Mandatory Evacuation For KSC Region On Friday
Mandatory evacuation for @NASAKennedy, Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral and coastal residents to the south – effective Friday at 3pm EDT pic.twitter.com/GJKbgfv32o
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) September 8, 2017
Why? The computer models show most tracks west of us now, centered on Orlando. They always declare a mandatory evacuation for Merritt Island. Most people stay because it isn’t really a barrier island and unless your house is in a flood zone it’s no more likely to flood than being on the mainland, although loss of power is more likely here. Big problem is that they may close the bridges…
Because just like Matthew, a +/- on the actual path could make a huge difference. Plus, the houses on the beachside area are more likely to be older frame style houses that were built long before the post 2004 hurricane codes.
I’m all for evacuating the beach. Storm surge is dangerous. What I don’t understand is providing federal insurance for people who insist on living there. Merritt Island is exposed to the Atlantic only in a small area of Kennedy Space Center, not in the residential areas.
Because, as the (good) meteorologists have been explaining, the worst winds are on the “right side of the storm”. Here’s a reference:
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hr…
This storm is very large (pretty much the size of the state of Florida), so the “right side of the storm” is going to hammer the east coast of Florida if the eye of the storm tracks up the center of the state towards Orlando.