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Hurricane experts believe we have been fortunate over the last 30 years, with only a few major hurricanes hitting Florida and the East Coast of the United States. Now they say our luck is running out. According to the hurricane forecasters, we should be prepared for increased major hurricane activity over the next two or three decades.
So, should you cancel that Florida vacation, or re-think your retirement plans? By analyzing the tracks of tropical storms for the past 100 years, the experts at Sperling's BestPlaces have ranked which areas are most likely to be hit by a major hurricane.
1. Southeast Florida (Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach)
2. Key West and the Florida keys
3. Southwest Florida (Fort Myers-Naples)
4. West Florida (Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota-Clearwater)
5. Outer Banks islands, NC (Cape Hatteras)
6. Central Texas Gulf coast (Galveston)
7. Central Florida Atlantic coast (Melbourne-Cocoa Beach)
8. Florida Panhandle (Pensacola-Panama City)
9. Central Gulf coast (New Orleans, LA-Biloxi, MS-Mobile, AL)
10. South Texas Gulf coast (Corpus Christi-Brownsville)
Does this mean newcomers are likely to avoid these hurricane-prone areas? Research expert Bert Sperling doesn't think so. "These ocean-front areas will still have tremendous appeal. Recent hurricane activity will cause some people to have second thoughts, but I expect home prices and sales activity to rebound in less than a year. Nevertheless, homeowners will need to prepare for the eventuality of a major storm."
This list focuses on coastal areas, where the effects of a hurricane can be most catastrophic. In addition to the devastation caused by high winds of 200 mph or more, the ocean itself may be driven inland by the winds, creating a "storm surge," a wall of water up to 20 feet high.
1. Southeast Florida
This area includes the major cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Forecasters estimate that once every ten years, it will be visited by a hurricane of a Category 3 or greater (winds over 111 miles per hour). The most recent such hurricane was Andrew in 1992, a Category 5 monster.
I don't think people are freaking out, I think they're remembering last season and how unprepared everyone was, I sure as hell was VERY unprepared. So if we're already on storm 4, there's a good likelyhood we're going to get a big storm, because it's early July... when last season we had Charley, storm 3, in late August. So rather than waiting till the last minute, I'm gonna make my plans now on what to do, cause I don't have much help from my mom because of her business, and my brother and sisters have their own families and animals to deal with. So I'm going to start getting things like water, food, batteries, flashlights, maybe order some camping food cause it's easy to make, make sure we have a coleman stove, and plan what to do with Sage and boarding up the house, and also when to leave if we DO decide to leave. I just remember how scared I was last year when my family was leaving and I had to stay, and then in Irene, hearing the tornado outside the house, and watching the walls bend in. THAT was scary. And then the lack of power, water, gas and things to do in the days following it.
Okay so that's my rant on hurricanes. Bring em on.