Were you in FL for Hurricane Andrew in 1992?
No, I came here in 1994. My brother was here though - he was in a closet in his house for the duration. The biggest one since Iâve been here was Wilma, but there have been several smaller storms whose names Iâve forgotten.
My brother, incidentally, was in his mid thirties at the time. Before the storm our mum in England, who seemed to know by some weird witchcraft when storms were due in Florida, called him to tell him âdonât go and play out in itâ. 
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I think if I remember correctly the evacuation was massive and a terrible traffic jam but also credited with the low level of fatalities. So they would rather err on the side of over hyping than not hyping enough and getting blamed. In other words, they will take being ridiculed for being dramatic over encouraging complacency.
This is not meant to excuse TV performances made for ratings value but just the overall approach of all involved in the warning stage of it.
My friend in Ocala says school has been canceled for the week already.
The problem is that eventually, weâre beginning to see it as a âcrying wolfâ situation.
For years now, the media has over-dramatised impeding storms so much that weâre inclined to take them with a pinch of salt here. Iâve been getting so many bulletins and emails telling me that this is going to be serious for Fort Lauderdale but Iâve heard that so many times before now,
As I sit here typing, its raining and a little windy but thatâs normal really for this time of year. It isnât enough to make me even think about getting our patio furniture inâŚ
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I completely understand but I donât think they have much choice.
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Youâre probably right but it does tend to make us awfully casual and cynical about the whole thing. One day theyâll be right and weâll all have ignored them. One time (in the last century) there was a hurricane scare and we got the car lot ready (a HUGELY time-consuming and hard thing to do).
The hurricane didnât come. It was only a few days later that the media was scaring us with another one. Oh no, did we have to get the car lot prepared all over again? We were too cynical and said âoh **** itâ. We didnât make any preparations and again, no hurricane came.
Itâs wrong that we are so cynical but perhaps itâs simply human nature.
And they will be the convenient scapegoat. People create government so they have someone to blame when things go wrong. LOL.
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At least being an immigrant or, as I prefer what it says on my immigration card - a âresident alienâ, I canât vote so I get to blame everyone else 
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Thank you. Weâre fine! Itâs been a busy few days of getting ready, as we decided to stay. My momâs memory care facility nearby evacuated Monday at 9:00 a.m. So my 84 year old mother is enjoying her adventure and hanging out with her grand dogs. We are ready, and now we wait. We have everything we need. I feel so awful for the people in The Bahamas! I am so aware of how lucky we are that Dorian appears to be veering east offshore.
My Airbnb guests were due to arrive today for a 1 week stay: a family from Beijing whose son who will be starting at SCAD (local art college). Start of school has been delayed by more than a week, so his earliest access to the dorm will not be until next Tuesday, the day the parents leave for China. I kept in close contact as the storm worsened, and communication was a little spotty, but I FINALLY got through to them that if the storm is bad there will be no power, maybe for days. Not to mention the chance of real danger, depending on what happens. Once the mandatory evacuation order came down, I got Airbnb involved and convinced the guests to make other arrangements for their first 2 nights. I figured they would be much better off in a hotel or other Airbnb well inland and out of danger. Airbnb agreed. They were shopping in Charleston over the weekend and instead of heading inland, they came to Savannah to wait in a hotel at the airport! Of course I refunded them for those 2nights. Well, at least where they are there are backup generators for the a/c!
My main concern was that we wanted to keep our options open, i.e. to make sure we had the flexibility to evacuate if it looked like a direct hit was coming. I also hesitated to be responsible for the comfort of 3 people from another country if things got gnarly. I know that might sound a little selfish, but Hurricane Matthew a few years ago was crazy bad at its worst and I had my hands full with just the 3 of us, let alone being responsible for folks from so far away and a bit of a language barrier.
Itâs hot and sunny here, and the very first fast-moving bands of clouds are starting to drift by. We are expecting tropical storm conditions tomorrow afternoon into the night. Our house is 159 years old, and has made it through many storms. We are almost 40 feet above sea level, so we know we wonât flood. Our close friends live right on a tidal creek, and the storm surge will almost certainly flood their house. 
