I don't know noth'in bout birthen no hurricane

tw · 09-07-2004, 07:52 PM

And where is the next one(s)? Ivan is just entering the Carribean Sea. Behind him is another? I don't think so. It never remained stable after leaving Africa. So maybe we have had enough fun this year at the expense of Kitsune?

Kitsune · 09-07-2004, 08:41 PM

While this has a chance of hitting the Tampa Bay area, its still far too early to tell. Still, it is on the same track as Charley.

Kitsune · 09-07-2004, 08:54 PM

12:24 pm - Remaining Residents Defiant As Florida Braces For More
October 30, 2004

ORLANDO, Florida -- After being ravaged by a total of 17 different hurricanes in the course of a single season, five of which reached Category 5, the highest wind speed rating, remaining residents are battening down the hatches yet again as Hurricane Zoe approaches.

"Hurricane Zoe breaks the mold in several ways," said Dr. Harmon Gale, acting director of the National Hurricane Center's new Orlando office, the Miami office having been damaged beyond repair in Hurricane Nicole weeks earlier. "For one thing, after Hurricane Walter appeared, we realized we'd run out of names for Atlantic storms, so in a pinch we adopted Xenia, Yuri and Zoe. This will be the first time we've ever used all the letters. It's a good thing the tropical storm season is ending, or we'd have to go back and pick up Q and U as well.

"For another, Hurricane Zoe is so powerful that we have assigned it to a new Category 6, defined as having sustained winds of 250 miles per hour or higher. After Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tomas, Virginie, Walter, Xenia and Yuri all bowled through Florida at approximately four-day intervals, we thought we'd seen everything. But Zoe is shaping up to be the worst storm in all of human history. I would strongly recommend evacuating to someplace safe, like central Asia."

And Floridians have been taking that advice: of the estimated 20 million state residents at the beginning of 2004, at least 80 percent have abandoned their homes. Hurricane-related deaths this year are estimated in the tens of thousands. Every square mile of Florida has been assaulted by hurricane-force winds on multiple occasions in the last few weeks. Heavily populated regions such as West Palm Beach and St. Petersburg are still substantially submerged, and the transformation of the Everglades into huge salt marshes has made most of southern Florida effectively impassable by automobile. Damage is estimated at over 5 trillion dollars, insurance companies are refusing to do any further business in the state even on pain of federal litigation, and due to the rapid succession of storms, there has been no time to perform any but the crudest of repairs to utilities. Florida is a wasteland, and experts estimate it will remain one for decades to come. Many of those we interviewed at the refugee camps in the hills of northern Georgia, when we asked if they would be going back, screamed curses at us, or simply wept.

Despite all this, a few hardy souls have hung on through it all.

We found one man (who refused to give his name) in the Orlando area who decided he was staying, no matter what. In exchange for several cans of gasoline, he agreed to an interview.

"I have nowhere else to go," he said, sitting in a lounge chair on his driveway, a wall of sandbags surrounding his property, wearing a bandolier of shotgun shells. "And after Karl passed through, I figured it was too late to go anywhere anyway. Insurance won't pay, and the house isn't worth a dime on the dollar now."

And how was he able to survive all this time? "Believe it or not, after Karl it got a lot easier. People had had enough, so they loaded up their cars with whatever they had and made a run for it. When they heard I was staying, they gave me whatever they couldn't bring along. I don't know how many of them made it, though, since Lisa and Matthew crossed one another in north Florida while they were all parked on I-75.

"Anyway, a lot of the stores were abandoned, too. I've got enough food and equipment here for the duration thanks to them. All the levelled houses around here have provided me with enough scrap building materials to reinforce my own house. And did I mention that there's no traffic problems for a change?"

And what of the dangers? "Well, yeah, a lot of crazy people out there. All the stinkin' looters somehow find their way here, that and the diseased and the just plain crazy. I hate to have to kill 'em all, but there hasn't been police or emergency service out here for a month.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard about Zoe on the shortwave. Ever since Ivan made three, I figured, what the heck?" he said, scratching at his beard, grinning. "Might as well collect 'em all."

