Idalia threatens the west coast of Florida - Aug 28-29-30, 2023

 

Whut?! Idalia kind-of sneaked up on me, marching up from the Yucatan.
I was plunged into an uneasy, dark, worrisome case of deja vu.
When was that other one?!  Everyone taking shelter at Dad and Sharon's, Greg in Tarpon by himself, Kelly crying, the wind howling.  The power out.  Watching and waiting.

QUESTIONS
What year was that?!  What was the name of the hurricane? And, it devastated whole communities down south? I couldn't even remember the names of the towns.  (For some reason, that area was one I was not familiar with...  maybe never been there.)  Leslie's sister and brother-in-law have a house in Ft Myers which was damaged.  They left and took refuge with her mother in Bradenton. Sharon has friends whose house on Sanibel was totaled.

ANSWERS
Ian.  And it was JUST LAST YEAR.  Cat. 5, 160mph winds.  September 27, 28, 29 2022. And after blasting Cuba, it came ashore by Ft Myers / Cape Coral -- Costa Caya Island.  Massive flooding.  Massive damage.  The bridge to Sanibel Island shredded.  Then it moved diagonally up the peninsula, dumping huge amounts of rain on the Orlando area.  Knocking out power for Robert et. al. for days.  (His was out the longest.)  Aunt Betty had been evacuated.  Greg and Kelly, for whom we feared the most, actually fared the best of everyone.

IDALIA
Storm surges and a King Tide brought the water 8' up into Greg and Kelly's yard before starting to recede.  The highest water level they had seen in their 14yrs there.  Lots of lowland coastal flodding -- in Tampa, Clearwater, St Pete, and Dunedin.  Skip and Darlene, a street back from the water in downtown Dunedin had it get as far as their garage.  The rest of the house was spared.  For everyone else, roofs intact, trees still in the ground where they belong.  Massive relief after a long couple of days watching and waiting.