Milton rapidly intensified to a Category 5 hurricane late Monday morning.

Within hours, Milton strengthened to a Category 2, then a Category 3, then a Category 4 and finally a Category 5.

Milton now ranks as the third-greatest 24-hour wind speed intensification for a hurricane in the Atlantic Basin. (Records are based on data since the satellite era began in the 1960s.)

  • @[email protected]
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    2944 months ago

    Good thing they removed climate change from being a thing discussed in the legislature. That should fix things.

          • @AngryCommieKender
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            It is in meters and since that an elevation map of Florida, that is the better scenario.

            Basically all the areas in purple and dark blue are low enough for the storm surge to flood them. If it was feet, then the blue-green will probably be underwater as well.

            • @[email protected]
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              34 months ago

              The question about ft came right below the elevation map, but it was a top-level comment on the OP and not a sub-comment about the elevation map.

              Seems you were confused about this order of comments too but unfortunately you’ve taken downvotes for it.

        • @snekerpimp
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          194 months ago

          Some “Day After Tomorrow” kinda shit right there

        • @andrewta
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          124 months ago

          SWEET! Surfs up!

          To soon?

          • Flying Squid
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            504 months ago

            Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven wrote a book called Lucifer’s Hammer about a comet hitting the Earth. There’s a part where all the surfers in the ocean off of L.A. know they’re going to die, so they decide to ride the tsunami and get taken out one by one as they get smashed into buildings.

            • @grue
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              114 months ago

              Unfortunately, at least from videos I’ve seen of the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Fukushima tsunami, tsunamis don’t really “break” like good surfing waves and instead seem to act more like a large swell that keeps going instead of ebbing.

              (A mega-tsunami from a comet impact might be so large it would act differently, though.)

              • Flying Squid
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                24 months ago

                I’ll be honest, it’s one of the least believable parts of a book which overall reads as quite plausible, but it’s a fun chapter. Neither of the authors are/were scientists, so they were bound to get some things wrong. It was also written almost 50 years ago, so I’m guessing the science they did work with has been supplanted in a lot of ways since then.

            • @Death_Equity
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              74 months ago

              That would make for a great scene in a disaster movie.

              • Flying Squid
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                Honestly, the whole book would make a great miniseries. Probably too much for just one movie.

                Too bad Larry Niven is and Jerry Pournelle was such right-wing assholes, because their published some great stuff.

            • @andrewta
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              44 months ago

              One pancake to go!

              I think I heard about the book you were talking about

          • @[email protected]
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            54 months ago

            No. There’s always a bunch of surfers that go out for hurricane waves. I assume some have a death wish.

          • @EmpathicVagrant
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            44 months ago

            You’re surfing all the way to sooner island from Florida‽

            • @andrewta
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              54 months ago

              Where is sooner island?

                • @andrewta
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                  24 months ago

                  Just never heard of it called sooner island

        • @AngryCommieKender
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          44 months ago

          The key says elevation is in meters, so it’s about 3 times less terrifying.

          /s

        • @[email protected]
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          -124 months ago

          Holy fuck people. It says right in the image that it’s in meters.

          So not only lemmings can’t read, a comment asking for info staring you in the face has 55 upvotes… and the wrong answer has 38.

              • @[email protected]
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                104 months ago

                If it makes you feel better, it seems like you’re not the only one who missed the thread indent 🤷‍♂️

                • JaggedRobotPubes
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                  24 months ago

                  Indents are hard to do well. Maybe impossible? Should be effortless to read but seems to never happen. Maybe just one of those things.

      • @someguy3
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        84 months ago

        I had to do a double take on that.

      • @Frozengyro
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        That image is in meters, so it’s bad, but not quite as bad at first glance.

        • @baldingpudenda
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          174 months ago

          I wasnt trying to deceive, but everything in pink and blue is gonna get fucked.

        • @CheeseNoodle
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          64 months ago

          That’s pretty bad… How is it so flat??

          • @Treczoks
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            44 months ago

            So hurricanes can pass across without losing too much energy.

            It is all in the design.

    • @[email protected]
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      434 months ago

      I’m surprised DeSantis hasn’t required that the storm surge be listed in meters to make it appear smaller and less of an issue.

      • @NotMyOldRedditName
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        Use decameters to make the number smaller and less people will understand or care.

      • @[email protected]
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        4 months ago

        For those across the pond, 3658mm of rain (12’)

        Really sets it in seeing it in mm

        Edit: See below comment, I completely misinterpreted the storm surge meaning

        • @[email protected]
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          No that is storm surge.
          So it’s the hurricane pushes that much water onto the shore through force and can get that high of water above sea level.

          So more akin to a slow tsunami where a hurricane pushes up to 3.6M of water up onto the land then it rains more on top of that. Storm surge is mostly the reason for the houses on pillars too.

    • Hello_there
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      174 months ago

      He’s coming for his red stapler. You stole it. Now it is time for revenge.

  • @Snapz
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    984 months ago

    So is trump at Mar a Lego right now standing proudly on the front lawn for this? Is he staying there, “standing his ground” against the “climate hoax”?

    Or is he hiding somewhere else safe, with an excuse, like a coward who’s actually afraid of climate change?

    • @cosmicrookie
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      4 months ago

      'Just turn the green energy wind turbines around and blow the hurricane away, or just shoot at it! ’

      • @Rakonat
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        124 months ago

        Trump: “Just nuke it!”

    • @[email protected]
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      74 months ago

      Climate change is the biggest existential threat we face. One fan be afraid of hurricanes and also be dumb enough to not believe in climate change.

