The Sheila Variations

1.2 million people asked to evacuate. Where to? I doubt the hotels within 1000 miles have the capacity for that many people. Most of them will have to sleep in their vehicles, I suspect.

i was just talking to ths, who lives in pensacola, and she said that a problem people who are evacuating are having is that there's no where to go, because many of the inland/southern georgia areas are filled still with people who went there to get away from charley.

Holy motherfucker. I am now officially freaking out.

Depending on where you are, freaking out may be an entirely logical response.

Florida is pushing the envelope of the public safety, emergency preparedness, and transportation infrastructures because of the gigantic number of people who must evacuate for this storm - who are only added to the large number who are already displaced from Charley.

If you are in South Florida right now and you need to drive north to evacuate or purchase supplies to weather the storm, you are already in deep kimchee, to use the technical term.

Parts of central Florida already battered by Charley are likely to get battered again, and there are essentially no public shelter facilities available in the state. If you are in South Florida this evening, I would probably recommend evacuating southward, against the traffic, to Key West, which will probably be spared. I don't know how many people have had that idea - there may be no rooms left anywhere in the Keys either.

Those who wait until the last minute, e.g., tomorrow, to evacuate Central Florida will be riding out the storm in traffic on the highway.

2.5 million "ordered" to evacuate now. It boggles the mind.

CW, I'm in Tallahassee, so who knows what I'll actually get of it, but the tracks seem to be shifting westward over time, which would bring the thing out over the Gulf to strengthen again after it it hits Orlando and moves north.

Thank God I don't live in a mobile home.

Daaaayum, I hope you guys down there stay safe.

Tallahassee should see strong tropical-storm winds, which, as long as you don't have a light airplane tied down outside, shouldn't be a really big deal. Also you should get lots and lots of rain, with some local flooding.

The palm coast, and inland to Orlando, is going to see hurricane-to-140 mph winds. A broad swath of coastline will see 10-15 foot storm surge.

But as I keep saying on my own blog, I have a gut feeling that the storm may turn more northward at the last minute, shifting the impact point northward along Florida's coast. That's actually good for Tallahassee, because it means the storm won't actually track directly toward you.

Thanks, CW. I'm only panicking now, rather than freaking out. ;-)

Thanks for the good thoughts! I'm blogging from Orlando on this, for as long as the power lasts. If you're interested, stop bye.