09-07-2004, 07:52 PM	#1
tw Read? I only know how to write. Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 11,933	And where is the next one(s)? Ivan is just entering the Carribean Sea. Behind him is another? I don't think so. It never remained stable after leaving Africa. So maybe we have had enough fun this year at the expense of Kitsune? Attached Images

09-07-2004, 08:41 PM	#2
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	While this has a chance of hitting the Tampa Bay area, its still far too early to tell. Still, it is on the same track as Charley.

09-07-2004, 08:54 PM	#3
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	12:24 pm - Remaining Residents Defiant As Florida Braces For More October 30, 2004 ORLANDO, Florida -- After being ravaged by a total of 17 different hurricanes in the course of a single season, five of which reached Category 5, the highest wind speed rating, remaining residents are battening down the hatches yet again as Hurricane Zoe approaches. "Hurricane Zoe breaks the mold in several ways," said Dr. Harmon Gale, acting director of the National Hurricane Center's new Orlando office, the Miami office having been damaged beyond repair in Hurricane Nicole weeks earlier. "For one thing, after Hurricane Walter appeared, we realized we'd run out of names for Atlantic storms, so in a pinch we adopted Xenia, Yuri and Zoe. This will be the first time we've ever used all the letters. It's a good thing the tropical storm season is ending, or we'd have to go back and pick up Q and U as well. "For another, Hurricane Zoe is so powerful that we have assigned it to a new Category 6, defined as having sustained winds of 250 miles per hour or higher. After Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tomas, Virginie, Walter, Xenia and Yuri all bowled through Florida at approximately four-day intervals, we thought we'd seen everything. But Zoe is shaping up to be the worst storm in all of human history. I would strongly recommend evacuating to someplace safe, like central Asia." And Floridians have been taking that advice: of the estimated 20 million state residents at the beginning of 2004, at least 80 percent have abandoned their homes. Hurricane-related deaths this year are estimated in the tens of thousands. Every square mile of Florida has been assaulted by hurricane-force winds on multiple occasions in the last few weeks. Heavily populated regions such as West Palm Beach and St. Petersburg are still substantially submerged, and the transformation of the Everglades into huge salt marshes has made most of southern Florida effectively impassable by automobile. Damage is estimated at over 5 trillion dollars, insurance companies are refusing to do any further business in the state even on pain of federal litigation, and due to the rapid succession of storms, there has been no time to perform any but the crudest of repairs to utilities. Florida is a wasteland, and experts estimate it will remain one for decades to come. Many of those we interviewed at the refugee camps in the hills of northern Georgia, when we asked if they would be going back, screamed curses at us, or simply wept. Despite all this, a few hardy souls have hung on through it all. We found one man (who refused to give his name) in the Orlando area who decided he was staying, no matter what. In exchange for several cans of gasoline, he agreed to an interview. "I have nowhere else to go," he said, sitting in a lounge chair on his driveway, a wall of sandbags surrounding his property, wearing a bandolier of shotgun shells. "And after Karl passed through, I figured it was too late to go anywhere anyway. Insurance won't pay, and the house isn't worth a dime on the dollar now." And how was he able to survive all this time? "Believe it or not, after Karl it got a lot easier. People had had enough, so they loaded up their cars with whatever they had and made a run for it. When they heard I was staying, they gave me whatever they couldn't bring along. I don't know how many of them made it, though, since Lisa and Matthew crossed one another in north Florida while they were all parked on I-75. "Anyway, a lot of the stores were abandoned, too. I've got enough food and equipment here for the duration thanks to them. All the levelled houses around here have provided me with enough scrap building materials to reinforce my own house. And did I mention that there's no traffic problems for a change?" And what of the dangers? "Well, yeah, a lot of crazy people out there. All the stinkin' looters somehow find their way here, that and the diseased and the just plain crazy. I hate to have to kill 'em all, but there hasn't been police or emergency service out here for a month. "Yeah, yeah, I've heard about Zoe on the shortwave. Ever since Ivan made three, I figured, what the heck?" he said, scratching at his beard, grinning. "Might as well collect 'em all."

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