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Helene and now Milton

SeaAndSky

Senior Registered
Florida is getting two major hurricanes in approx two weeks. Helene hit as a Category 3 and went through a fairly thinly populated part of the state, but caused massive damages further North. Milton will hit as a Category 4 and go through a very densely populated area of the state. I was to the East of Helene's landfall and am somewhat to the North of Milton's projected landfall, but no one is safe when a hurricane gets this strong. If you are a praying person, please pray for the people struggling to reconstruct after Helene and for minimum damages and injuries from Milton.

S&S
 
Just got the word that Milton went from tropical storm to Category 5 (the highest category) in approx 24 hours. Also just heard that maximum sustained winds are at 180 mph/290 kph, which is incredibly strong. (I don't even want to know how high it is gusting). So, an incredibly dangerous storm. I wish I could think of something cheerful to say, but just not feelin' it at the moment.
 
Be safe. If you are told to evacuate then evacuate. I think you know the drill. I have a friend in FL as well. Concerned about her.
 
Hi Cryscat,

If she lives in the Northwest part of Florida she should do fine. Likewise, the Southeast corner should do fine (Miami is a safe place to be--for a change). However, the highways leading out of central Florida are already packed with people evacuating. Hopefully the worst impact zones will be cleared before land-fall. Ironically, the sky has cleared where I am in NE Florida and it looks like a beautiful day outside. Usually I would be looking forward to a beautiful week ahead with such weather. :) I suppose the lessoon here is that looks can, indeed, be deceiving. :oops:

Cordially,
S&S
 
Hi Cryscat,

Good entries! Storm chasers are really gutsy folks. I have never heard of one of their planes going down (and I am sure they take the necessary precautions to make sure that doesn't happened), but I'd still have a hard time doing that job.

Storm surge is one of the real killers, especially since the giant waves on top of the surge will be added to the depth of the water as they crash overhead. Some homes might stay intact (like the CGI the speaker is standing in), but most homes will be swept away leaving the barren landscape seen in the first frames. I remember a story from Hurricane Camille (I think) about some folks that stayed behind for what is called a "Hurricane Party" (i.e., a drunken revel defying one of nature's worst events). If I am remembering correctly, one person at least survived, he was washed out of an upstairs window on a foam mattress as the surge inundated the house and (again if I am rememering correctly) ended up caught in the branches of a tree a good distance inland. I doubt he tried anything like that again.

I'm kind of busy, but you might be able to find some shots of the tornadoes Milton is dropping in advance of landfall. Like a classic Victorian gentleman, he is already sending some "calling cards" (=tornadoes) ahead to announce his impending arrival.

Cordially,
S&S

PS--It is difficult sometimes not to anthropomorphize these storms. It doesn't help that we give them human names. But any way you look at it, Milton is likely to show himself to be a bullying, destructive, and probably murderous _____________.
 
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Correction:

After mentioning the famous (or infamous) hurricane party leading to deaths during Hurricane Camille, I decided to look it up and found that what I had recounted was very jumbled and mostly what would now be referred to as "urban myth". For one thing, more than one person survived. Also, there was no party. However, the ferocity of Camille--which did sweep away what was supposed to be a hurricane proof buiding and kill numerous people--was not exaggerated. Apparently the "party" part of the story has been hard to eliminate from circulation. It could be because it satisfies some deep need in human nature to feel superior to idiots who would do such a thing in the face of an oncoming and catastrophic beast of a storm. Anyhow, here is the real story:

 
I've been watching Reed Timmer's Team Domnianor coverage on Youtube off and on. Milton wind and storm surge is insane.
 
I lived in Florida for many years and have been involved in emergency response for a few hurricanes. I don't recall ever seeing one develop as did these last two. I hope this is not the new normal...
 
I was pleased to see Florida's level of preparation- and even more pleased to see good people coming together to volunteer their time and energy in the rescue efforts for those effected by both Helene and Milton. There are good people out there. <3 What is important during these times is to practice the things you believe in. IMO, we're being given the opportunity to grow in our Faith.

Two separate points made in your link Cyrus.

The article itself is lacking, is it meant to be satire? There's a lot of finger pointing and emotional turmoil around the subject... Rightfully so.

But if people want to discuss whether or not weather manipulating technologies exist-
They can research these US patents... In your search browser type, "US Patent XXXXXXX":

3056556

20030085296

8262314

20130038063

20130175352

20200187430

20200315104

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces.” ~Carl Sagan

Cheers ~
 
I've been in Florida since '81 and the bay area since '89. Florida is not a stranger to hurricanes, but it's mostly the east coast that takes the most direct hits. What normally happens on that side is they blow to the west (into the wind so to speak), but almost on a parabolic curve, towards the north, because of the Coriolis effect. The initial hit is damaging, but limited and they then fizzle out some what and hang around as storms with lots of rain up the East US coast.

What happened with Milton was is that it was almost a worst case scenario. It started in the west, rapidly intensified and blew east, with the wind at it's back and no land or anything to draw power away from it to buffer a direct hit. So, yeah, it grew huge and with nothing to stop it, tore right through Florida.

The eye went literally mere miles under tampa bay. That was a good thing as it actually drew water out of the bay. if it had gone higher, most of tampa / st pete would be under water right now. I honestly can't imagine how bad that would have been.

Around here right now, I've avoided going out for the past week or so. There hasn't been anywhere to go, but most of the county is without power and street lights are still out. It's a bit like mad max.

I'm very lucky as I have some roof damage that needs to be looked at. But other than that, I've been good, just stressed.
 
Hi Totoro,

Great to hear from you, and great to hear that you didn't personally get major damage down there. :) We did OK in my area, not even a lot of electric failures. So, counting my blessings, and hoping that the hurricane season is over (though there are still some possibilities for more storms out there). :oops:

Cordially,
S&S
 
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