For those of you anxiously awaiting the formation of Debby

[Senobia]

And beyond....

I'd just like to ask if you've ever been in a hurricane, a horrendous evacuation, or had your home/town damaged by one.

I used to look forward to the season every year myself - until Rita last year.

Just wondering, that's all. As for me, I'm just reading, learning, and trying to prepare in advance by what you all post here.

[Grease Monkey]

I was hit with the southern eyewall of Francis, Jeanne and direct hit by Wilma in SE florida. I still like hurricane season. We'll see how my attitude will adjust if and when I get hit by a major.

[JonathanBelles]

ive been trough charley, fransis, jeanne, dennis, TS or pre-katrina, and wilma and was evacuted during charley and fransis.

[windnrain]

I have been through Katrina, an hour and a half SOUTH of New Orleans.


And you know what? I can't wait for another storm. Mother nature has the upper hand sometimes, and with how much we do to this planet... sometimes I think it deserves it.

[Extremeweatherguy]

These are the systems I have experienced in just the last 10 years alone:

-Hurricane Dennis (NC) - No real damage.
-Hurricane Floyd (NC) - Minor damage. Large oak took out backyard fence.
-The remains of TS Gordon and TS Debby (NC) - No real damage.
-TS Gabrielle (FL) - Minor damage.
-TD Henri (FL) - No real damage.
-Hurricane Charley (FL) - Widespread damage.
-Hurricane Frances (FL) - Widespread minor damage.
-Hurricane Jeanne (FL) - Widespread minor damage.
-Outer bands of Hurricane Dennis (FL) - Very minor damage.
-Hurricane Rita (TX) - Widespread minor damage.

Out of those storms, the only one that really "destroyed" my town for a good period of time was Charley. Here is the preliminary report issued from the NHC for my county (Orange County, FL) after Charley:

ORANGE COUNTY...LOCAL OFFICIALS UNABLE TO PROVIDE DETAILED
STATISTICS AT THIS TIME. ONE YOUNG GIRL KILLED IN MULT-CAR ACCIDENT
WHEN MOVING VAN LOST CONTROL IN HIGH WINDS AND ROLLED ON TOP OF CAR
ON HIGHWAY 528 IN EASTERN ORANGE COUNTY AROUND 415 PM AUGUST 13TH. A
SECOND DEATH IS OFTEN MENTIONED IN NEWS REPORTS BUT NO SPECIFICS CAN
BE FOUND AT THIS TIME. WIDESPREAD DAMAGE TO HOUSES AND CARS...MOSTLY
FROM FALLEN TREES. 250,000 RESIDENCES WITHOUT POWER. DAMAGE TO
PORCHES...POOL SCREENS...ROOF TILES. DAMAGE TO SOME WEAK BUILDINGS
AND MOBILE HOMES.

And here are some pictures from the county I lived in after the storm:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/charley/Ora ... range2.jpg
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/charley/Orange/Orlando6.jpg
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/charley/Orange/Orlando2.jpg
http://wideya.com/Wideya%20V3/html/html ... tos/41.JPG
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/charley/Orange/welcome.jpg
http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/13 ... .jpg.image


And even after all that, I still like hurricane season. Weather is my passion, and tracking storms and trying to figure out what they'll do next is something I will always love to do. That being said, I do not wish disaster on anyone, and hope a major storm does not bear down this season (even though that will likely not be the case). I just hope everyone is smart and safe this year and that even in the worst of storms the death toll will be zero. Now THAT would be a great season!

[x-y-no]

The weather's going to do whatever it's going to do. How any of us reacts doesn't make one whit of difference to that.

I've been in my share of bad situations. In 1988, I rode out the center of TS Chris in the SE Bahamas singlehanded in a 30 foot sailboat. Didn't think I'd live through that one. I rode out Andrew in a neighbohood that post-analysis says got high end Cat-3 winds. I've been in a bunch of less hairy situations, including Wilma last year here at the Dade/Broward line.

