Sorry, Russ, no one on this forum so far seems to have been around for the hurricanes in 2004. I'd like to know their experience, as well.
One thought about pine trees and wind. I also went through Hurricane Alicia in 1983 in Houston. Although I lived on the "clean" side of the hurricane I saw a lot of destruction in the northeast part of Houston which was on the "dirty" side and in a pine forest. Yes, pine trees snap in high wind, but the good news is that TV doesn't have a lot of pine trees.
Also, insurance companies seem to take a different view of the risk of living in The Villages versus living near the coast. It's expensive and difficult to get insurance on our condo east of I-95 in south Florida. Here our concrete house is insured for more than 4 times the value of the interior only of our condo for about the same premium.
All in all, I'd rather be here than there. Probably the main danger of a hurricane here would be the tornados that might be spawned by the system.
|