Hurricanes

[invidia]

I've been living in South FL all my life. I don't know if it's me or if it's society but the local news and people seem to be panicking more over these hurricanes. Last night, from 5pm-7pm, nothing but tracking Ike was on the news, nothing on the elections or local stuff. It's not like no murders/accidents/robberies/'15 kittens were saved' happened in Miami/Broward County that day. They even went ahead and cancel the first and second day of school when TROPICAL STORM Gustav barely hit us (his outer winds was barely touching the east coast).

Back when I was still in school, there's only one occurrence I can remember when school was canceled due to a bad weather, and that was Andrew back in 1992-93?. And that was a direct hit to South Florida. I recalled my siblings losing a month of school time either in 2005/2006 (whenever the year, like 4 cat 4/5 hurricanes hit South Florida). Why couldn't that happen when I was back in school??

 

[Vette73]

Seems the same as always. I grew up in Wilmington NC and this happens every year.

 

[Shawn]

Because the rest of the world didn't care about hurricanes or even know they existed years ago.

 

[EagleKeeper]

People are becoming more aware of the damage that a Cat 3-4 hurricane can cause for economically and physically. And have learned that it is best to prepare for the worst.

After Andrew, insurance took a large jump.

Then when the Orlando area had a bullseye on it 2 years ago, that again drove the costs higher.

Proper preparations can keep the costs down. In order to do that, people need to have time to setup and/or replace supplies that have been used.

 

[KaOTiK]

It does seem a bit overboard this year. I mean like the the coverage is really hardcore taking up like 75% of the news time like a week in advance as well as a lot more preemptive things like the governor declaring state of emergency days before potential land fall and like you said schools closing and such.

Of all the years I've lived in Orlando this year feels like it is everything is being way over reacted compared to years passed.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

It's ass covering. Nobody wants to take the career hit if they fail to be proactive and some kid winds up getting hurt. So everyone assumes it's going to be the end of the world and takes the proper precautions so that they're not t blame if the shit hits the fan.