height of the storm.
during our last scare (Brett), i loaded up the wife and kids and split at the last minute with the travel trailer and the generator. my wife said to me "why are we taking the trailer?" i told her she would appreciate that trailer and the a/c if the storm was as bad as they were saying. luckily, the storm wasn't bad. on the way back into town, i told my kids that this storm (brett) wasn't bad at all. they asked "how do you know?" i said it's simple....all of the telephone poles are not listing 30 to45 degrees in various directions (directions change depending on which side of the eye they're on) and the leaves are still on the trees. they looked at me in total amazement. they thought i was crazy.
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