But I'll tell you what - along with the sick feeling of concern for the suffering I knew was likely to come while I watched Katrina grow in the Gulf or while I watched Wilma bomb out faster and deeper than any storm in Atlantic history, along with that comes a sense of awe at the pwoer of nature and a desire to study and understand it.

So yeah, I eagerly watch for development of systems. Not out of a desire for calamity, but out of respect for the power of nature and out of a desire to better understand it.

[bvigal]

These are the systems I have experienced in just the last 10 years alone:

-Hurricane Dennis (NC) - No real damage.
-Hurricane Floyd (NC) - Minor damage. Large oak took out backyard fence.
-The remains of TS Gordon and TS Debby (NC) - No real damage.
-TS Gabrielle (FL) - Minor damage.
-TD Henri (FL) - No real damage.
-Hurricane Charley (FL) - Widespread damage.
-Hurricane Frances (FL) - Widespread minor damage.
-Hurricane Jeanne (FL) - Widespread minor damage.
-Outer bands of Hurricane Dennis (FL) - Very minor damage.
-Hurricane Rita (TX) - Widespread minor damage.

Hey, do me a favor. Please don't move to where I live!!

[Toadstool]

And beyond....

I'd just like to ask if you've ever been in a hurricane, a horrendous evacuation, or had your home/town damaged by one.

I used to look forward to the season every year myself - until Rita last year.

Just wondering, that's all. As for me, I'm just reading, learning, and trying to prepare in advance by what you all post here.

Luckily for us in the Atlantic area, this season has been outsourced to China.

[tropicsPR]

I experienced the powerful rains of tropical storm Eloise. Also the following hurricanes: Hugo, Marilyn, Hortense, Georges and tropical storm Jeanne. During Georges the wind was so powerful that I saw concrete power poles being broken like toothpicks....

[GulfBreezer]

And beyond....

I'd just like to ask if you've ever been in a hurricane, a horrendous evacuation, or had your home/town damaged by one.

I used to look forward to the season every year myself - until Rita last year.

Just wondering, that's all. As for me, I'm just reading, learning, and trying to prepare in advance by what you all post here.

Luckily for us in the Atlantic area, this season has been outsourced to China.

ROFLMBO!! I about spewed coffee everywhere when I read that!!!!!!!

[fci]

And beyond....

I'd just like to ask if you've ever been in a hurricane, a horrendous evacuation, or had your home/town damaged by one.

I used to look forward to the season every year myself - until Rita last year.

Just wondering, that's all. As for me, I'm just reading, learning, and trying to prepare in advance by what you all post here.

Luckily for us in the Atlantic area, this season has been outsourced to China.

That is one of the funniest comments I have ever read.
And being one who loves to make people laugh; I am jealous!!!!

[O Town]

2004 was the only year I have had to experience any hurricane in the 33 years I have lived here that I can recall. Charley, Frances, and Jeanne. The lader of the 2 were not so bad this far inland, minor damage. But I don't ever want to go through a Charley again. The eye wall went right over Orlando and caused a great deal of damage and scared the crapola out of me as it was passing through. I never thought we could experience cat 2 winds this far inland ecspecially since it came in from the furthest coast from me, the gulf. I do still like to watch canes develope and track them its just a fascination that most of us here have.

[Senobia]

Thanks for your replies!

[beachbum_al]

And beyond....

I'd just like to ask if you've ever been in a hurricane, a horrendous evacuation, or had your home/town damaged by one.

I used to look forward to the season every year myself - until Rita last year.

Just wondering, that's all. As for me, I'm just reading, learning, and trying to prepare in advance by what you all post here.

I live on the Coast and have lived here most of life so yes I have been through several hurricanes, had to leave, and have had my home/town damage by one. (Frederic 79, Danny, Georges, Ivan, and Katrina) My parents have always lived here too!

Do I look forward to the season? Well it is something we go through down here. There is no way out and it is better to be prepare and alert than caught at the last minute. I want to know what is going on and what I need to do. I don't want to get overexcited but I don't want to be putting plywood up on my windows like last year when Katrina's rain started to pound the ground last year. That was not fun and her rain hurt. Add a brisk wind and you have the rain they talked about in Forrest Gump.

