We'll be evacuating north in the morning
Posted by
Chris in Tampa on 10/8/2024, 9:03 pm
I'm typed a version of this up for family and friends and shortly it will be off to bed.
Tomorrow we'll head north on a toll road that is free right now, State Road 589, and just head north out of the area. Not sure how far yet, but we're not going to stay around here. My dad and I talked tonight about just heading north until maybe I get Wi-Fi. I haven't talked with my dad about the location yet, but I'm thinking here in Inverness:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/w9Jg1sigeoY7cNj68
It's about 60 miles north of Tampa. It's well inland and not in an evacuation zone.
There's a giant parking lot there where there is a Lowes, Walmart and McDonald's. Hopefully I can get Wi-Fi there, even if all of them were to be closed. I'm not sure what time we'll leave yet, but well ahead of the arrival of tropical storm force winds. From there we could always access U.S. Route 41 or I-75 to head north further if needed.
The storm currently looks better for us in terms of surge, and wind too, if it were to stay on the current track. But the wind field is quite large and also there is a possibility that the storm could make landfall stronger than forecast, so it's best to leave the area and not just stay nearby in a parking garage like we were thinking about. If the track were to be 25 miles further north or more of the current forecast, meaning it made landfall north of the entrance to Tampa Bay, surge would be a big problem for us. Too close of a call to stay closer in a parking garage and the hurricane force wind field is expanding. Inverness will likely experience only tropical storm force winds, perhaps only in gusts even. And if that forecast were to change because the storm were to move further north, or if the storm was forecast to be even larger than current forecast, we could just head further north. I'll check the storm information on my fully charged tablet. (which I can charge in the car)
We're bringing lots of snacks and bedding to sleep in the car. It might be several days before we can get back home. It could even be a week, I don't know. There is going to need to be a lot of cleanup in the region and they might not let people back for quite awhile anyway. We've packed our large freezer with frozen bottles of water, several more than last time when we went three days without them melting, so we should be good on that in this storm. We'll be turning off our power before we leave. |
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In this thread:
Jim posted video from near Chris' home -
cypresstx,
10/8/2024, 4:32 pm- I'm in Inverness now at a Lowes parking lot - Chris in Tampa, 10/9/2024, 7:24 am
- Re: Jim posted video from near Chris' home - kfarrell, 10/8/2024, 10:37 pm
- We'll be evacuating north in the morning - Chris in Tampa, 10/8/2024, 9:03 pm
- Re: Jim posted video from near Chris' home - kfarrell, 10/8/2024, 5:50 pm
- Re: Jim posted video from near Chris' home - Chris in Tampa, 10/8/2024, 5:48 pm
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