miranadobe
Posted : 8/24/2011 8:26:57 AM
sharismom
calliecritturs
miranadobe
I was in highschool in FL when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami (One of only three Category 5's to make landfall in the US.) That changed my lackadaisical opinion of hurricanes.
I was here during Andrew as well -- but I'm in Orlando - a world of difference.
I find this difficult to believe. I mean, how different could it be? Florida is such a narrow peninsula. Even though Orlando is in the center and not near any body of water, I can't imagine that the area didn't feel that Cat 5's wrath.
I was on the east coast at about the same line as Orlando, and yes, we felt it, but not to the level that Miami did - which is 4 hours away. I'm no meteorologist, nor geographer (but I could ask my friend who is!) but I'll take a stab anyway. When it comes in directly off the water it's generally at its strongest. You get the first arms whipping in and then closest to the center where the real damage occurs. It almost always starts losing energy to one degree or another once it hits land and starts to downgrade. Depending on how fast the storm moves, if it's slow, it loses even more energy over the land and by the time it grazes or hits a spot inland, the impact can be reduced significantly. We had serious winds and downed trees and everyone knows to bring in their loose items on their lawns (patio furniture, potted plants, etc) to minimize that damage caused by items that take flight. There was still damage like a general hurricane, but In Miami, it wiped out buildings clear through.