Worst storm of your life (SO FAR)?

[gtalum]

For me the most intense storm was TS Gabrielle just a few days after 9/11 in 2001. I actually enjoyed the storm itself. I live in Sarasota and I work in Venice. I drove to work in the storm, and the power was out so we hung out by one of the big garage doors on the lee side of the building watching the wind and rain. It was the cleanup that was tough. Tree branches were everywhere. I spent most of the next week cleaning up tree branches at work and at my parents' house. Some parts of the area went weeks without power, but fortunately I only lost it for two days. We had a big party the night after the storm at the house of the one friend who didn't lose power. His neighborhood streets were flooded 2-3 feet deep, but the houses were high and dry. We had to hike in to his house from the neighborhood entrance, though. It was a blast.

The worst two storms to go through themselves were Frances and Jeanne. They weren't even nearly as intense as little TS Gabrielle, but I had boarded the windows and we were stuck inside for two days for each. I got serious cabin fever.

[AL Chili Pepper]

Hurricane Frederic: 1979 Cat 3 borderline Cat 4 over Mobile

Frederic is still my benchmark by far. Frederic was 130 and strengthening when he crossed the coast.

[GalvestonDuck]

Okay, who's bumping old threads? I'm replying twice to the same posts...months apart.

[otowntiger]

Given that I only lived in Orlando FL for a year and a half (California the rest of my life), I remember Mitch and the outer rainbands of Danny the most.

If you've lived in Orlando for 1-1/2 years, you must 've been out of town on Friday night August 13, 2004! I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, LA historic hurricane territory. I lived there between 1966-1989 (been here ever since). During that time we were threatened by large storms and hit by only weak ones, so I never experienced what my wife and I felt and heard on that frightening night of Friday the 13th, here in Orlando. The winds gusted up to 105 mph in the dark of night while we huddled in our hallwaynot being able to see what was happening. Loud crashes outside, hard thumps on the roof above the constant roar and the rushing wind coming under the closed bedroom door was very un-nerving. We lost every tree in our yard, our neighbors house was smashed, my porch roof blew off, privacy wood fence was flattened and we were without power for over 6 days. All this from a storm that traveled 100 miles over land before slamming into the Orlando metro area! This one by far was the worst I've ever experienced.

[SCshorty]

Hugo, for sure.

[rolltide]

It was Frederick in 1979 until Ivan came along.

[FloridaGirl]

For me, I would have to say Opal. The scariest part was sitting on the interstate waiting for the storm to come upon us. I promised myself I would stay home for the next one, so here comes Ivan the terrible. He was scary, because I think it was happening during the night, but at least we were home and not on the highway.

Erin was very scary and after that storm, I had nightmares of hearing cracking trees for several months afterwards and Opal did not help, because when we finally did get off the interstate, we had over 100 mph winds in our area and I heard trees falling all night long. I would love to leave Florida, I have really had it, but obligations keep me here.

[tallywx]

Hurricane Kate of 1985. The only storm in my lifetime to do appreciable damage to Tallahassee (mainly in the form of MANY trees blown down, signs ripped apart, and electricity outages). Some parts of the city were without electricity for two weeks.

The storm was a late November landfall and a category 2. It was quickly entraining cool air at the time of landfall (anyone who's seen the landfall footage from Mexico Beach know that the storm was sheared and open to the south at landfall). Sill, it had a vicious NE side that brought 101 mph wind gusts to Quincy, FL, which is where the eye made its closest approach to Tallahassee (about 20 miles west). Winds across the city ranged from 68 mph gusts at the airport to approximately 80 mph north of the city, which is where I was at the time.

We had 13 trees down in our yard, and a patch of shingles from the roof was blown off and scattered in our neighbor's yard. He found every one of them and we fixed up the roof ourself.

[Josephine96]

2 words for my worst storm: Hurricane CHARLEY

[LaPlaceFF]

It's hard to say for myself so I will talk about the storms that I've been through:

ANDREW: I was living in Gramercy, LA at the time. I was helping out at the town's OEP when the director said that a tornado touched down in LaPlace. We had wind damage and power outaged for 3 days. I drove thru the area where the tornado was and it looked like a war zone.

GEORGES: I remember bringing plants in from the greenhouse into the Wal-Mart store.

ISODORE(?) & LILI: That was the night I stayed up all night running calls(during Lili) My Wal-Mart closed for both storms.

CAMILLE: I don't remember much, just evacuating to my aunt's house.

I wasn't born when Betsy passed thru. I heard stories of my grandparents garage blowing away. It is just recently I heard of 3 persons killed and many injured when a church in Gramercy, LA collapsed during Betsy.

I guess my worst storm would be Andrew.

[Air Force Met]

What was the worst storm you have ever been in? Since I live in NE Ohio, I do not get category 5 hurricanes. Yet, my worst storm was Isidore. I had so much rain and winds I'd say gusting to 45 mph. So, what was your worst storm?

Believe it or not...tropical storm Allison on 2001. I was in Alicia and saw hurricane force winds...and chased other storms that were just as scary...but Allison was the worst as far as personal impact. My office at work flooded and we lost our computers and a lot of files. I was in grad school at the time and all my work for my doctorate was at the office at that time.I had done a lot of work in the last week and had not backed it up...and had a lot of notes and books lost. I lost about 2 semesters of work.

It delayed my doctorate by 9 months. So...Allison was by far the worst. What made it WORST was I had made a forecast to my base on Tuesday that we would get 10-15 inches from the storm as it moved inland...and that the storm would stall out and move back over us over the weekend end and that we would probably see another 10-15 inches ( a 5 day forecast for a historic flood). Our building got a little bit of water in the front door the first time when we got about 10 inches...and I didn't do anything with all my work. I was so wrapped up in forecasting the storm coming back towards us...I forgot all about it until it was too late. The building was so heavily damaged it was condemned.