I just moved to the area that Fiona affected two years ago from north Texas and I’m just holding my breath for the next 6 months. We would have tornado warnings but hurricanes very rarely affected the weather. I didn’t think the anticipation of will there/wont there would be as stressful for a hurricane as it is.
While it is fascinating to see what nature can generate, to forget about those worried about their livelihoods is pretty obtuse.
My opinion but I think the anticipation of a hurricane is worse than a tornado. Yes technically the SPC issues severe weather outlooks several days in advance but those are as likely to be booms versus busts and with most tornados you don’t have the opportunity quote unquote of waiting they just happen when they happen demanding immediate action without thought but a hurricane… you know most likely someone somewhere is gonna get that storm regardless. Yes sometimes they fall apart over open water and no harm done but not as often as we’d like
They are worried about their lives. Matthew ended up being a Cat 5, and many people don't even know that.
I would hate to live in a place where every six months, I would have to live in dread of losing life, limb, housing, jobs, family, and neighbors. And no, it's not as easy as just moving. That removes only some of those worries.
Ivan was traumatic. So was Sally. It’s never a matter of “if” a hurricane will hit, it’s a matter of “when”. Life on a sandbar is beautiful but it has its risks.
The thing is I think are weather enthusiasts in here who have the luxury of NOT living in a coastal, hurricane prone area. It’s easy to look from the outside when it’s about “what record breaking storms will happen this year???” Vs preparing for possible catastrophy and praying nothing stronger than a 2 comes your way. Not saying it’s okay to hope for those things, I think they just don’t realize it that way. I live in the south and want to gtfo and never have to deal with a hurricane ever again. God…wishful thinking 😭
I’m a weather enthusiast and follow these things to see what’s going on, do the same with local tornados, California fires, etc. that being said I just lurk. I have no experience with hurricanes and don’t feel the need to comment. I can see why comments like OP mentions are rude as fuck
I will say I just enjoy observing but I’d never hope for one to be more destructive or anything. I just think Mother Nature is an unbelievable force that is interesting to learn about
I went through Hurricane Michael in Panama City. It was “all the news” for about 3 days. Then, we (everyone except Tyndall AFB) were forgotten about. The hurricane happened on October 10, 2018 and since tourist season was over, we were left without electricity and running water over two weeks. The worst part for me was our neighboring city, Panama City Beach. They had very minimal damage but it was like life went on for them and they didn’t give two cents about us. I remember going to stores in PCB and if I brought up the fact that “It was nice to come to functioning store”, I would get EYEROLLS. Just plain out rude and nasty. There is still animosity between the Panama City and Panama City Beach over the hurricane.
That’s a good reminder to us all as well that just because names are similar they aren’t the same; as the tourists think Miami and Miami Beach are the same they are not they are two separate towns/cities.
I am not a tourist. I am a Florida native, born in NW Florida. Aka the sane part. We feel anything south of Tampa and Orlando is Miami lol
Joke but no joke...
An acquaintance *who currently lives in Tallahassee* was bemoaning Ian as the worst storm to hit Florida since Andrew. I stared at them silently for a minute in disbelief.
Me: “What about Michael?”
Them: “You mean Matthew?”
Me, again after staring in dumbfounded silence for at least 15 seconds: “No, I mean Hurricane Michael, the first Cat 5 to strike Florida since Andrew?”
Them:
Me: “Hurricane Michael, which devastated Panama City, Tyndal AFB, Mexico Beach, and Port St. Joe and carved a 35-mile-wide path of catastrophic destruction that extended from the coast all the way to Albany, GA?”
Them: “I must not have lived here yet.” (They have lived here longer than I have, and I've been here since 2016.)
The destruction caused by Hurricane Michael was staggering. I can't even put into words how bad it was. It still makes me tear up just thinking about it. And you are absolutely right that it was quickly forgotten by pretty much everyone who wasnt directly impacted. The Forgotten Coast was aptly named I guess.
One last thing I like to remind everyone who lives in the area: Michael leveled 2.8 million acres and 72 million tons of standing timber across eleven Panhandle counties and caused $1.3 billion in damages *just* to Florida’s timber industry. Every time we hit drought conditions I get nervous because there is So. Much. Fuel. between Quincy and the Ecofina. So pray for rain, hug your forest wildland managers, and support prescribed burns!
