Asian ....watch the news starting today. Whole different ballgame. DO NOT take this lightly.

Geez people, tis the season! and the height of hurricane season is from the middle of august through the middle of september. .

current forecast in Tampa is a 4-7 ft storm surge surge, which is insurance company hammering. . for lots of very expense waterfront homes..

which insurance company will remain is the real question!

Windward Side
 

TV is on the windward side of the current path prediction which, if accurate, will net us some serious wind and rain for Idalia midweek.

Then again, Ian had the same predicted path and it turned to hit Ft. Meyers sparing TV.

Be aware? Yes. Prepare? Yes. Panic? NO!

As others have pointed out, the Villages is where Tampa goes to escape the storm.

I've lived in hurricane country for a long time. Obviously the big threats are flooding and wind damage mostly due to falling trees and power lines. The Villages has few large trees around homes and few vulnerable power poles, minimizing wind damage except for that to our buildings themselves but they are designed to withstand a lot of wind. Flooding is another matter. I saw what happened to the lower areas around Orlando last year. I don't think TV is as likely to flood that bad except maybe the areas south of 44.

Maybe your relatives and friends head to the Villages to evacuate. I lived in the St Pete Area for 18 years. When people evacuate they are instructed to head toward places outside of the weather center cone. If you evacuate somewhere inside the cone, you are still going to experience hurricane winds, flooding, and power outages. There is also a possibility that trees and debris will block the roads making it difficult to return home. Not to mention when you arrive to an area further inside the cone, parts of the area may be shut down and gas may be in limited supply. We are instructed to stay off major hwys, if possible, because this will only lead to an enormous traffic jam with the possibility of some running out of gas. No one in 18 yrs ever advised us to evacuate to the Ocala/Villages area.

Okay, issue a watch but do they have to act like it’s end of the world every time? Remember the boy who cried wolf?

all this and not one mention of a hurricane party..... totally disappointing

I knew this type of weather was part of living in FL, but the same path/area 2 years in a row? Hopefully similar to last year and passes by our area with just some wind and rain. Weather reports say it may be moving through faster than last year's.

Prepare, be cautious don't panic! When Irma hit the winds and rain were fierce. Power outages in T.V. were scattered but for the most part the newer areas where the infa-structure was underground didn't ever lose it. Yes, there were trees and branches down. I'd say use common sense and watch/listen when possible. I tend not to keep my focus on any of the "news" outlets as it will feed into fear and worry. Yes, I do pay attention!! BUT there's a difference! The 24/7 loop on "news" isn't healthy---with the weather, with politics, with any kind of ________(fill in the blank).

I am not someone who will celebrate someone's misfortune. Not that I am holier than thou, it doesn't feel appropriate.

I agree!

to drown our sorrows from everyone losing their house insurance due to all insurers leaving the state. . which may cause housing prices to drop faster than AIR BNB insolvency.

the future is always uncertain, sometimes more uncertain than at other times. .

Did anyone lose WiFi service from Spectrum or Xfinity last time? New here, and not sure what the probability is that we’ll be without Wifi. Without it we won’t have our streaming services. I get that we will lose it if we lose power, but if we lose power I will be too miserable from the heat/humidity to care about WiFi and television.

You obviously haven’t lived in Florida very long. It’s what you do to escape the never ending “news” cycle. Prepare, then have a party! Done ✅

Don’t know what to tell you. Last year some headed away from the cone and went to Ft Myers - didn’t work out well. I haven’t been here 18 years but three or four hurricanes under our belt plus tales of the Villages leads me to believe this is the place I want to be.

The concern about power and trees makes sense… if there were raised power lines and large trees near homes here. I’m still feeling pretty good here.

Gas? Seems like human nature. A hurricane gets named and people run to the pumps. Wish it wasn’t that way but…