Way To Go Jeb

[gratefulnole]

This area of Florida is extremely prone to storm surge!
Last year hurricane Dennis hit 200 miles west of St Marks/Wakulla county and still caused an 8 to 10 foot storm surge there. The no-name March 93 storm killed 20+ people in the Apalachee Bay area. In some places you can go out 30 miles in Apalachee Bay and still be in only 10 feet of water, which is why storm surge is such a problem there. It does not have the sandy beaches associated with most of the state, rather it is closer to being a big saltwater estuary full of seagrass beds. Additionally the people that live on the coast in this area are some of the poorest in the state living in older homes and mobile homes.
The Governor acted prudently in issueing the evacuation orders.

[fci]

I am no fan of Jeb's nor his brother (this in not a political forum so my "political" comments end here).

However, he has handled the Hurricanes/Tropical Storms very well and this Floridian thinks he did the right thing with Alberto.

Lord knows he has had a LOT of experience with storms in our state and I TOTALLY respect his handling of the prior ones and this one.

[Rainband]

By declaring a State of Emergenct the Govenor makes resources available to state and local agencies to use as they access the situation. Your "cry wolf" scenario just doesn't hold water. Jeb did EXACTLY what he should have done and should be applauded.

I agree 100%

[WxGuy1]

Perhaps it's not so much calling for a State of Emergency (which does free resources that may be necessary during and after the storm), but the media (particularly the national media) has a tendency to blow stories out of the water. Yes, ALL tropical cyclones can be dangerous, causing property destruction and threatening the health and safety of those in affected areas. However, sometimes, media outlets seem to make marginal storms (marginal in terms of absolutely intensity) into something much more. Again, marginal storms can still kill, I'm not arguing that. But there IS a threat of overplaying the situation, which is why we get into the "well, I've survived many storms in the past, so I didn't want to spend the time and money to evacuate this time". You tend to see this quite a lot with tornadoes, since the FAR is greater with tornadoes than tropical cyclones (75% of all tornado warnings issued are false alarms). Regardless, if you make people think that they will die if they don't evacuate or make people think that this is a monstrous, horrific storm, those who came back to see that they sustained no damage will be less likely to leave next time. So, yes, keeping on eye on false alarms is very important, especially for tropical storms, which can provide a significant financial burden on some people and families. Again, this is why you hear the "well, I didn't think it was going to be this bad". For a typical storm, only a relatively small area (compared to the entire envelope of the storm) sees the strongest winds (which tend to be within a few tens of miles from the eye). Despite that, you'll hear people say "Well, our house and property survived just fine in hurricane ****, which was a Cat 4", neglecting the realization that they probably only actually experienced Tropical Storm- or Cat 1-force winds. Of course, this becomes a huge issue when they really do get the high-end winds.

If you are under an evacuation order -- do so! But I just wish the media would be a little more controlled and prudent at times. But hey, extreme weather sells.

(I'm not slamming all media outlets! Many are the first line of information dissemination to the majority of the public. I don't live in a hurricane-prone area, so I don't know what the local coverage is like)

[T'Bonz]

I'll take Jeb's overreactions to Blanco's underreactions ANY day of the week.

Better to overreact and have nothing happen than to sit on one's hands and be unprepared.

[timNms]

I think Jeb did the right thing. More than likely, there will be flooding due to heavy rainfall, not to mention the flooding because of the 8-10ft surge that is expected with this storm. Getting people out of harm's way is the wise thing to do. Making the call for a state of emergency will free up needed resources to help care for those who are displaced due to the storm.

I also believe that Floridians are wiser than you are giving them credit. I have relatives who live several miles north of Pensacola. Mention hurricane or TS and they evacuate! They actually gave us some pretty good advice as to how to be prepared should our area be threatened by a storm in the future.

[Downdraft]

Evacuations were ordered based upon anticipated storm surge and recommendations of the NHC. Given the history of that area when it comes to surge and the credibility of those recommending it what else could he do? Maybe he should have appointed a committee to study the problem? Get real!

[Aimless]

The ONLY thing I've ever liked about him has been his attention to storms. I think it was being over cautious, but understandable. I do not think many people in any of the Gulf states will become complacent about storms any time soon.

[Roxy]

If he had done nothing there would be an equally bitter post about that too. Go figure.