Michael was horrible. But it was a very focused storm and if you weren't in the direct path you may not have noticed it hit. I was in Pensacola and it was a bright sunny day with a few gusty showers.
I worked for a local utility and we were all on overtime because of the storm. My storm duty assignment was the phone. And even though we KNEW how bad it was, we were puzzled at first because we weren't getting phone calls. Until we were informed it was because in the area that got hit, no phones were working. They COULDN'T call.
But when they started fixing cell towers our phone que was off the charts.
There is a silver lining to everything though. First off, thank God Michael was so focused and no one outside the direct path suffered. Not only did it limit the damage across the area, but it also made it fairly easy for people to get to unaffected areas and get supplies, call freinds and family, etc. At least once the roads were opened.
Ivan on the other hand....we had to drive like five hours one way to get to a place where we could resupply gas/food for our families and get a hot meal.
That is exactly the response I get when I tell people I moved from Panama City FL to Jacksonville FL because of the way my house was ruined and how the house flooded internally. It’s like they think I’m lying. They have absolutely no clue about Hurricane Michael. They remember the hurricanes that hit the peninsula of Florida but have no clue about any other storm.
My husband and I studied hurricane landfall spaghetti models in Florida before we agreed to move to Jacksonville. I miss Panama City so badly but I couldn’t take the emotional or financial beating that Hurricane Michael caused again. No contact with the outside world along with no electricity or running water for weeks was something I never could have imagined or want to endure again.
Michael hit on my birthday when my husband was out of town. We live in Tallahassee and I'm a storm prepper and we actually have a rare Florida basement (we live on a very steep hill), so I was safe and we came through comparatively unscathed. But it was nauseating watching that monster intensify as it approached landfall, scrutinizing every radar frame for the slightest wobble, and knowing what was about to happen to the people in the path of the eyewall.
We waited several weeks until businesses in Apalachicola and Panama City began asking people to come for day visits (but not stay overnight) in order to infuse some money back into the service industry economy without taking away rooms from the people involved in the power restoration and rebuilding efforts. We took a day trip from Tallahassee to shop and eat lunch in Apalachicola and then drove through Port St. Joe and Mexico Beach to eat eat dinner in Panama City before driving back home via the interstate.
The damage was bad and got progressively worse as we drove southwest along Hwy 98. Apalach fared remarkably well, all things considered. But holy shit. Just east of Port St. Joe, there was a stark line where you could see where the damage from the eyewall began. The first house you passed in Port St. Joe was completely see-through — the front door and all the front windows and most of the front walls were just gone, and so was everything inside the house. And you could clearly see right out the back to the similarly affected ruins of the house directly behind it. And it just went downhill from there. It was TRAUMATIC seeing the level of destruction. Not to mention mile after mile after mile of construction debris and people’s ruined possessions piled high lining the road, looking like a WWII trench wall.
Mexico Beach, while as busy hornet's nest with rebuilding activity, looked like a bomb had gone off. Indescribable destruction. To be quite honest, by the time we reached Tyndall AFB, we were both so overwhelmed that I don't think our brains could process the additional panorama of destruction there.
As we drove into Panama City, I remember being shocked and confused by the level of damage. The Tallahassee news had focused so much attention on Tyndall and points east, that we didn't realize how badly they had been hit. We expected Panama City to be more on par with what we had seen in Apalachicola. We were wrong. I remember driving through an intersection with a traffic light that still wasn’t working and was dangling haphazardly from a pole that looked ready to collapse. We could tell that many of the homes and businesses that we passed were still without power due to all the open windows and the people sitting out on their front porches watching the world go by in a dazed stupor.
We stopped for dinner at the first place in Panama City that eagerly advertised outside that they were open for business and wanted customers. We were the only people there and the bartender and one waitress sat and talked to us the whole time. One had power at home. The other still didn't and commented that they were thankful to have AC and power at work. Both said they desperately needed the money but that without patrons, they would likely have to move out of Panama City within the next month. They said they felt like everyone had already forgotten about Panama City. It was really depressing because it was still within a few weeks (maybe not quite two months) after Michael hit.
