Massive Evac From West Florida Ahead of Storm
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All on Tue Oct 8 01:41:13 2024
XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.survival, alt.politics.usa
Various channels keep showing the roads AWAY from
the Tampa FL area - interstates - with driving in
shoulders allowed - absolutely packed, trudging
along at maybe 40mph.
Some are heading further north, others to the east,
a few are very confused and seem headed towards
Orlando, which is right in the storm path.
Storm surge of up to 15 feet is projected for Tampa,
10 feet further south. Wherever the storm actually
hits, MAYbe strong cat-3, gets all the wind too.
The Tampa area is PACKED - huge pop growth over
the past few decades. Everybody wants to be where
they can see the water too ... so now they'll
get to see it up close.
The Orlando megapolis occupies maybe half the
width of the state, again PACKED with people.
No surge there, but wind and massive RAIN will
do extensive damage. It's pretty flat, all the
water will 'pond' for days.
Those evacuating ... maybe Palm Beach on the
east coast is your best dest. It'll be well
out of storm range but is large enough to
have resources and places to stay a few days.
IF you can get to the Fla Turnpike (all fees
suspended) you can ride it all the way to
Palm Beach. Alas the straightest path TO
that road is Rt-60, which is TWO LANE in
places out through cow country about half
the way and, at night, Ultra-DARK. Few gas
stations either.
There's actually NO superstream way from
Tampa to the east coast and will likely
never be - building that much infrastructure
is TOO EXPENSIVE these days.
The prob with Florida here is that except for
Orlando the middle is kinda low and empty,
nothing but ag and banjo-pickers. All the
development is right on the coasts. This means
you can really only flee conveniently to the
north or south on either coast.
Flee south and you're STILL in a surge/storm
area and so are all the places you'd maybe
want to STAY. Flee north on 75 and you can
get to Ocala and Gainesville - but they are
too small to absorb the pop of the Tampa area.
Flee TOO far north and you run into the mess
Helene created barely two weeks ago.
The other option is Daytona - plenty of lodging -
but it's gonna get a fair hit from the storm.
Anyway, many NEED to run - but if you're aren't
packed and warming up the motor already the
number of worthwhile destinations are shrinking
rapidly for you. Remember, hurricanes are not
little points like the maps suggest, but WIDE,
kinda a F1 tornado up to 100 miles across.
That's the downside of 'tropical paradise'.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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