{"id":54524,"date":"2023-08-29T18:14:33","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T22:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/news\/opinion-with-hurricane-idalia-approaching-a-former-floridian-remembers-the-stress-of-storm-season\/"},"modified":"2023-08-29T18:14:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T22:14:36","slug":"opinion-with-hurricane-idalia-approaching-a-former-floridian-remembers-the-stress-of-storm-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=54524","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: With Hurricane Idalia approaching, a former Floridian remembers the stress of storm season"},"content":{"rendered":"

That was my first thought when I started seeing the path that Hurricane Idalia was taking. The \u201ccone\u201d is the tracking tool that the National Hurricane Center shares to provide some sense of where a storm may land, putting those within the areas that could be affected on notice. As someone who called South Florida home for more than a decade and lived through three hurricanes \u2014 Frances and Jeanne in 2004, Wilma in 2005 \u2014 I learned to follow the \u201ccone\u201d updates religiously. And to hate them when it seemed the inevitable was about to happen.<\/p>\n

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We often speak of hurricanes in terms of the physical damage they cause. And some storms indeed wreak havoc on a catastrophic and costly level, as in $100 billion-plus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another toll that comes with the arrival of each hurricane \u2014 or even the looming threat of one. Namely, the stress that it causes.<\/p>\n

Certainly, the dread of dealing with storms is a reason cited by many former Floridians I know as one of the key reasons they left the Sunshine State. \u201cIt\u2019s not the stress of it hitting you. It\u2019s the stress of the anticipation,\u201d said a former colleague of mine who spent most of his life and career in the state \u2014 we worked together at The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Fl. \u2014 before retiring to North Carolina a few years ago.<\/p>\n

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\n \u201c<\/span>\u2018They say the sound of a tornado is like that of a freight train coming right at you. I say the sound of a hurricane is like that of a tornado that stubbornly refuses to pass through the darkest of nights.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s a bit hard to explain what this anxiety is all about, but let me try. Before I experienced my first true hurricane in 2004, I was actually semi-eager to see how a storm plays out. And I admit there is something breathtaking and bewildering about hearing those winds rattle your house \u2014 and if you\u2019re stupid enough to go outside like I did for a brief moment or two, to feel their blunt force as well.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing: Those winds aren\u2019t a sudden gust that comes and goes. They are with you for what seems like an eternity, like a horror show of nature. To this day, I\u2019ll never forget that sound they create \u2014 loud, violent and unrelenting. They say the sound of a tornado is like that of a freight train coming right at you. I say the sound of a hurricane is like that of a tornado that stubbornly refuses to pass through the darkest of nights.<\/p>\n

Then, finally, it\u2019s over. But that\u2019s where the real struggle begins, even if you\u2019re lucky enough to have little to no damage to your house. (The worst I ever dealt with was some minor roof issues, though I had neighbors who saw their roofs and parts of their house destroyed.) The main problem: You\u2019ve probably lost power \u2014 and in Florida, power means air-conditioning. Hurricanes arrive when you\u2019re in what\u2019s called the \u201cmean season,\u201d that roughly six-month period of days of 90-degree temperatures that are accompanied by 90% humidity. You basically live indoors for much of that time, even if it means racking up $300-plus monthly electric bills.<\/p>\n

After a hurricane, however, the great indoors becomes the great enemy. Your house is hot \u2014 I mean Hades hot \u2014 and you can practically feel the mold and mildew starting to envelop your sanctuary. But it\u2019s almost as hot outside, so forget about seeking relief there. Meanwhile, all the food in your fridge is going bad, so you\u2019re living off the peanut-butter from your hurricane supply stash, and you\u2019ve got a massive headache owing to the fact you can\u2019t make coffee because your coffee-maker naturally needs power, too.<\/p>\n

This goes on for days. Even weeks in some instances. It takes time to restore all of that electricity to all those homes, especially because every street is a mess of toppled trees and downed power lines. But again, you count your blessings that you\u2019re still alive and have a home. The outcomes have been far worse for so many people with some storms, such as Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Katrina in 2005.<\/p>\n

Still, imagine going through all this and now it\u2019s later in the hurricane season \u2014 or it\u2019s a whole new one \u2014 and a storm is approaching. You\u2019re living in the cone. You know what can happen. Think of the stress you\u2019ll feel.<\/p>\n

Making matters worse: Every time you turn on the TV, there\u2019s a local weather forecaster basically saying it\u2019s the end of days. And you\u2019re trying to stay sane while putting plywood over your windows and getting all of your stuff together, so it won\u2019t blow to the heavens if your roof comes off: As my former colleague told me, \u201cYou don\u2019t realize how much junk you have around the house until a hurricane is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, even worse, you are forced to evacuate along with a gazillion other Floridians. You think Florida traffic is bad on a normal day? Try driving in the period leading up to the arrival of a hurricane.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\n \u201c<\/span>\u2018You\u2019re living in the cone [of uncertainty]. You know what can happen. Think of the stress you\u2019ll feel.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

It all adds up \u2026 and can haunt you for the rest of your life, especially if you choose to remain in the state. Wayne Brackin, a former chief operating officer of Baptist Health South Florida who now heads KIDZ Medical Services, a network that serves hospitals in the state, dealt with Hurricane Andrew. He once told me, \u201cFor many years after, I would feel a sense of fatigue when another storm threatened. Many, many of my fellow storm survivors have told me they have similar feelings.\u201d The bottom line for Brackin: \u201cParadise has some hidden costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida is indeed a paradise in many respects, a state without an income tax that offers year-round recreational opportunities and a Jimmy Buffett-style leave-your-cares-behind vibe. It\u2019s no wonder that the state\u2019s population has surged \u2014 it\u2019s now third in the nation behind California and Texas.<\/p>\n

But one wonders if Florida will be able to maintain that growth: The big issue is the population aging out, experts say. Still, I can\u2019t help but think that hurricanes will be a factor in many people deciding to leave the state, like some of my former colleagues, or deciding not to move there in the first place, especially since we\u2019re anticipating more intense storms due to climate change.<\/p>\n

As for me, I left Florida for other reasons, particularly the chance to reunite with friends and family in New York City, the home to which I returned. But the specter of those Florida hurricanes has stayed with me, and I got a brief reminder of nature\u2019s fury when superstorm Sandy hit the metro area in 2012. To this day, I shudder a little when I feel a gust of wind as I walk the city streets. And I breathe a sigh of relief when it passes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That was my first thought when I started seeing the path that Hurricane Idalia was taking. The \u201ccone\u201d is the tracking tool that the National Hurricane Center shares to provide some sense of where a storm may land, putting those within the areas that could be affected on notice. As someone who called South Florida […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-54524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\nOpinion: With Hurricane Idalia approaching, a former Floridian remembers the stress of storm season | iFintechWorld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That was my first thought when I started seeing the path that Hurricane Idalia was taking. 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