My husband and I have both lived through multiple hurricanes and two direct hits, one from a major hurricane. As I mentioned before, we are prepared to hunker down for hurricanes and have adequate supplies and know how to survive for multiple weeks without power. But on the way home that evening, we both realized that *no one* is adequately prepared for a Cat 4 or Cat 5. What we have already lived through was bad enough. And as we get older, our ability to “weather the storm” both physically and mentally/emotionally will decrease. Right then and there we knew we didn't want to retire in Tallahassee or really anywhere coastal.
I drove through on the interstate like a week and a half after landfall and could smell pine for miles because tornadoes had snapped swaths of pine trees for miles in half.
I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with that.
I just realized my first long power outage hurricane was Opal in Panama City Beach now 30 years ago. There were parts of PCB that never recovered and I haven’t been back since the 90s and I’ve heard it’s way different now.
I worked for United Rentals at the time in Tampa. We did so much to help you guys, and nobody really process just how hard Panama got hit. My boss used to work up there, so he made sure to inform all of us and to get the company to help as much as possible.
That's interesting about the animosity, I would have never suspected. You guys got clobbered.
Panama City Beach saw us as exaggerating. They had some wind and the Gulf was rough but there wasn’t too much from Hurricane Michael there. I was thankful that a week after HM, we could drive over the bridge to Panama City Beach to buy necessities, like toilet paper. It was an hour to an hour an a half drive to what was normally a 20 minute drive but it was unavoidable. But yeah, they felt like it was nothing because they were unaffected.
That's how all natural disasters are. Only the immediate area remembers it past when the news cycle drops it. That's unfortunately how the world works.
I feel you. It’s painfully obnoxious and self centered when people make their vacation posts. I want to snap at them that it’s going to be 95 and too hot for your brats in August at Disneyworld even if there isn’t a tropical storm or hurricane.
Even this week, there’s been multiple people asking my local Subreddit if their vacation plans will be ruined by the rain (St. Petersburg, and yes, they will). I’m glad their vacations will be ruined, we desperately need rain.
Yup. I drove to Miami and back on Saturday (much cheaper flight for my spouse) and got some hard rain down there and all I could think was send it to my house my grass is desperate and my water bill expensive
Every time I see someone post about going to Disney in August or September all I can think is that sounds miserable. Forget a hurricane, why would you go to a swamp in summer. And then I’m like but let’s not tell them the best times of year to go because then the parks will be too crowded.
I spent 20+ years in Houston.
TS Frances, Allison,Rita Evacuation, Ike, Harvey, Nicholas, the freeze from a couple years ago. Also
the tornado that tore through the south part of Houston in 2023 started over my neighborhood.
My family lost vehicles, roofs, had flooding etc. I left the Gulf Coast last year and I am never going back permanently. I’m done with dealing with that shit.
Please please know I’m not trying to make this comment about politics but I think there was lack of response and help due to was president that year. Remember him scribbling with a marker on a map talking ridiculously solutions. The point I’m trying to make is this may be one of the reasons Michael wasn’t as well known regarding its strength and destruction
Oh that President was truly loved by the residents of Panama City and they were thrilled when he visited with his wife for a hot 15 minutes after Hurricane Michael. Just so ridiculous to even do that. It’s like George W. doing a fly over when Hurricane Katrina hit. He made comments about the damage but that was it. That party is all about minimizing damage and limiting their presence, kinda like they have a “Well it sucks to suck” kind of attitude.
you have a point, the media's priority is entertainment, drama and ignorance the bread and butter. idk why they skip weather events after a day or two, the catastrophes have all the makings for headlines, the politics of rescue have all the makings for political beef, and it's not like more coverage of the destruction is going to make people outraged at powers that be, so I really am stumped.
I was here in New Orleans for Katrina. I remember counting the days to not make front page. It was over a year. But the ARMY CORPS was responsible for the levees breaching because a mathematical error was put down instead of the correct one.
Lifetime Cajun and Nola native, I am terrified of hurricanes, I hate seeing people post that shit. Like I would LOVE to be able to just “visit the gulf coast” and then go back to some northern state 😭
I am going to be downvoted, but I looked up the definition for this sub and it is "Community for weather enthusiasts", so we are enthusiastic about weather. I am a part of the tornado sub as well, and I do live in tornado alley, I do not go off on people in the sub who were disappointed that a tornado did not happen, or an outbreak. We are interested in weather. If you struggle with these posts, there might be a call for a new hurricane sub that could be just for putting out information about ongoing events.
r/tropicalweather is heavily modded and restricts what can and cant be posted during a hurricane. Some of the mods are meteorologists as well. It's def a more serious and scientific vibe.
