2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Running Thread

Anything below 10 feet elevation on the coast these days better have wheels under it.

 

I would never trust a Miami developer. Ever.

 

Henry Flagler has a timeshare he'd like to offer you.

 

Hurricane Wilma passed over Fort Lauderdale area in 2005. First and only time I actually had an eye pass over my house.

My house --- built in 1996 --- had $4,400 in damage, mostly to replace some 40 barrel roof tiles.

Friend's house a few miles away --- built in 1988 --- had $30,000 in damage.

 

Jeb Bush weeps.

 

Given the increase in daylight flooding in South Florida should I buy a house anywhere in the area or just rent? Serious question?

 

Probably not an issue in the tony little town in which I lived (Weston), or places like Parkland or Coral Springs. But I'd stay west of I-95 regardless.

 

Interesting fact: There's a slight north-south ridge, no more than maybe a six-foot difference in height, between US 1 and I-95 through Palm Beach and Broward that may have been an ancient sand dune (Florida is an emerging coastline). I remember riding my Schwinn Stingray on Palmetto Park Road as a kid and being able to coast all the way from the rental house on SW 12th Avenue to the Community Center. That's the reason there's a Boca Heights subdivision.

Coral Springs gets some really crazy flooding from summertime thunderstorms because it's basically the eastern edge of the Everglades on dredged landfill from the canals. (To be honest, all of Florida south of Lake Okeechobee is basically six feet of landfill.) We lived out on Sample Road at Coral Springs Drive and the canals would overflow on a regular basis and cause temporary flooding.

Now I don't know if the Sawgrass Expressway changed things any -- they may have put in more levees -- but the water table is so close to the surface pretty much anywhere around there.

 

Rent is ridiculous in most of South Florida. I've owned a variety of homes in South Florida for the last 21 years and not one of them has flooded.

 

Some of my most vivid memories of growing up on the Space Coast (southwest Palm Bay) were the full ditches and canals we’d race our bikes through during summer monsoons and leftover storm water that would remain for weeks. We’d wade into them, too. In hindsight, so disgusting.

 

Well, obviously this was going to happen.