Dude... can't tell if that's just reckless or #thuglife as fuck. IIRC Matthew always had a possibility of missing. By all counts, Irma fucking up Florida isn't even in debate. The only variable seems to be which way it goes afterward, gulf coast or east coast.
@bfun Awesome suggestion on those star head wood deck screws. There are two spots where we have to do plywood instead of metals shutters. I used tapcons on the concrete spot, but those deck screws were great in the spot that has a wood frame. The heads didn't strip at all.
This storm is looking like a non-event for SE Florida, just like I suspected. You always prepare for the worst with these things, but the computer models can be wildly off.
look at the path now. it's trailing way off the original projections. Orlando was looking at possible category 3 winds and now it's barely even category 1. mostly tropical storm force weather
The news is milking this non-event for all it's worth. Reporting on how there's a decent puddle and a few twigs on the ground. We get worse rain storms than this on an almost daily basis. Between this and Matthew, they are now 0 for 2 on their Storm of the Century predictions. I'm actually a bit worried that the next time we get hit by one of these things for real, people will not have prepared because they thought the news was just overhyping things again.
The real story here is why Southwest cancelled my flight for Tuesday night. They really can't handle a flight from Raleigh, NC to Orlando, FL because of this non-event?
They didn't expect it to sit over Cuba for as long as it did. Tampa area is incredibly lucky, their infrastructure is not prepared for the type of storm they thought we would be getting.
Yeah, I left at 5am. Made it through Florida and Georgia just fine, but North and South Carolina highways looked like the apocalypse. At one point the Interstate traffic was slaloming single file through wrecked vehicles. I've never experienced anything like it. We didn't have to leave. There is flooding and no power at our home, but it wasn't that bad of a storm compared to what they projected. Their projections of where the storm would go were completely and totally wrong. Instead, we are where its bright and sunny and the kids can run around outside for the entire day. I don't regret leaving, it just wasn't necessary.
I think if you have the option it's always worth getting away from these things. Also, I guess people get comfortable with crazy weather phenomenon in their region. I don't scare much during the yearly snowpocolypse in my area. But I try to crash elsewhere if I can out of laziness. It avoids power outages or insane heating bills or shoveling and clean up.
The media really needs to chill with its "storm of the century" hysteria every time one of these things happens. Irma did mess up the power grid to an impressive extent. Otherwise it's actually one of the weakest hurricanes I've experienced. Nowhere near something like Frances or Wilma where that shit would rip your roof right off. Also the implication that there were never strong Hurricanes before this, and that this is all due to man made climate change is tiresome. Hurricanes operate on a cycle. They get bad every 10-15 years, then go dormant again. Also lol at the wildly inaccurate computer predictions that made people evacuate for no reason. Meteorology is such joke pseudoscience. Those clowns have no idea what's going to happen but act like shit is a certainty.
Growing up int the Midwest I probably did dozens of tornado drills as a kid. I'd never actually been hit by a tornado but you do the drill anyway because if you're unlucky enough to be hit you might die. This school was just a few blocks from the one I went to.
The late great Bill Paxton did a documentary about how to survive a tornado: Step 1. Always wear a belt. Step 2. Strap yourself to the nearest metal pipe using your belt.