Tropical Storm Milton forms in Gulf of Mexico, expected to strike Florida as hurricane

[slightlv]

9. The things you mentioned are not just happening in Florida

especially the power going out. We had an "October Surprise" snowstorm that started out as rain, changed to sleet, and then dumped multiple inches of snow. I was at work when it all started (building a server), living about 10 minutes from my apartment. It took me almost 2 hours to make it home, and this was long after all the snow started falling and the snowplows and other equipment should have been out clearing the streets.

A large tree went down at our complex and took out all the power. Besides everything else we lost, we couldn't even sleep in our bed... we were still using our (wonderful!) waterbed... which was, of course ice cold!! We sat out on the patio and watched transformer after transformer around our complex blow and catch fire. We invested in long underwear and ate shelf-stable food for almost a month before we finally got power restored. This was NOT in the "dark ages," btw!

Living in the midwest, we were used to tornadoes, ice storms, and snow when I was a kid. The snow fell in feet, and still we had all utilities. If the power went off, it was only for a few minutes... at the worst, it was an hour or so. Things are totally upside down these days! Is it the power grid needing to be upgraded? More redundancy needing to be built into it? Or money being siphoned for other projects? I don't know... I just know that when disaster strikes, it's worse now than it was when I was a teenager! And don't even ask about the brownouts we get all the time around here!

I truly feel for Floridians. I can't imagine staying in the state... not after seeing hurricane after hurricane come through, with insurance being close to impossible to find or afford. And yet, I get mad sometimes because even my insurance company is saying my house insurance is going up because of all the disasters down south. They're trying to spread the grief countrywide to help bear the costs. Bear the costs? When they've left Florida?!