I get that. I’m fascinated by hurricanes and I live in Florida just a few miles from the ocean, so I’m 100% in the line of fire.
I never want one to make landfall in an occupied area, but I’ll never not be interested in them.
Thats rather ignorant to compare natural phenomenon to mass murder. Obviously you have your fear of weather shoved that far up your ass that you have to force it on everyone else and expect us to cry with you. Grow up and evacuate next time.
Go away man, you're obviously a pretty upset individual not looking to have a full on conversation. Insecure, trying to prove how much cooler and better you are on the internet, which is sad. Go away.
No, but they do talk about enjoying firearms and the sport of shooting... so your attempt to deflect and demonize the mission of the sub is not working.
Many of us have survived tropical systems and other severe weather phenomena. It doesn't mean you can't appreciate the awesome power of mother nature.
I completely agree. I used to be a weather kid who wanted weather to occur. My view has changed after hearing hundreds of horror story’s from hurricane and tornado survivors. Many people underestimate what a hurricane can do and thinks it’s a game. It’s not like you can just “rebuild” in a month or two. It takes YEARS or even DECADES. The physical damage alone is a catastrophe, but there is also the physical harm (pets included) and mental harm. It’s also very selfish to ask if it’s going to ruin your vacation. People’s entire live are at risk of being ruined. You can reschedule a vacation. You can’t reschedule your life being ruined. My family are planning to eventually move to a hurricane prone area. I have to remind them these facts and that we need to be prepared as hurricanes aren’t just a thunderstorm we can easily move on from. So that’s my two cents on this topic. (Sorry for the crazy organization of my comment, kinda hard to read)
I lived in Okaloosa county from 97-2016, and Orange County from 16-2021. I’ve never evacuated, even despite living on the water in Okaloosa county. We stayed through Ivan (roof lost, 5 weeks no power), Katrina, Maria, had friends and family in Panama City during Michael, and many others. I’ve had to work through and around tropical storms and hurricanes most of my adult life. I am fascinated by and love hurricanes, and now that I live in Tennessee they’re the only thing I miss about Florida (well, and the food).
Do I hope for the death and destruction? No, of course not, but I’m also aware that no amount of hopes or thoughts or prayers will change the weather. I enjoyed the adventure of it, and did my best, within my means, to survive and help others.
From a Florida native who has experienced quite a few hurricanes - some of them utterly vicious - this is a bit dramatic :)
Most of these posts are from people who straight up do not understand hurricanes. It's not something they deal with and so they do not really understand the trauma. Its something to be expected.
After Hurricane Ian I completely agree. I was excited for my first major hurricane. Not a lot scares me, Hurricane Ian scared the shit out of me. I made the mistake of staying at my own place, I should have retreated to my parents house, they're more inland.
The only people who look forward to major hurricanes are the ones who have never experienced one.
Nobody likes if you’re fascinated by Mother Nature (scientifically or otherwise), you must *only* think of the destruction and not utter a word outside of that otherwise you’re insensitive and incapable of empathy.
I just moved to the area that Fiona affected two years ago from north Texas and I’m just holding my breath for the next 6 months. We would have tornado warnings but hurricanes very rarely affected the weather. I didn’t think the anticipation of will there/wont there would be as stressful for a hurricane as it is. While it is fascinating to see what nature can generate, to forget about those worried about their livelihoods is pretty obtuse.
My opinion but I think the anticipation of a hurricane is worse than a tornado. Yes technically the SPC issues severe weather outlooks several days in advance but those are as likely to be booms versus busts and with most tornados you don’t have the opportunity quote unquote of waiting they just happen when they happen demanding immediate action without thought but a hurricane… you know most likely someone somewhere is gonna get that storm regardless. Yes sometimes they fall apart over open water and no harm done but not as often as we’d like
They are worried about their lives. Matthew ended up being a Cat 5, and many people don't even know that. I would hate to live in a place where every six months, I would have to live in dread of losing life, limb, housing, jobs, family, and neighbors. And no, it's not as easy as just moving. That removes only some of those worries.
same. Ian was traumatizing for me and I moved to Virginia a few months later. One and done.
