If you call it being prepared, I have plenty of beer (and water and food) at the house. Finished boarding up the windows today and going to secure a few small things in the yard early in the day on Tuesday. 100% not mentally prepared. I always have hated bad thunderstorms so this is like times 100000 for me.
Currently here there is an advisory of them monitoring the situation but that is all. Supposed to move to a universal resort on Wednesday
Eye wall replacement cycle, expected to strengthen back to Cat 5 today.
Going to be difficult with no power, no cell service, and no internet.
If they are installed to code they aren't any different than the roof itself. If they are ripped off, lots of roof pieces will be flying missiles from other houses as well.
Mayor Castor advises that if the path is accurate with the predicted 12 ft storm surge the entire Pinellas county which includes St Petersburg , Clearwater etc will be completely under water. Challenging to do to leave now with reporting that multiple gas stations on interstate and local are already out of gas.
If I were you I’d be getting out of Dodge ASAP with Mayor Castor advising Pinellas County would be under water if the path is accurate and with the 12 ft storm surge.
My mom has a childhood friend in St Petersburg who refuses to leave. I told her to let him know that I would drive up from southeast Florida and get them but he isn’t budging. It’s infuriating listening to him come up with reasons to not go all the whole my mom is terrified that one of her friends is all but killing them self over pride.
That's an issue created largely by people who aren't in an evacuation zone deciding to evacuate to avoid inconveniences like power outages. If you aren't subject to evacuation orders you should prepare and hunker down and leave the limited highway capacity and available fuel for people whose lives are at risk. You can live without AC for a few days, there are people who will be killed if they can't get out of the highest risk areas.
People don't seem to comprehend how powerful water is. All you need to do is visit the wave pool at TL and see how far the waves push you and those are designed for fun. The force of storm surge from a hurricane is orders of magnitude higher.
All you can do is make the offer. If somebody is that stubborn you can't force them to go with you. You did your part, it's up to them to accept your help.
Last week during Helene my friend and his family were not in evac zone but home very close to Gulf. While in the home their home flooded during Helene but home structure stayed intact. The next few days they removed all items from home damaged due to saltwater and piled it like a mountain on the side of the road.
That’s a great example. I tried to swim against the big wave pool at Typhoon kept losing to the waves.