Good luck Big Bend, North Central FL people!

[FfNJGTFO]

So far, so good in "inland" Pasco County. Tornado watch most likely will expire at 8am. Just some winds, so far. We'll see, once the outer bands pass.

[flcracker]

Inland Sarasota here - just let the dogs out to inspect the damage. So far all I can see in the dark with a flashlight is a few branches down and my backyard chairs tipped over. Minimal standing water.

Praying for Cedar Key, Horseshoe Beach, Stienhatchee, and the rest of the Big Bend area. Storm surge is just now beginning to rise up there.

[Wulfmann]

Keaten Beach is now considered ground zero and if you Google it and see the satellite image the way the waterways run begs disaster for anyone that did not evacuate with an expected 16 foot surge it will literally be higher than the roof tops.

I hope those people headed the evacuation orders

[NorincoKid]

Looks like we dodged a bullet in my AO (compared to the original models).

Best wishes to anyone in the bend. Looks like flooding will be wild.

[Ricordo]

Very intense competition among all networks for the "Most exaggerated reporting of a natural event" award. They'll probably have to resort to flipping a coin to determine the winner.

Here in beautiful downtown Land O' Lakes, I had a twig fall on my backyard, and a couples of leaves and small branches in the front. If some network had sent a reporter to my area it would have been described as "devastating major deforestation".

Here's an example:

"No one could have ever predicted that people living in low-lying areas at the Florida coast would see their houses flooded with such catastrophic results. Who'd thunk dat? It's unprecedented and clearly a result of climate change. The owners should sue the sellers of their properties because they weren't warned that that could possibly happen. Clearly a fraudulent sale. Oh the humanity!"

ETA: I am reviewing a great offer to buy a patch of land right next to a leaking radioactive dump site. Great views. I can imagine sitting in the porch, sipping coffee prepared with water from my well, and reminiscing about the days gone by and those to come in a time-space warped setting. Real quiet. No neighbors, birds, or wild animals for miles around.

[OKIE]

Crystal River had a little flooding, this was at 1100, it got worse around 1600.

[osprey21]

Holmes Beach.

The last time I saw that much water in the streets was in '72 when a no-name storm flooded the whole island (7 miles) from end to end.

[Tenzing_Norgay]

Keaten Beach is now considered ground zero and if you Google it and see the satellite image the way the waterways run begs disaster for anyone that did not evacuate with an expected 16 foot surge it will literally be higher than the roof tops.

I hope those people headed the evacuation orders

Yep. Mobile homes right on the Gulf. What could possibly go wrong?

[P5 Guy]

https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2023 ... verything/

Shore Acres floods because it is barely above the mean high tide.

[SteyrAUG]

Very intense competition among all networks for the "Most exaggerated reporting of a natural event" award. They'll probably have to resort to flipping a coin to determine the winner.

Here in beautiful downtown Land O' Lakes, I had a twig fall on my backyard, and a couples of leaves and small branches in the front. If some network had sent a reporter to my area it would have been described as "devastating major deforestation".

Here's an example:

"No one could have ever predicted that people living in low-lying areas at the Florida coast would see their houses flooded with such catastrophic results. Who'd thunk dat? It's unprecedented and clearly a result of climate change. The owners should sue the sellers of their properties because they weren't warned that that could possibly happen. Clearly a fraudulent sale. Oh the humanity!"

ETA: I am reviewing a great offer to buy a patch of land right next to a leaking radioactive dump site. Great views. I can imagine sitting in the porch, sipping coffee prepared with water from my well, and reminiscing about the days gone by and those to come in a time-space warped setting. Real quiet. No neighbors, birds, or wild animals for miles around.

Honestly, having lived 45+ years in South Florida, better safe than sorry.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s pretty much nothing, we prepped for David and then it went way north and we thought that is what a hurricane was. Nobody (except the keys which get scrapped every year) had really seen a big one since the 60s. And we all got complacent. Then Andrew hit and nobody was ready for it. More than a few fatalities but honestly, given what I saw I'm amazed it didn't go into the 100s. If that storm would have dead centered on downtown Miami it would have had an impressive body count.

And I get what you are saying, when it turns out to be a 1 and not the Monster 4 they predicted, these guys go find to deepest puddle they can stand in and talk about storm surge while kids ride their bikes on dry land only two houses away. Be glad for the nothingburgers, I've done a handful of real storms and you don't want to know what they is like.