2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season Running Thread

I’m 100 miles NE of Clearwater

 

When we evacuated from Irma, we went to Atlanta. A six-hour drive took 10 going up and almost 11 coming back. I don't mind driving, but there's only so long you can inch along on an interstate at 5 mph without going nuts.

 

I live a couple hundred miles inland, so we're where people evacuate to and not from. But one time I did have to make my way through an evacuation. I went down to watch an LSU game in September 1998 when Georges was bearing down on the Gulf Coast. Similar to Katrina, it turned slightly east at the last minute to hit the Mississippi coast while sideswiping New Orleans, or else we might have had that whole mess seven years sooner.
I was halfway to Baton Rouge on a Saturday afternoon when the New Orleans mayor had a press conference announcing evacuations. All during the LSU game, which was a 7 p.m. kickoff, they kept announcing road closures on I-10 that were inching closer and closer to Baton Rouge. It was surreal.

It was midnight by the time the game ended and we wrapped up a postgame meal. My friends said I should stay with them, but I didn't want to risk getting caught in even more traffic, road closures and bad weather in the morning so I started the drive home and it was just as surreal.
Traffic was moving, but it was bumper to bumper at about 50 mph. It was like the world's fastest traffic jam. Throw in some growing fatigue from a long day, the fact it was about 2 a.m. on a patch of interstate that rarely gets that sort of traffic at its busiest times, and the eerieness that always precedes a hurricane making landfall, and it was something I've never experienced before or since.

 

Here on the Cape, there are two 10-20 mile traffic jams every summer Sunday afternoon leading to the two bridges connecting it to the mainland. In case of hurricane, we are screwed except that after Labor Day, there aren't as many people here. When Sandy was headed north, we battened down the house and left for Boston with no problems, but of course, that was almost Halloween.

 

When Florence hit in 2018, our dunes and beach crossovers were wiped off the map, but aside from the random house losing some siding and shingles, the island was more or less OK in the following days.
The inland rally point, complete with higher ground and brick houses, was completely devastated because of river flooding that had nowhere to go.

 

If your hurricane lasts for more than three days, consult your physician.

 

Biden needs to get on TV with a map and a sharpie.

 

So, all of a sudden, we're looking at landfalls near Tampa AND Savannah.

 

Thank y'all for reminding me of the Key West webcams.

 

Cat 4 with max sustained winds of 140 mph as of 6 a.m.


UPDATE: At 6:30, winds of 155.

 

Fort Myers
It’s also moving faster than predicted
One of the worst things is DeSantis handles these things well