Just remember, flood insurance- if it's available in your area, and it should be given how close to sea level you are- will NOT cover you for Irma, unless it stalls out to sea for 3 weeks or so... there is generally a 30 day waiting period for flood insurance to take effect.
Summerthyme
^^ The above is correct. If you do not have a flood policy now, you can't get coverage in time for Irma. Also, note that homeowner policies do not cover flood. Although they will cover wind damage from hurricanes.
Here's a prediction I'll stick my neck out on...
With Harvey floods displacing homeowners and water and fuel shortages, etc. so fresh in everyone's mind,
when it dawns on east coast people that Irma could be playing in a town near them soon, many more are
gonna prep much bigger and much sooner than in the past. Could well be whole lot more than ever before.
That alone has the potential of becoming a disruption crisis unto itself, as it unleashes a contagious panic
prepping stampede with inevitable shortages.
- Shane
^^ I wonder if that is what happened with hurricane Rita in Texas.
As everyone knows, Katrina was a huge disaster that played out on live TV. I think Katrina put the fear of God into everyone so when Rita came along a few weeks later, everybody decided to haul butt out of there and hit the roads causing huge massive grid lock.
Maybe the gridlock would have happened anyway but I do wonder if the fear of what had just happened in New Orleans was a huge factor. Of course, I could be wrong. I wasn't there.
Also, wanted to note that I agree with Shane's assessment of Joe Bastardi. I haven't been following Joe's forecasts as much since he left Accuweather. However, I noticed some years ago that he was forecasting hurricane trajectories (sorry can't remember exact storms but it was some of the big ones we've had over the last decade or so) and his forecasts would come out several days before other people were able to narrow down the path. And sure enough, he usually nailed where it was gonna hit. He amazed me several times. He was accurate and he had the info on where it would hit way before everyone else did.
So I would definitely pay attention to what he is saying, especially if I lived in a hurricane-prone area.
