Only a few short weeks ago, hurricane Charley ravaged Florida, causing billions of dollars worth of damage, and killing dozens. I personally got to see some of the damage in the Port Charlotte area when I went down there to help out some friends who got hit hard. It’s like a war zone down there.
You might want to hold off on putting that new roof on your house, or this may be the first time you ever buy two roofs for one house in a one month span. Here comes Frances.
This sounds good (weather.com):
Frances, a category 4 monster on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, is expected to smash through the southern and central Bahamas Thursday and into the northern Bahamas Thursday night. After that, the southeast coast of the U. S. will bob to the top of the target list, but as yet there is no consensus among guidance tools as to where (or when) Frances will thunder ashore.
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This storm is larger and will effect more land than Charley did once it makes landfall.
Right now I am in Gainesville, which is slightly west of the middle of the state, which is a relatively good place to be. On Saturday, about when the storm should hit, I’m planning on being down in the Sarasota area, on the west coast. Again, this is a relatively good place to be, but with Frances at category 4 right now, possibly making category 5 before it hits, if the storm hits the peninsula at the right angle, it could still be a category 1 or 2 hurricane if its path leads it to that area.
The close miss we had with Charley in that area has likely given people a false sense of security. All I’m saying is that statistically, we’ve had a big hurricane coming to that area for a long time.
Scott says
I’m not going to make it home for Frances, but I’m way more concerned over this one than I was Charley.
Sarasota, eh? My gf said she plans to go there too—her parents live there. I hope Frances doesn’t slam Jacksonville, especially since I just found out yesterday we don’t have insurance for our new condo yet 🙁