National Weather Service Melbourne, Florida radar, August 2, 2020, 10pm ET.
As we put this edition to bed late Sunday evening, Tropical Storm Isaias is moving up the central east coast of Florida, with its winds of 70 mph well offshore, and not forecast to be a particularly big rain or storm surge event, either. As the first east coast storm of the season, we’re lucky – doubly so, considering the last hurricane threat to Florida was the monstrous Cat 5 Hurricane Dorian, which we also luckily managed to miss. One day, as those of us who’ve lived here for many years know, our luck will run out.
Florida’s emergency managers, as they do before every hurricane season, have been planning for months. Their task this year was complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and the need to keep any storm evacuees socially distant – not exactly conducive with using our usual large congregate shelters. With Isaias, officials avoided mandatory evacuations and were prepared to urge people instead to consider sheltering in place in a hurricane if safe to do so or going to live with other family/friends outside the expected impacted area, in lieu of group shelters. Palm Beach opened shelters and their 150 voluntary evacuees were reportedly physically distant and wearing masks. The state had secured four hotels in a four-county area to serve as non-congregate shelters if needed. Again, we were lucky they weren’t.
Click Image for Printable Version
If you, your loved ones, or clients haven’t made a personal hurricane plan this season, we urge you to do so now and we’ve included my Lisa’s Lucky 7 Hurricane Prep as a guide that you can share as well (Just hit the “Share This” link on the top or bottom left of this page and choose your social media or email option.) We get to hit the reset button with this storm folks, and we know our emergency managers have gained value from what thankfully ended up being a “dry run” of their emergency operation plans!
Up next, the rest of the news, including updates on Florida’s homeowners insurance market challenges, some surprising confusion among consumers, and interesting tidbits about real estate sales and remote work!
LMA Newsletter of 8-3-20
