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Florida Mandatory Evacuations: Matthew Expected to Be Huge

Update: Big Tent Democrat is staying put in the Palm Beach area because his parents won't leave. Follow him on Twitter here -- good photos.

Palm Beach is under a mandatory evacuation order. Hurricane Matthew is expected to be a Category 4 storm before touching down in Florida Thursday night. Right now it's over the Bahamas. (Warning: Auto-play video, it's unavoidable everywhere.) Matthew may also loop back and hit Florida a second time, after heading to the Carolinas. Miami and Broward are in the direct path. Even central Florida (Orlando and Tampa) aren't safe.

The latest update (#32) from the National Hurricane Center: [More...]

Advisory Information
Valid at: 11:00 PM EDT Wed October 05, 2016
Location: 23.4 N, 76.4 W
Maximum Wind: 100 knots (115 mph)
Wind Gusts: 120 knots (140 mph)
Moving: Northwest at 9 knots (10 mph)
Minimum Pressure: 961 mb

USA Today has 64 riveting photographs of Matthew's devastation in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Here's an interesting article comparing Matthew to other hurricanes.

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  • Display: Sort:
    This is a test, (5.00 / 2) (#1)
    by fishcamp on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 08:52:20 AM EST
    since I couldn't post info on this site last night.  If this goes through I will post an update soon.

    It really is a monster (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by ruffian on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 08:52:33 AM EST
    Orlando is in the 'orange zone' where we are expected to get severe winds, rain, and damage (roofs in particular danger), but not as bad as the red zone on the coast that will get flooding as well.

    So far my main inconvenience is living right off the two lane road that leads to a sandbag distribution point. The traffic getting to it, and my house, is horrendous. I came in to work at 7:30 am and it was already backed up half a mile past the turnout to my house. I'm working till noon and even though I only live 7 miles from work, that last mile will take half an hour.

    But if that is the worst thing that happens to me over the next couple of days I will be very happy!

    Dispatch (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by FlJoe on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 09:40:53 AM EST
    from ground zero, a mild squall line passed a couple of hours ago with gusts up to 30, currently cloudy with NNE winds about 15.

    Stay safe (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 09:46:46 AM EST
    Joe.

    Parent
    Stay safe... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 11:11:40 AM EST
    Florida TL'ers!

    Sure wish my brother would get out (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by oculus on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 12:25:22 PM EST
    of Melbourne.  

    Driving to Tampa. Whew. (5.00 / 3) (#8)
    by oculus on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 12:50:33 PM EST
    Good decision. No reason to mess around (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by ruffian on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 01:15:00 PM EST
    if you have choices. The coast is going to get clobbered.

    Parent
    His condo (none / 0) (#11)
    by oculus on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 02:15:21 PM EST
    faces the causeway but on a high floor. Scary to think of home there alone.

    Parent
    Plus the roads could be flooded out for days (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by ruffian on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 04:51:07 PM EST
    And he'd be stuck, high and dry, but still stuck.

    Parent
    OK, let's see how my iPad works. (5.00 / 2) (#9)
    by fishcamp on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 01:00:09 PM EST
    Several pop up virus cleaners have mixed up my precious MBP, and I think MacCleaner, zipClean and Norton did it so I would buy their products.  I'm a suspicious guy.

    So hurricane Matthew has been bumped back up to a cat 4 with 140 mph winds over Nassau.  Hate to think it could go even faster when it crosses over warm water on its way to Florida this evening.  Unfortunately it will be very destructive as it moves north after landing around Palm Beach now, I think.  The frantic tv weather people had huge rain bands right over my house that didn't happen.  We in the keys are very lucky it missed us, since all 13 others have hit us since I've lived here.  Yes oculus it would be good if your brother could leave that area.  The same goes for ruffian, FlJoe, vml, and others, but since this thing is 600 miles in diameter, they could be over 200 miles from the eye, and still get hit with big wind.  It's just terrible how slowly it's moving forward causing more damage than the fast movers would.  Good luck up there.

