[cmcray1]

My family will be moving to florida soon. My wife says that the Gulf side is way more dangerous because of hurricanes. I say, yeah the Gulf side gets more, and they are worse, BUT hurricanes in any GIVEN LOCATION is relatively rare, and only one of many criteria to choose a location to settle in. It is my contention that properly prepared families tend to be fine when the hurricane does eventually hit any given location. I hate to rule out one whole coastline due to a fractionally larger chance of destruction hitting a given point on Gulf coast. Nonetheless, if she remains uncomfortable with the idea, we wont consider the gulf side. Cape coral and Tampa are the main cities under consideration, but the whole coast would be under consideration.

Thanks!

[2bohemians]

Originally Posted by cmcray1

My family will be moving to florida soon. My wife says that the Gulf side is way more dangerous because of hurricanes. I say, yeah the Gulf side gets more, and they are worse, BUT hurricanes in any GIVEN LOCATION is relatively rare, and only one of many criteria to choose a location to settle in. It is my contention that properly prepared families tend to be fine when the hurricane does eventually hit any given location. I hate to rule out one whole coastline due to a fractionally larger chance of destruction hitting a given point on Gulf coast. Nonetheless, if she remains uncomfortable with the idea, we wont consider the gulf side. Cape coral and Tampa are the main cities under consideration, but the whole coast would be under consideration.

Thanks!

The truth of the matter is: hurricanes can strike anywhere ... it just wouldn't be fair to say that one side of the coast gets more storms than the other .... what about the middle of the state? Sometimes the storms make landfall and move across the middle of the state and back out the other coast ..... if you are going to live in Florida, it is just part of the equation. Natural disasters happen everywhere! Being prepared is key! At least you have a pretty good idea when a storm might be coming your way and you can plan accordingly. With some disasters like earthquakes, you have no idea it's coming!

[Lilybeans]

Don't make a decision about where to live because of hurricanes. Hurricanes are big storms. Big. If you are worried about hurricanes you should consider the midwest.

And who knows where they will come ashore? Here on the east coast, in Martin County, we had two direct hits (the eye passing overhead) three weeks apart in 2004. That sucked, let me tell you.

[ssg II]

Check out the Hurricane Section in the Florida forum. Lots of good reference there.

The "Panhandle" of Florida is the most frequently traumatized on the gulf coast, but inland cental suffered some of the most damage in the 2004 season.

You can't base your relocation on hurricane stats, it's where you want to live, right?

[Mike1306]

You can check landfall county by county at this site.

Florida Landfall Climatology

[brownbagg]

tampa gets the least amour of hurricane from atlanta coast and gulf coast. most hurricanes are around the mobile area

[smarino]

If we're talking about Florida, the Gulf is worse. On the Atlantic side, they tend to skip up to the coastal states above Florida. I was born and raised in the Gulf, and I think it's considerably more dangerous there, but that is no guarantee that something big won't hit us on the Atlantic side. Still, I say the odds are better over here. I feel safer over here. Most hurricanes, in my memory, formed in the gulf area. They tend to hit Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama though. Tampa is WAY overdue for one. They've managed to get real lucky the last 30 years or so.

As you said, the key is preparation, but you also have to factor in what you may face when you evacuate and then return. I say this because I evacuated to avoid Camile in Mississippi, and it was a catastrophic thing coming back to what was left of the coast. More recently, we watched hurricane after hurricane form in the Gulf when we owned property in Galveston, and I said "we got to get out of here". We sold short, moved, and two months later that huge hurricane hit. Galveston residents couldn't even come back for weeks due to an order from city officials. So, is that something you would consider dealing with? Not me, not anymore. Ergo, we moved to the Atlantic side of Florida. The old saying is "once burned, twice learned". We got burned twice. At some point the dice come up craps, and we've had our rolls.

That's another point. We moved to Galveston because a big hurricane had hit the previous year. If you looked at all the data, we should have been fine. It was very, very low odds that another big one would hit any time soon. It did though. I think global warming has changed the protocol, and the Gulf is a real warm body of water.

[rusty78]

Florida Hurricane Coastal Strike Stats[SIZE=2]
The Atlantic Coast of Florida has more probability of a Hurricane strike than the Tampa Bay West Coast.[/SIZE]

Look at this site for more info www.floridahurricane.net

[kyle19125]

Jacksonville-St Augustine on the Atlantic Coast has the least probability due to the offshore Gulfstream current which pulls storms out to sea and northward, as evidenced by the recent track of Hurricane Arthur. Also many are under the impression that living inland somehow excludes the possibility of being affected which isn't the case. Interior Central Florida was somewhat heavily damaged (mostly falling trees into structures) by three storms in a row over a few week timeframe as they crossed the state from varying points.

[The b8nk]

Originally Posted by cmcray1

Cape coral and Tampa are the main cities under consideration, but the whole coast would be under consideration.

Thanks!

Please move to Cape Coral, your family sounds awful and I live in Tampa...thanks