Thanks for thinking of us! Iâll update when it is past us.
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Not at all. No way Iâd be encouraging people to âcome on down!â Iâd hope they cancel. Itâs the guests who insist on coming anyway that I would worry most about.
Oh good because I still have to come visit!
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I am on a small island at the SE tip of North Carolina. Iâve been retired here for 4 years now and have ridden out 3 hurricanes. Matthew in 2016 was the worst. I evacuated last year to stay with family in Atlanta when Florence came through and I can honestly say that it was worse than staying because of the dramatic, doom and gloom, 24 hour a day âworld is coming to an endâ coverage on ALL network television. I did not know if I had a home to come back to, no one to call and find out the real status, and people were not allowed back on the island for over a week. There was a reporter in Wilmington who actually walked up and down the street collecting things like a blown over mailbox, a branch and a lamp that were lying in the street, stacking them at her feet and proclaimed them evidence of the terror to come. I am in the same camp as @jaquo in that I think in their efforts to sell news they have really cried wolf too often and need to get back to responsible reporting so people can actually know what they need to do. As it turned out, when I returned from Atlanta (which took over two weeks because of flooding) I had very minimal damage and felt very fortunate. But quite pissed at how much anxiety I went through from inaccurate reporting.
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The coverage from over the Grand Bahama looks astoundingly bad. And they have built up their building codes⌠Itâs just awful. Reminds me of the Aceh earthquake.
@DozerPugâI hope you are some place safe with your pup. Accuweather is forecasting Cat 1 with gusts up to 110 mph (Cat 2). A couple of my neighbors are staying because prior Cat 1s have done minimal damage and my area is not prone to flooding.
I hope our Florida & Georgia coast friends are surviving well with minimal damage.
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Thanks. The four pugs and I are staying. Iâve done all the same outdoor prep I did for Florence but Iâm not leaving. We got notice earlier that theyâve shut off the water/sewer to the oceanfront homes. Iâm a couple blocks back and in a non-flood zone, but the island is only a half mile wide. As you probably know, we are also in a King tide cycle so depending when in the tide cycle it hits, thatâs a huge factor. Matthew in 2016 was also King tide and it hit at high tide. Devastating for the beach front.
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Thank you @Annet3176 
Everything has been completely fine in South Florida. Yesterday brought some miserable rainy weather but thatâs normal at this time of year. Today has been a glorious day weatherwise 
Wishing everyone in the stormâs track the very best - glad that itâs now greatly downgraded to a category 1.
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People are entertaining. I just received an anxious text asking if I thought their rental on 9/13 was going to be ok. My response was âI understand your concern. We will know more Friday after Dorian passes throughâ.
I wish I had a crystal ball and a giant bubble of safety; but alas those arenât available.
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all good in Charleston SC. Listening to the wind but the first high tide mark is past.
Unless a tree comes down we are good.
Power is out of course.
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This is good news, after listening to a BBC reporter, on the ground, giving alarmist views this morning for Charleston. I think journalists just get bored. A personal example;-
When I lived in Bahrain in the '80s, Iran shot down a Saudi AWAC. Whilst most of us on âthe groundâ got on with our (very merryâŚ) lives, but journalists and camera crews were sent out from around the world. Thereâs only so much boozing and boating you can pay for on expenses, and boredom soon set in.
Hey, letâs make something up.
In the run up to Ramadam, the booze warehouses are in high demand, as they then shut up shop for a month. The Daily Telegraph published an article on their front page; âBread Shortage in Bahrainâ, with a photograph of the queue snaking round the block, from the booze warehouse to the front of the Bahrain Bakery supermarket.
Sheik Issa, the King, chucked them off the island and banned the paper for months. My sister saw the article and called in a panic, offering to buy me a ticket home.
And DHL caused a bigger scandal , when caught âcourieringâ Ladies of the Night in for the Royal Family and hangers on.
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Great to hear that things are good.
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