    Armando's parents won't leave (none / 0) (#5)
    by MKS on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 10:28:09 AM EST
    So he is right there in the path.

    Follow his twitter feed.

    The (none / 0) (#12)
    by FlJoe on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 03:23:12 PM EST
    long range radar picture is amazing, an eye within an eye Link, hoping that the inner eye stays far enough offshore, otherwise...

    I wish BTD and his parents well. (none / 0) (#13)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 04:35:14 PM EST
    That said, I really wish that they'd think twice about what they're doing and leave. Given the magnitude of this particular hurricane, the local, state and federal civil defense authorities in Florida have good reason for issuing evacuation orders to residents of low-lying coastal neighborhoods.

    Those who have the means to leave yet ignore such orders not only foolishly place themselves in potential harm's way, they may also subsequently imperil the lives of those first responders and public safety officers who'd likely have to mount a rescue effort were matters to go seriously awry, as matters so often do in a situation such as this.

    Personally, if my own instincts were telling me that my mother was acting both selfishly and unwisely in the face of such an imminent threat, I would dispense with any filial obligation to defer to the wisdom of one's parents, and I would physically remove her from the premises, even if I had to do so with her kicking and screaming. I love her too much to countenance any such nonsense, and it's always better to be safe than sorry.

    Aloha.

    Donald, while your words of wisdom (none / 0) (#19)
    by fishcamp on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 08:59:42 PM EST
    are very true, it's simply not always possible to evacuate, for a variety of reasons.  Complacency is probably the main reason, since we haven't had a hurricane in nine years, until this year.  People just can't get it together to leave their homes, and with this hurricane travel would have to be hundreds of miles.  We also have millions of older folks that don't drive.  Usually by the time people figure it out it's too late.

    Down here in the keys we have a colored numerical sticker that is supposed to be used for evacuations, with Key West people leaving first.  It has never worked.  One would have to leave when the hurricane is more than 500 miles out, to successfully get away, and by then the hurricane has changed directions several times.  The two lane 125 mile highway here is immediately clogged, and people wind up riding out the hurricane in their cars.  Not good.  The sticker system is good for returning home, since they just wave you through, instead of making you prove you do live down here.  After one hurricane years ago, people were not allowed back down for over a week, due to bad judgement by our officials.  Many folks had their homes looted by then.  There are just too many variables to make evacuation always successful.

    Parent

    To all Florida TLers, Stay safe! (none / 0) (#14)
    by vml68 on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 04:47:55 PM EST
    FLJoe, I was in NJ when Sandy hit. We know how much destruction it caused and that came ashore as a tropical cyclone.
    Matthew is a Cat 4, if you are in Palm Beach county, please leave if you can.


    vml, are you in Matthew's (none / 0) (#17)
    by caseyOR on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 06:36:52 PM EST
    path?

    Parent
    No. We were under a tropical storm watch. (none / 0) (#20)
    by vml68 on Fri Oct 07, 2016 at 03:13:23 PM EST
    Quite a few people from the west coast of FL came here to the Tampa Bay area to wait out the hurricane.
    We got quite a bit of rain yesterday and some light showers today. It has been pretty windy with some strong gusts. The extent of my 'damage' has been one of my guava trees fell over and my banana tree leaves are shredded which I found surprising since they made it through just fine when hurricane Hermine came through a month ago.

    Parent
    Tropical storm speed winds expected to start (none / 0) (#16)
    by ruffian on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 05:47:29 PM EST
    in the Orlando area around 11pm.

    Glad I took a little nap this afternoon...not going to be much sleep with that kind of wind blowing around.

    Ha- Chris Matthews has an interesting view (none / 0) (#18)
    by ruffian on Thu Oct 06, 2016 at 06:52:54 PM EST
    of FL geography. Jump over Miami Beach to West Palm?  OK....