I've been in touch with my folks in palm beach. My dad wants my mom and sister to go and he wants to stay behind. He wants them to fly here but flights are super expensive. I'm not sure how bad palm beach county will get it. But this is one of the strongest storms on record. It's basically at typhoon levels.
Remember, Florida gonna get the one-two punch with this. Right behind Irma is tropical storm Jose, following basically the same path so far. Only good news for florida I guess is that it's gonna be really easy to catch the looters in their electric wheelchairs.
Damn. Irma is just getting stronger...it's now 185 mph sustained winds, gusts to 215. Category 5 is 157 sustained and Irma blew past that and keeps building, it was 175 sustained just a couple of hours ago.
Yeah that's the thing. Calling it a category 5 doesn't do it justice. They might literally have to make a "category 6" for Irma.
Beyond a certain point talking about the strength of a storm is academic and sensationalistic. Prepare best you can, get out of dodge, and see whats left. The only people who win from the increased storm severity are the news channels. They are war mongers in that regard, they make money on people's misery.
A lot of people here think the media is playing up the likelihood of Irma hitting Florida to drive up ratings, the usual bullshit, etc. I'm not so convinced. If it was just CNN and co, then sure, but news4jax is pretty good about providing the best information possible and it looks like the most accurate projections suggest it's going to swing along the coast. It just goes to show that the media is full of shit so often people have trouble telling the difference these days. Sure, it could change direction, but that's probably not a safe bet at this point. The keys have been ordered to evacuate tomorrow. Not sure if I'm going to stay in Jacksonville or not. If the intensity dies down (which is also projected) I'll probably just stay at a friend's who has a better hurricane proof home. If it remains a category 5 or high end 4 I'll be heading north.
That's how people die. My father is in the tampa area boarding up the windows right now then he's gonna get the fuck outta dodge. It'll be interesting though if it tags Florida and goes into the gulf. You think the media is playing it up now? Watch what happens if it takes aim at NOLA or houston.
Winters can suck up here, but Jesus I have never had to consider boarding up my house, piling sandbags around it or sprinting for a bilco door because there's a gigantic spinning death pillar headed right at me. And I am thankful for that.
I know and I think they're being a bit naive, but these same people aren't stupid enough to ignore it when the hurricane starts sweeping across southern Florida. Fortunately for them they'll get a look at what the damage is going to be and still have time to get out. I got rooms booked in central western Georgia. Locking them up now just in case as they might be totally booked within a couple days. We still might get lucky, as it could still push into the gulf coast or start to peter out, but no taking that chance at this point.