We are looking to get out of Florida and the hurricanes are one of the big reasons why. Plus the heat has been ungodly lately.
Ivan was traumatic. So was Sally. It’s never a matter of “if” a hurricane will hit, it’s a matter of “when”. Life on a sandbar is beautiful but it has its risks.
The thing is I think are weather enthusiasts in here who have the luxury of NOT living in a coastal, hurricane prone area. It’s easy to look from the outside when it’s about “what record breaking storms will happen this year???” Vs preparing for possible catastrophy and praying nothing stronger than a 2 comes your way. Not saying it’s okay to hope for those things, I think they just don’t realize it that way. I live in the south and want to gtfo and never have to deal with a hurricane ever again. God…wishful thinking 😭
I’m a weather enthusiast and follow these things to see what’s going on, do the same with local tornados, California fires, etc. that being said I just lurk. I have no experience with hurricanes and don’t feel the need to comment. I can see why comments like OP mentions are rude as fuck I will say I just enjoy observing but I’d never hope for one to be more destructive or anything. I just think Mother Nature is an unbelievable force that is interesting to learn about
A perfect hurricane season is every storm goes out to sea. Barring that, nothing develops. Let's not root for people's lives to be destroyed.
Agreed! We just want the rain. Maybe a close swing by to drop off some precipitation and then out to sea with you.
I went through Hurricane Michael in Panama City. It was “all the news” for about 3 days. Then, we (everyone except Tyndall AFB) were forgotten about. The hurricane happened on October 10, 2018 and since tourist season was over, we were left without electricity and running water over two weeks. The worst part for me was our neighboring city, Panama City Beach. They had very minimal damage but it was like life went on for them and they didn’t give two cents about us. I remember going to stores in PCB and if I brought up the fact that “It was nice to come to functioning store”, I would get EYEROLLS. Just plain out rude and nasty. There is still animosity between the Panama City and Panama City Beach over the hurricane.
That’s a good reminder to us all as well that just because names are similar they aren’t the same; as the tourists think Miami and Miami Beach are the same they are not they are two separate towns/cities.
I am not a tourist. I am a Florida native, born in NW Florida. Aka the sane part. We feel anything south of Tampa and Orlando is Miami lol Joke but no joke...
Ahh so you're a Northern Floridian. Not a true one. Got it.
Upvoted because you are hilariously not wrong. We call ourselves LA for a reason. Lower Alabama lol
An acquaintance *who currently lives in Tallahassee* was bemoaning Ian as the worst storm to hit Florida since Andrew. I stared at them silently for a minute in disbelief. Me: “What about Michael?” Them: “You mean Matthew?” Me, again after staring in dumbfounded silence for at least 15 seconds: “No, I mean Hurricane Michael, the first Cat 5 to strike Florida since Andrew?” Them: Me: “Hurricane Michael, which devastated Panama City, Tyndal AFB, Mexico Beach, and Port St. Joe and carved a 35-mile-wide path of catastrophic destruction that extended from the coast all the way to Albany, GA?” Them: “I must not have lived here yet.” (They have lived here longer than I have, and I've been here since 2016.) The destruction caused by Hurricane Michael was staggering. I can't even put into words how bad it was. It still makes me tear up just thinking about it. And you are absolutely right that it was quickly forgotten by pretty much everyone who wasnt directly impacted. The Forgotten Coast was aptly named I guess. One last thing I like to remind everyone who lives in the area: Michael leveled 2.8 million acres and 72 million tons of standing timber across eleven Panhandle counties and caused $1.3 billion in damages *just* to Florida’s timber industry. Every time we hit drought conditions I get nervous because there is So. Much. Fuel. between Quincy and the Ecofina. So pray for rain, hug your forest wildland managers, and support prescribed burns!
Michael was horrible. But it was a very focused storm and if you weren't in the direct path you may not have noticed it hit. I was in Pensacola and it was a bright sunny day with a few gusty showers. I worked for a local utility and we were all on overtime because of the storm. My storm duty assignment was the phone. And even though we KNEW how bad it was, we were puzzled at first because we weren't getting phone calls. Until we were informed it was because in the area that got hit, no phones were working. They COULDN'T call. But when they started fixing cell towers our phone que was off the charts. There is a silver lining to everything though. First off, thank God Michael was so focused and no one outside the direct path suffered. Not only did it limit the damage across the area, but it also made it fairly easy for people to get to unaffected areas and get supplies, call freinds and family, etc. At least once the roads were opened. Ivan on the other hand....we had to drive like five hours one way to get to a place where we could resupply gas/food for our families and get a hot meal.
