[Rich42]

A thousand deaths? That is ludicrous! Last count was 4 people died.

[Velvet]

Yes, we were lucky. The angle of the storm and relative quick passing - so many things - I confess I was praying.

[kp11364]

Looking at the SECO outage map, looks like solid planning and preparation paid off - there are scattered outages in TV, but all are estimated to be repaired by 1pm.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

It will not be as bad as Tampa, but I would not be surprised that the death toll from this hurricane may very well be in the thousands.

Originally Posted by flash4353

Wanna bet?

Originally Posted by BrianL99

The over/under is 10 .... if you don't count Lt. Dan in his 20' sailboat.

Originally Posted by Rich42

A thousand deaths? That is ludicrous! Last count was 4 people died.

I took the Under.

[Sandy and Ed]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

14 threads currently running about Milton.

Get out of town. Board up the windows. Fill your bathtub with water. Fill your clothes dryer with ice. Hoard toilet paper.

As we say up north, "is this your first time on skates"?

Is this your first hurricane? Can't be, if you've lived in TV or Florida for more than a year or two. Where did you live before coming to Florida? Weather hasn't affected your life at some point?

New England has been hit with 71 Hurricanes or Tropical Storms, since I was born in 1953. One a year for me.

There have been 18 direct Hurricane hits in New England, since 1953. One every 4 years.

Close to 70 times in the last 70 years, Boston has been hit with a snow storm, dumping over 24" of snow in a 24 hour period. Worcester has been hit over 100 times in the last 70 years.

Doesn't the Midwest ever get bad weather?

Over the last 30 years, an average of 48 people per year, die from Hurricanes in the USA (136 if you include floods). Statistically, a non-event. (Weather Related Fatality and Injury Statistics)

The Villages is nearly 50 miles from the coast and probably has the most sophisticated drainage system in the USA.

Over-react much? Don't drive your golf cart through a flooded tunnel, you'll be fine. Friday is supposed to be 80 degrees and mostly sunny.

I know this isn't going to change anyone's mind or behavior, but this Chicken Little "the sky is falling" stuff is getting tedious.

Amen to that!! It doesn’t hurt to prepare for the worst but all this hoopla about simply being prepared, all this media attention and minute by minute updates is ridiculous. We are in the absolute best location in the state to survive a cat 5 hurricane an most of us are living in homes constructed to withstand a hurricane

[LeRoySmith]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

With time and the grace of God, they may achieve your great knowledge and experience.

I don't think it's possible for us to live that long.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

Definitely not my first rodeo with hurricanes, I'm from Connecticut and lived in Boston for 7 years. HOWEVER -

In Connecticut, I lived in a house with a basement, the houses were constructed in the 1950's and 1960's, and weren't going anywhere. We had minor damage, and we were safe under the house in the basement. If the hurricane had blown the whole house away, we would've been fine. Wet and sad and annoyed, but fine. Just like most people who lived in houses INLAND in Connecticut who had basements.

In Boston, I lived next door to the fire department in a walk-up apartment over a store that was constructed in the 1930's. I sat the hurricane out snug as a bug in a rug in the fire department's truck bay, watching broken tree trunks and other debris blow by.

Here, we're in a manufactured home, with no basement. I think I'd be safer in a tent in the Ocala Forest than I am in my own house tomorrow night. But we'll see.

Hear in Florida, I miss my basement. I keep looking for the stairs.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Blueblaze

I rode out Harvey (and three other cat-5 hurricanes) in a 20-year-old brick/frame home built to no hurricane standard whatsoever, the same distance from the ocean as The Villages. The eye of Rita went right over my house.

But it was a week before I could get out of my driveway from Harvey, and two weeks before we had power again (4 weeks w/Rita). The floodwaters never entered my house (barely), even though I measured 36" of rain over two days. Afterwards, I helped friends muck out the remains of their homes who were also not in any flood plain. Harvey was the worst storm I ever saw, and not because of the wind.

But you know what was different about the four hurricanes I lived through in Houston?

My insurance company never doubled my premiums in Cypress just because Galveston was flattened. And nobody ever threatened to cancel me because my roof was 10yrs old.

People do not understand what insurance is. You pay a company to cover part of YOUR risk. They have calculations on what your risk is. You may discover that a different company thinks you risk is greater or less than the company you now use.
Another REALITY all companies will gladly sign you up. Companies are rated. Should you need to collect on damages,they are not all the same.
If, you have a mortgage the mortgage holder says you must be insured. Even that is not so. If, you have the money to cover the amount of the mortgage you can freeze the money and self insure. If, you have no mortgage, you can choose to self insure.

RE: Ten year old roof. I would check. I think it is thirteen years old.

[Tomcram]

Originally Posted by Rich42

A thousand deaths? That is ludicrous! Last count was 4 people died.

Last count I heard was 16 plus and that is 16 too many. There are quite a few homes destroyed by tornadoes - If I lost my house and belongings I would feel like the sky was falling and if I lost a friend or LOVED one I would feel incredibly sad. Perhaps the sky is falling would not be adequate to say if one lost their house, their history and if in addition a loved one or friend. There are no words! If you have never experienced total loss / one might be prudent to not ridicule or downplay HUMAN SUFFERING - which has NO positive or upside period!

[Tomcram]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

Then why read and react to it?
For many here, it [BIis[/B] their "first time on skates". No need to belittle folks with genuine concerns. With time and the grace of God, they may achieve your great knowledge and experience.

Watching another suffer or lose property is quite different than one’s own suffering or property loss.

[MichiganKid]

I agree, been here 14 yrs and played pickleball on every hurricane day in the villages, these people are great for business though.. sad, cracks me up that they will wait in a long line at the gas pumps, why..