Why Floridians Don’t Fear Hurricanes Even Though You Do

We’re not crazy; we’re crazy prepared.

Although I was born and raised in the northeast, I’ve lived in Florida for the past 5 years, enduring several tropical storms and hurricanes. Hurricane Milton will be most powerful storm to hit my area by evening on Wednesday, 10/9/24.

The worst part about finding yourself in the path of a category 5 “storm of the century” is the nervous anticipation. Thanks to increasingly accurate forecasts I’ve known for nearly a week that sometime between Wednesday (10/9/24) and Thursday (10/10/24), my county in central Florida will be hit with a weakened version of the storm, likely between category 1 and 3.

If you look, you’ll see signs of panic.

Interstates are jammed as convoys of families seek refuge north in Georgia, Alabama and other bordering states. I’m getting more notifications than usual on my Neighbors app with slightly apocalyptic post titles: “Propane anywhere?” “Speedway has gas.” “Boarding up windows–yes or no?” Earlier in the week my phone convulsed, blaring an emergency signal and displaying a simple all-caps message: “HURRICANE WARNING.” I jumped a bit, but I wasn’t nearly as startled as the hundreds of travelers in the Orlando, Miami and Tampa airports whose phones involuntarily went into emergency mode at a time when they’d prefer to remain inconspicuous. That sound, along with the expansive warnings signaled one thing.