I would be a lot more worried if I still lived in Palm Harbor, Florida which is near Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, and Clearwater.

We had about 20 feet of elevation though but were a football throw (by Tom Brady) from Lake Tarpon.

We seemed to be the bullseye in Palm Harbor 4 times in 2005 but all were misses. One was close and we did experience the horizontal rain.

It was a big reason we moved to the Villages in the Summer of 2005. The Villages is pretty fair inland from hurricane threats from the West or the East.

Ihave llived in Florida all my life. I know many people who lost their homes, their jobs/income, and a few who lost their lives. I have seen hurricanes make a last minute turn and catch people off guard. People who do not heed warnings and surf in the waters only to get killed by the rip current. People who chose to stay outside for a better view and a tree falls on them, killing them instantly. Power lines that have fallen onto the roads and electrocuting individuals. People who choose to drive and die when they do not correctly guess how deep the water is. Floods in neighborhoods where people have to be evacuated by boat. Debris blown everywhere hitting and injuring those who did not remain inside. Doors and windows shattered and blown open. Roofs torn off and water leaking into homes. Trees uprooted and falling on cars and homes. Tornados and water spouts, weeks without power, I can go on and on.

Forgive me if I choose to remain sober and alert. But, the choice is always yours to make.

NHC predicting Cat 3 Wednesday morning
 

The track of the storm appears to be consistent over the last few days. What is new is the national hurricane center is predicting this will be a category 3 or higher come Wednesday morning and make landfall as a category 2 hurricane.
With the record high gulf water temperatures everybody pretty much needs to strap in for this season… It's going to be a wild one!

I think you may be missing my point. People who live in Tampa area would not go to Ocala/Villages to evacuate. The roads out are policed and you are given which direction to travel. It is a very organized process. Last year, traffic was directed to drive north up the coast line. I can't imagine anyone went toward Ft Meyers because they would have been stopped and directed to go another direction. The possibility of having thousands and thousands of cars on the highways is dangerous and some people may run out of gas. Each area is told what day and time to evacuate to avoid this. Ocala/Villages is not an area we are ever told to go. It doesn't make sense to go there. However, relatives and friends of Villagers probably head that direction before mandatory evacuations are announced. This is allowed.

The other reason the roads are policed is to allow emergency trucks easy entrance into the state once the hurricane has moved on. If everyone is returning on I-75, this would make that impossible.This is why people are directed to head to an area outside of the Weather Station cone.

Be prepared for anything, last years hurricane was forcaste to hit Tampa Bay and our Area to get 15" of rain, well within hours neither of these happened and everything went futher south.
Everyone stay safe!

Wow! For the most part the historic Villages - where power lines are ALSO underground - took one heck of a hit BECAUSE its power substation went down - for days! The other Villages survived because their substations did not go down! There's no guarantees on that - new or older Villages!

Sumter County hurricane watch
 

What about Lake County…We live in the Village of Newell which is in Lake County but zero warnings????:faint::faint:

Utilities being underground are not immune to power outages. I have been through many hurricanes and have suffered, sometimes for weeks, without power. Each time, I lived in a fairly new home with the utilities underground. Sometimes the grid is blown, sometimes towers are down, sometimes lines have fallen, sometimes the power is manually shut off by the electric company to avoid severe damage. Power will not be restored in an area until it is safe to do so.

I will admit that I was not living in the Villages when the historic side took a hard blow. I am guessing flooding was the major issue and the power was not restored until the water issue was addressed. It can happen anywhere, folks! Don't ever believe you are immune. A hurricane doesn't care if you live in a new home. Mother nature isn't that choosy.

first, put your modem/network equipment on a UPS and you will have at least some time to check the internet for information. turn it off when not using it to check at a later time.

second, that's when a laptop is at its best with its own battery. .

third, buy an inverter which can run from your car to the UPS / to the modem/router, etc for power to check to see that the world is still here. .

These are the cheap ways to keep some access to the outside world in the modern digital world

good luck everyone. .

I can’t speak to your imagination, I can only say that St Pete people DID come to stay with me in the Villages. I don’t remember them telling stories of running roadblocks either.

As for Ft Myers.. only anecdotal but I heard of that too.

If you read my post I said. Perhaps, some friends and relatives went to the Villages BEFORE mandatory evacuations. This is allowed.

I lived in the St Pete area, Clearwater Beach, to be precise. If you do not believe we were policed off that causeway, then you are highly mistaken.

Maybe your friends took a route that did not need to be policed, maybe they left at an earlier time, maybe they snuck around it, maybe they showed officers your address and they were permitted to go through, maybe there wasn't enough manpower to enforce, maybe they ignored the warnings, a lot of MAYBES!

However, I assure you. Mandatory evacuations are well-organized. If they were not, people would be panicking,, highways would be bumper to bumper traffic, and without direction some people, not knowing better, would drive right into the storm.

I have been evacuated off the beach many times. If you choose to believe or not believe me, that choice is yours. All I ask is that you not insinuate that I have an imagination that runs over time. You do not know me, what I have experienced, or my mentality, to make such accusations. I could easily rip into your post as you have done to mine. I do not feel the need to do so. I ask for the same respect in return.

For official local (county) weather information, go to the website of the the National Weather Service. Type in your location and your local NWS forecast office will come up. For Sumter County, it is the NWS Tampa Bay office. For Lake County, it is NWS Melbourne office.

What you ask is on the NWS local office website.

DURING the mandatory evacuation, AFTER it was announced, and NO roadblocks. Different people, different roads, different experiences, that’s to be expected.

If I post something clearly wrong or make a broad generalization that just isn’t true then please let me know (though you might need to get in line - I have a few “friends” who keep me straight)

I understand. No hard feelings.

Can we not go and buy out all the water.
Save it for the people who have wells. Here in The Villages we rarely lose power and if we did the water still works. People who use wells will be without water if they lose power.
Be Kind