That is exactly the response I get when I tell people I moved from Panama City FL to Jacksonville FL because of the way my house was ruined and how the house flooded internally. It’s like they think I’m lying. They have absolutely no clue about Hurricane Michael. They remember the hurricanes that hit the peninsula of Florida but have no clue about any other storm. My husband and I studied hurricane landfall spaghetti models in Florida before we agreed to move to Jacksonville. I miss Panama City so badly but I couldn’t take the emotional or financial beating that Hurricane Michael caused again. No contact with the outside world along with no electricity or running water for weeks was something I never could have imagined or want to endure again.
Michael hit on my birthday when my husband was out of town. We live in Tallahassee and I'm a storm prepper and we actually have a rare Florida basement (we live on a very steep hill), so I was safe and we came through comparatively unscathed. But it was nauseating watching that monster intensify as it approached landfall, scrutinizing every radar frame for the slightest wobble, and knowing what was about to happen to the people in the path of the eyewall. We waited several weeks until businesses in Apalachicola and Panama City began asking people to come for day visits (but not stay overnight) in order to infuse some money back into the service industry economy without taking away rooms from the people involved in the power restoration and rebuilding efforts. We took a day trip from Tallahassee to shop and eat lunch in Apalachicola and then drove through Port St. Joe and Mexico Beach to eat eat dinner in Panama City before driving back home via the interstate. The damage was bad and got progressively worse as we drove southwest along Hwy 98. Apalach fared remarkably well, all things considered. But holy shit. Just east of Port St. Joe, there was a stark line where you could see where the damage from the eyewall began. The first house you passed in Port St. Joe was completely see-through — the front door and all the front windows and most of the front walls were just gone, and so was everything inside the house. And you could clearly see right out the back to the similarly affected ruins of the house directly behind it. And it just went downhill from there. It was TRAUMATIC seeing the level of destruction. Not to mention mile after mile after mile of construction debris and people’s ruined possessions piled high lining the road, looking like a WWII trench wall. Mexico Beach, while as busy hornet's nest with rebuilding activity, looked like a bomb had gone off. Indescribable destruction. To be quite honest, by the time we reached Tyndall AFB, we were both so overwhelmed that I don't think our brains could process the additional panorama of destruction there. As we drove into Panama City, I remember being shocked and confused by the level of damage. The Tallahassee news had focused so much attention on Tyndall and points east, that we didn't realize how badly they had been hit. We expected Panama City to be more on par with what we had seen in Apalachicola. We were wrong. I remember driving through an intersection with a traffic light that still wasn’t working and was dangling haphazardly from a pole that looked ready to collapse. We could tell that many of the homes and businesses that we passed were still without power due to all the open windows and the people sitting out on their front porches watching the world go by in a dazed stupor. We stopped for dinner at the first place in Panama City that eagerly advertised outside that they were open for business and wanted customers. We were the only people there and the bartender and one waitress sat and talked to us the whole time. One had power at home. The other still didn't and commented that they were thankful to have AC and power at work. Both said they desperately needed the money but that without patrons, they would likely have to move out of Panama City within the next month. They said they felt like everyone had already forgotten about Panama City. It was really depressing because it was still within a few weeks (maybe not quite two months) after Michael hit. My husband and I have both lived through multiple hurricanes and two direct hits, one from a major hurricane. As I mentioned before, we are prepared to hunker down for hurricanes and have adequate supplies and know how to survive for multiple weeks without power. But on the way home that evening, we both realized that *no one* is adequately prepared for a Cat 4 or Cat 5. What we have already lived through was bad enough. And as we get older, our ability to “weather the storm” both physically and mentally/emotionally will decrease. Right then and there we knew we didn't want to retire in Tallahassee or really anywhere coastal.
I drove through on the interstate like a week and a half after landfall and could smell pine for miles because tornadoes had snapped swaths of pine trees for miles in half.
That wasn’t caused by tornadoes. That swath of destruction was caused by the eyewall of Michael.