[shaggy]

I'm sorry - I can't agree. Any governor or government leader that instills panic and fear in their own citizens unnecessarily when their perception of the risks is way out of line with the true reality of any situation is not serving the best interests of the citizens that they govern. This cry wolf scenario is not helpful to the public and could very well cause people to ignore future warnings when the dangers do become real with a tropical storm that will rapidly intensify and strengthen into a dangerous hurricane. I'll stick to my guns here - Jeb exaggerated the risk of Alberto and caused a disservice to the citizens of some of the Florida Guf Coast counties. I sure hope they listen to him next time when a real hurricane will surely threaten their lives and properties.

I dont see this as a "cry wolf" scenario.If a cat 3 is heading in someones direction and they dont take it seriously it has nothing to do with Jeb or anyone else.They are just plain stupid and the only person to blame for that is that individual person!

[x-y-no]

It's no secret I'm not a Jeb fan, but I'm not going to second guess this one. It's a very tough call, and I don't envy him the responsibility.

[beachbum_al]

Governors are under a lot of pressures. They can't make everyone happy and they have to make decisions on what they think is best at the moment. Jeb did the right thing by doing what he did. I know last year Riley took a lot of slack for ordering evacuations during Dennis and Katrina. Well you know what? A lot of people never realized what would happen to their Bay Front Homes during Katrina and some of them paid attention while other were in their house has the water came up into the houses. I also will say when Ivan hit our Governor immediately had help down here to us. I remember going back to my home to check on it and saw the national guard all over the place in Fairhope. They immediately had ice, water, and food setups for us. We didn't have to wait. Well in the lines we did but it wasn't too bad considering. So I understand why Jeb did what he did.

[SouthFloridawx]

Precaution... precaution... precaution....

[mf_dolphin]

Our very conservative governor today at 4:00 pm declared a state of emergency for Florida and issued evacuation orders for residents of some Florida gulf coast counties. A bit of an overkill wouldn't you say for a disorganized tropical storm that was deteriorating late this afternoon with invading dry air and getting ready to traverse cooler Gulf waters. Jeb was getting all of the intermediate reports from the NHC and still took the overkill politically correct route to exaggerate the risks of this diminishing storm. I swear that I can never remember any governor or authoritative agency in the past declaring a state of emergency and mandated evacuations for a tropical storm! It's that whole Katrina thing that spooked him - trouble is, this is a classic example of crying wolf. Jeb needs to take a reality pill.[/b]

I think it's important to point out that the Govenor did NOT order evacuations for Alberto. Go back and read the document because you're wrong on that point. His declaration was appropriate and enabled the state's resources to be available to respond if needed.

[stormtruth]

I think it's important to point out that the Govenor did NOT order evacuations for Alberto. Go back and read the document because you're wrong on that point. His declaration was appropriate and enabled the state's resources to be available to respond if needed.

There are lots of news reports that say Jeb ordered mandatory evacuations in five counties.

" Evacuations were ordered for parts of six coastal counties in Florida, from Franklin County in the Panhandle south to Citrus County, said Sherilyn Burris, a spokeswoman for the state's Emergency Management Division. The region includes the area known as Big Bend, where forecasting models show the storm may make landfall before crossing from northern Florida into Georgia and on to the Carolinas."

[gtalum]

Where in that paragraph dopes it say JEB ordered the evacs?

The governor doesn't order evacs. County EOC's do.

[stormtruth]

Where in that paragraph dopes it say JEB ordered the evacs?

The governor doesn't order evacs. County EOC's do.

There are news stories saying Jeb ordered evacuations. However, if Jeb had nothing do with this then all of the fawning over Jeb in this thread by some posters is over nothing.

[gtalum]

I think he jumped the gun on declaring an emergency, but I think his hand was forced when the NHC jumped the gun in issuing a hurricane warning. He was in a lose-lsoe situation.

[Scorpion]

This is just stupid. What if Alberto strengthened into a strong Cat 1? An 8-10 ft surge would have washed over many of the low-lying areas of the Big Bend. Not to mention the wind damage it would have caused to mobile homes and trailers. Jeb definitely made the right decision. This whole "crying wolf" thing needs to stop. He is just taking extra precautions. If people refuse to evacuate for a Cat 3 just because a weak TS didn't cause damage to them then they should stay and recieve a Darwin award.

[Janice]

Too bad Jeb wasn't in charge for some of the gulf states when Katrina hit.

I think he is a good example of what a governor must do in a crisis.