Why do we prepare? Well for instance Dennis last year was headed this way. The governor of Alabama called everyone on the Coast. Even though I am 25 miles from Gulf of Mexico and 5 miles from Mobile Bay I was order to leave because at the time Dennis was a strong hurricane and if he had made it to Mobile Bay I don't know if there would had been much of my little town left. Of course we do know what happen at the last minute and we were spare. FL on the other hand was not. Then there was Ivan. Another example of being prepare. Ivan was headed toward this area. Actually the west of us and it would had put us on the east side of the storm. Once again he turned a little to east and hit Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area. Katrina was another one that shows everyone should be prepare and don't look at the that line where she is going to hit. Even though Katrina made landfall two states away we had major damage along the beaches here. Houses destroyed because of her storm surge. Concrete Piers taking down. Piers that had withstand many of hurricanes. Were people prepare in Fairhope? Some were and some were not. The back side of the house near my aunt, cousin, uncle, and meme's house washed away. No one dreamed that could happen with a storm making landfall so far away. We were warned though. I know for a fact because it was my husband who walked from house to house in Daphne telling people that they needed to leave and pack their belongings that they wanted to keep because their house and lives were in danger. So yes we knew but didn't believe it could happen. And the family in the house that washed away was inside it but left when the water started to come in. It just goes to show you that anything can happen and be prepare is the main advice anyone can give.

This is a great site for info, updates, and people who care. I wasn't here during Ivan but I saw the outpouring concern and love that the members have here for their fellow members when Katrina, Rita, and Wilma hit.



http://new.photos.yahoo.com/beachbum1970al/album/576460762304573549
I think this link will work. There are picture of Ivan

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/beachbum1970al/album/576460762304571636
Katrina

[roadie]

Rode out 12 hours of howling winds from Andrew in 92 and swore I'd never stay for another one like that. Evacuated for Katrina, no power for a week. Stayed for Rita, no power for a week. I also drove the Mississippi Gulf Coast shortly after Camille in 69...still remember the fresh sights of devastation to this day. I've been fortunate, and totally respect the ultimate power of Mother Nature!!

[stormymonday]

I'm from Chalmette, Louisiana...ground zero for Katrina. I evacuated, only to come back to total destruction of the entire parish. I never want to see anything like that again.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Tropical system experiences begin with Audrey, in 1957 (yeah, I'm right up there with Cro-Magnon) and the latest were a brush with Rita but a major hit from Katrina. All I can say is that between those two I must have experienced varying degrees from TS, gale, to hurricane systems numbering literally in the dozens. As a child who truly had no clue about their potential for disaster, I loved them. As a young adult who went through horrendous calamity in Betsy then Camille, I learned to respect them, but still held a fascination for them--would actually find myself going with some friends to what we perceived was a "safe spot" to catch close to landfall areas for storms like Andrew, and later Georges-- but something in my gut brought fear with Katrina. It was well warranted.

Do they still hold me in awe and fascination?--of course, I guess that's the scientist side of me. But add to that fascination an even greater respect for the horrendous potential for catastrophe they can portend. While I now find myself identifying moreso than ever with those who get a sinking gut feeling if one enters the Gulf and/or poses a threat to my area, and a genuine disdain for the often ubiquitous cheerleaders for these things; I guess that fascination is what brings most folks to places like this.

A2K

[wzrgirl1]

Andrew, Frances, Jeanne, Katrina, Wilma,

[Audrey2Katrina]

Hi, Stormy-- I once lived on Mehle, and went to Chalmette High... thought nothing would outdo Betsy out there---till Katrina. Hope all is looking better in your area. My cousin's home in Bucaneer Villa North had to be levelled--he and his family are now residents of Lafayette, La.

A2K

[seahawkjd]

Lets see ummm...

*Charley (I think I was pretty young)
*Gloria
*Diana
*Hugo
*Bertha
*Fran
*Bonnie
*Dennis
*Dennis (turned around and hit us again a week later)
*Floyd
*Isabel
*Ophelia

and various tropical storms