Hurricane Milton Thread

NY Nick said:

This one has me a bit worried. I have close family in Safety Harbor and due to circumstances they can't really evacuate. They do live on higher ground so they should be good on storm surge but I am concerned for them. Praying hard that this thing hits with less intensity than it looks ready to do. 
NYN 🙏🏻

Im not sure how true this is, but I read on reddit that Safety Harbor has kept a lot of their mangroves and the impact wasn't as bad as other nearby areas and being slightly higher up helped a lot. 

David S. Wallens said:

So, let’s zoom in on that surge map and make things a bit more personal.

My friend lives in the area marked with the green circle.

 

She got flooded in Helene and now owns a gutted house. And this one looks worse. 

She’s safely away from St. Pete at the moment. 

That looks close to Shore Acres? The northern part of St Pete was shown a lot on the news these last few months due to the flooding they've gotten. The map of St Pete is interesting how the downtown area is the highest point of the area and isn't a flood zone, but a lot of the surrounding county is.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

No grilled cheese here in Alabama but we have tacos

In reply to aw614 :

Yeah, St. Pete and South Tampa aren’t exactly blessed with elevation. 

She boarded up her house and hopes the rest is there upon her return. Fingers crossed. 

The latest with this posted at 2:00 p.m. today.

The cone keeps getting narrower, but we continue to be on the edge. If Milton sneezes in the next 24 hours we're either home free or doomed.

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to aw614 :

Yeah, St. Pete and South Tampa aren’t exactly blessed with elevation. 

She boarded up her house and hopes the rest is there upon her return. Fingers crossed. 

I was playing with an elevation chart thing.  Supposedly my place is good past 30 feet high and I'm within a long walk to the Tropicana.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Our neighbor is a FEMA contractor. He says we’re 23 feet above sea level. The highest point in the county, 27 feet up, sits around the corner from us. Our ground drains very well, too, so not so worried about the water.

But the wind? That’s another story. 

Mr_Asa said:

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to aw614 :

Yeah, St. Pete and South Tampa aren’t exactly blessed with elevation. 

She boarded up her house and hopes the rest is there upon her return. Fingers crossed. 

I was playing with an elevation chart thing.  Supposedly my place is good past 30 feet high and I'm within a long walk to the Tropicana.

I used to work around central ave for a few months near Tropicana, and I remember being told that too. I think the map showed a circle of that area as not an evacuation zone. 

Been working on getting my panels on the house. All done except the front door. We are expecting a 10' storm surge and as high as 180 mph winds. I'm not sure how this will work with the fact that the insurance company still hasn't paid us for the damage from Ian. Do they just stack this on top? Do they open another claim? Do they restart the 2+ year clock of doing nothing and avoiding the insured? lol

I think I'm 9' ASL here? I'm 4 miles as the fish flies from the water, but that's a harbor, so that'll help. We were ok as far as water after Ian, and this storm is supposed to dump/push a little less water, from what I hear. 

Hurricane drinking game:

Put on Weather Channel

Drink whenever someone says "cone"

You're legally dead within six minutes.

A little update as of 3:30-ish p.m.

Pinellas County becomes two islands with Cat 5 storm surge. My house is near the NW corner on the southern island and my apartments will be a reef.

David S. Wallens said:

A little update as of 3:30-ish p.m.

Well crap. That little southward wobble makes my life more interesting.

In reply to jgrewe :

A while back I read something–NY Times or Washington Post, I think–about the vulnerability of Tampa and the surrounding areas: low, near water, lots of concrete. TL;DR: Not many places for the water to easily escape. 

In reply to DrBoost :

Yeah. I think this all goes back to the basics: be prepared and keep an eye on the forecast. 

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

But, anyway, in a weird way one of the best things to ever happen in Florida was Andrew. After that catastrophe, Florida building codes and code enforcement were seriously overhauled. A modern Florida home—particularly a block one with modern windows—is basically a bunker

I am a GC in Arizona. One of the focuses of my business is building shade structures.

For some reason, Florida-certified engineering is entering into the vernacular of shade requirements even out here. It's absolutely absurd and increases cost 5-fold or more, but someone, somewhere heard that Florida engineering requirements are good, so why shouldn't we adopt them here as well? 

Aaaaand we have a cat5 again folks. Milton really wants his gd stapler back. 

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to jgrewe :

A while back I read something–NY Times or Washington Post, I think–about the vulnerability of Tampa and the surrounding areas: low, near water, lots of concrete. TL;DR: Not many places for the water to easily escape. 

Feels accurate for downtown Tampa, for sure

If I remember right one of the problems for Tampa is the wind blowing the surge into the bay and it having a hard time exiting the bay.

Dont worry about the little wiggles, if you are in the cone, get ready.  
 

also, HUNKRR DOWN!

From Crown Weather Services.

Stampie said:

If I remember right one of the problems for Tampa is the wind blowing the surge into the bay and it having a hard time exiting the bay.

Oh definitely. There have been sharks swimming along Bayshore Blvd in much lighter storms than this (Irma, I want to say.)

Depends on what direction the storm comes in at.  Usually it has to come directly north up the mouth of the bay, otherwise the storm's rotation can drain the bay.  With the direction this is taking, I want to say it will be neutral on water level but might drain it.

Seen both in the past 10 years or so that Ive been down there.

Best of luck friends. We're thinking. Of you. 

In reply to glueguy (Forum Supporter) :

I assume your hangin' out in 'Bama till the storm gets on east of FL? What part?