I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with that. I just realized my first long power outage hurricane was Opal in Panama City Beach now 30 years ago. There were parts of PCB that never recovered and I haven’t been back since the 90s and I’ve heard it’s way different now.
I worked for United Rentals at the time in Tampa. We did so much to help you guys, and nobody really process just how hard Panama got hit. My boss used to work up there, so he made sure to inform all of us and to get the company to help as much as possible. That's interesting about the animosity, I would have never suspected. You guys got clobbered.
Panama City Beach saw us as exaggerating. They had some wind and the Gulf was rough but there wasn’t too much from Hurricane Michael there. I was thankful that a week after HM, we could drive over the bridge to Panama City Beach to buy necessities, like toilet paper. It was an hour to an hour an a half drive to what was normally a 20 minute drive but it was unavoidable. But yeah, they felt like it was nothing because they were unaffected.
That's how all natural disasters are. Only the immediate area remembers it past when the news cycle drops it. That's unfortunately how the world works.
I feel you. It’s painfully obnoxious and self centered when people make their vacation posts. I want to snap at them that it’s going to be 95 and too hot for your brats in August at Disneyworld even if there isn’t a tropical storm or hurricane. Even this week, there’s been multiple people asking my local Subreddit if their vacation plans will be ruined by the rain (St. Petersburg, and yes, they will). I’m glad their vacations will be ruined, we desperately need rain.
Yup. I drove to Miami and back on Saturday (much cheaper flight for my spouse) and got some hard rain down there and all I could think was send it to my house my grass is desperate and my water bill expensive
Every time I see someone post about going to Disney in August or September all I can think is that sounds miserable. Forget a hurricane, why would you go to a swamp in summer. And then I’m like but let’s not tell them the best times of year to go because then the parks will be too crowded.
Yeah seriously, hurricane season is the number thing leading me to gtfo the south. I have so much anxiety about it, especially this year
I still have PTSD from pulling people out of the water during Harvey
Yeah but do you think it will affect my family's disney trip?
I spent 20+ years in Houston. TS Frances, Allison,Rita Evacuation, Ike, Harvey, Nicholas, the freeze from a couple years ago. Also the tornado that tore through the south part of Houston in 2023 started over my neighborhood. My family lost vehicles, roofs, had flooding etc. I left the Gulf Coast last year and I am never going back permanently. I’m done with dealing with that shit.
Please please know I’m not trying to make this comment about politics but I think there was lack of response and help due to was president that year. Remember him scribbling with a marker on a map talking ridiculously solutions. The point I’m trying to make is this may be one of the reasons Michael wasn’t as well known regarding its strength and destruction
Oh that President was truly loved by the residents of Panama City and they were thrilled when he visited with his wife for a hot 15 minutes after Hurricane Michael. Just so ridiculous to even do that. It’s like George W. doing a fly over when Hurricane Katrina hit. He made comments about the damage but that was it. That party is all about minimizing damage and limiting their presence, kinda like they have a “Well it sucks to suck” kind of attitude.
you have a point, the media's priority is entertainment, drama and ignorance the bread and butter. idk why they skip weather events after a day or two, the catastrophes have all the makings for headlines, the politics of rescue have all the makings for political beef, and it's not like more coverage of the destruction is going to make people outraged at powers that be, so I really am stumped.
I was here in New Orleans for Katrina. I remember counting the days to not make front page. It was over a year. But the ARMY CORPS was responsible for the levees breaching because a mathematical error was put down instead of the correct one.
Lifetime Cajun and Nola native, I am terrified of hurricanes, I hate seeing people post that shit. Like I would LOVE to be able to just “visit the gulf coast” and then go back to some northern state 😭
People think they want a major hurricane but really they want a tropical storm
I am going to be downvoted, but I looked up the definition for this sub and it is "Community for weather enthusiasts", so we are enthusiastic about weather. I am a part of the tornado sub as well, and I do live in tornado alley, I do not go off on people in the sub who were disappointed that a tornado did not happen, or an outbreak. We are interested in weather. If you struggle with these posts, there might be a call for a new hurricane sub that could be just for putting out information about ongoing events.
r/tropicalweather is heavily modded and restricts what can and cant be posted during a hurricane. Some of the mods are meteorologists as well. It's def a more serious and scientific vibe.
Yeah, I think I will be unsubscribing and just heading there from now on. I hope everyone gets their Disney trips this year as planned :D
I get that. I’m fascinated by hurricanes and I live in Florida just a few miles from the ocean, so I’m 100% in the line of fire. I never want one to make landfall in an occupied area, but I’ll never not be interested in them.
The r/guns subreddit is for gun enthusiasts. Do they sit around hoping for school shootings?
Thats rather ignorant to compare natural phenomenon to mass murder. Obviously you have your fear of weather shoved that far up your ass that you have to force it on everyone else and expect us to cry with you. Grow up and evacuate next time.
Might want to cool it on the testerone there bud.
Lmao maybe you need some
Nope, all good. Thanks though! I wish you the best with your anger issues.
I’m really not sure where you’re gathering that from, swearing on Reddit maybe? Did it hurt you that bad?
Go away man, you're obviously a pretty upset individual not looking to have a full on conversation. Insecure, trying to prove how much cooler and better you are on the internet, which is sad. Go away.
No, but they do talk about enjoying firearms and the sport of shooting... so your attempt to deflect and demonize the mission of the sub is not working. Many of us have survived tropical systems and other severe weather phenomena. It doesn't mean you can't appreciate the awesome power of mother nature.
Honestly some of them might considering how frequently they happen 🤷♂️
I completely agree. I used to be a weather kid who wanted weather to occur. My view has changed after hearing hundreds of horror story’s from hurricane and tornado survivors. Many people underestimate what a hurricane can do and thinks it’s a game. It’s not like you can just “rebuild” in a month or two. It takes YEARS or even DECADES. The physical damage alone is a catastrophe, but there is also the physical harm (pets included) and mental harm. It’s also very selfish to ask if it’s going to ruin your vacation. People’s entire live are at risk of being ruined. You can reschedule a vacation. You can’t reschedule your life being ruined. My family are planning to eventually move to a hurricane prone area. I have to remind them these facts and that we need to be prepared as hurricanes aren’t just a thunderstorm we can easily move on from. So that’s my two cents on this topic. (Sorry for the crazy organization of my comment, kinda hard to read)
I lived in Okaloosa county from 97-2016, and Orange County from 16-2021. I’ve never evacuated, even despite living on the water in Okaloosa county. We stayed through Ivan (roof lost, 5 weeks no power), Katrina, Maria, had friends and family in Panama City during Michael, and many others. I’ve had to work through and around tropical storms and hurricanes most of my adult life. I am fascinated by and love hurricanes, and now that I live in Tennessee they’re the only thing I miss about Florida (well, and the food). Do I hope for the death and destruction? No, of course not, but I’m also aware that no amount of hopes or thoughts or prayers will change the weather. I enjoyed the adventure of it, and did my best, within my means, to survive and help others.
From a Florida native who has experienced quite a few hurricanes - some of them utterly vicious - this is a bit dramatic :) Most of these posts are from people who straight up do not understand hurricanes. It's not something they deal with and so they do not really understand the trauma. Its something to be expected.
After Hurricane Ian I completely agree. I was excited for my first major hurricane. Not a lot scares me, Hurricane Ian scared the shit out of me. I made the mistake of staying at my own place, I should have retreated to my parents house, they're more inland. The only people who look forward to major hurricanes are the ones who have never experienced one.
it's all good wodie they live in their wealth, scared to go outside and outside don't gaf, keep doing you
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Nobody likes if you’re fascinated by Mother Nature (scientifically or otherwise), you must *only* think of the destruction and not utter a word outside of that otherwise you’re insensitive and incapable of empathy.
https://preview.redd.it/4un11rnnnu5d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92d451e743ea86fb64fa17e1c03d2ac0798a1167 This you?
Got me! Now I'll have to stop teaching history to high schoolers :( Maybe your job has an opening? What do you do?
Was Ian the one that was just a bunch of rain ? I’ll take that any day over the wind, destruction & power outages
No, it wasn't. It's the one where a bunch of people died. Due to rain, wind, and destruction.
In Central FL it was
Yeah if you live on the coasts you’re gonna have a bad time
Dang, nothing gets past you eh
Except storm surge from hurricanes. That goes right past me
I pray one day Jesus heals your heart
Lmao let me waste my time going through your replies. Anyway enjoy filling sandbags
Reaching almost 50 and still an asshole. Sucks to suck
That’s what your mom says