      These are two equally obvious statements. The latter probably even more so.

      There’s no need to try and out stupid them.

        • @[email protected]
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          -174 months ago

          Lol how does this garbage article get 30 upvotes? “An aide told me he refuses to take the call. Definitely.”

            • @[email protected]
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              -204 months ago

              I’m not the one making an assertion. I don’t have to prove a negative.

              The person making a claim is responsible for providing evidence.

              Name calling is not acceptable. I expect better from you in future conversations.

              • @nelly_man
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                144 months ago

                Your assertion is that Biden has not tried to contact DeSantis to offer help. You were provided with an article that says otherwise and dismissed it as false. What evidence do you hand that supports your claim that Biden has not attempted to contact DeSantis? Other Republican governors have said that Biden was quick to reach out in regards to Helene, so it’s hard to believe that he hasn’t tried to contact Florida.

          • @Machinist
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            14 months ago

            My wife was talking about it today. I kind of grunted and said that sounded about right for Desantis. Weird little evil fucker.

            No clue if it’s true. Sounds true.

            Please let me know if someone posts something credible.

  • @[email protected]
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    934 months ago

    At least the insurance companies will only have to rebuild some houses once after 2 hurricanes

    • @Today
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      1244 months ago

      If your policy covers wind they claim the damage is from water. If your policy covers water, they claim the damage is from wind. If your policy covers both, they claim a hurricane is exempt as an act of god.

      • @[email protected]
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        34 months ago

        I want to bitch about insurance companies but insurance is for something that is unavoidable.

        All this shit is becoming more and more avoidable.

      • Dogiedog64
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        -184 months ago

        Which, to be fair, is really about all they can do. You CANNOT stop a hurricane from obliterating a house. There is NOTHING the average American can do about it except leave and hope it survives.

        • @eskimofry
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          344 months ago

          Then its dishonest to accept money for your fake business.

    • @[email protected]
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      574 months ago

      Insurance companies don’t build shit. They just collect money from people, and sometimes give some of it back.

      • @[email protected]
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        274 months ago

        They’re actually required to give 85% of everything back, so they give back most of it. It seems like Florida is becoming too much of a hassle to insure, though. Some companies have pulled out of florida.

        • @krashmo
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          374 months ago

          Everyone in FL should have pulled out.

          This joke works on multiple levels and I’m happy about that.

          • @[email protected]
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            34 months ago

            Full amount that is legally required to pay back out in insurer coverage every year. The other 15% covers pay roll, rent, buildings, bonus’, overhead, etc. Literally everything else. Same deal for medical insurance.

        • _haha_oh_wow_
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          4 months ago

          unless they can find a way to screw you over for profit, then they absolutely will no matter how ridiculous the “reasoning”*

          • @baldingpudenda
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            74 months ago

            I believe it was Katrina where the insurance said it was wind damage when you only had flood insurance, but if you’re neighbor only had wind coverage they’d tell them it was water damage.

            • @[email protected]
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              34 months ago

              Right storm. Wrong details.

              They (insurance companies) were claiming it as flood/surge damage, even if wind ripped off your roof to let the water inside. Wind was covered, water wasn’t. Companies were sued for trying to blanket deny an area based on one generic engineering report, or denying coverage if flood waters came through after wind destroyed a place. Insurance com0anies don’t typically offer flood insurance to a lot of places and if homeowners want it, they have to buy it through the federal government.

    • @sinceasdf
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      224 months ago

      Many insurance companies won’t even insure homes in much of Florida.

    • @[email protected]
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      194 months ago

      What insurance companies? They all backed out of Florida years ago. Now it’s state funded home insurance footing the bill.

      • @[email protected]
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        134 months ago

        I read a thing recently that insurance companies are getting increasingly skittish all over the country, even places that wouldn’t traditionally be considered risky, because yay, climate change.

        The interesting thing about it was that insurance companies’ insurance is increasingly the thing that’s causing issues, because it’s getting harder for the risk to be spread out. That is to say that insurance companies financially rely on areas with low rates of natural disasters because they end up being a net positive due to insurance premiums and no need for payout. Fewer of these “safe” areas mean the insurance companies struggle to stay solvent and have to rely on their own insurance policies to have their back, but those meta-insurance companies have apparently been historically loud about climate change — probably because besides the government, they’re the ones who have to pony up

        • @CainTheLongshot
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          34 months ago

          Here in Missouri, home owners insurance is starting to lose hail damage from coverage. Damn near 90% of the houses around my area have now replaced their roofs, and have the roofing signage out front. It’s almost a running joke now: guessing which house will be next to get one, and counting the company’s signs to see who’s making a killing.

      • @RestrictedAccount
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        44 months ago

        No problem. The 0ld coots in Florida that vote won’t be around when the bill comes due.

    • Null User Object
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      04 months ago

      If people don’t have the common sense to not build houses in places that are guaranteed to be destroyed by a natural disaster sooner than later, then I shouldn’t have to subsidize their rebuilding costs through my insurance premiums.

      • @RestrictedAccount
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        114 months ago

        That’s what the people in the North Carolina mountains thought.

        • Null User Object
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          That seems like a perfectly reasonable place to build that’s not obviously at threat from hurricanes. But sometimes shit happens that couldn’t be easily foreseen, and THAT’S what insurance is for.

          My point, however, is that insurance is NOT to make other policy holders foot the expense of someone repeatedly repairing/rebuilding after completely foreseeable/inevitable events.

          To anyone that insists on having a house right on the beach on the Gulf Coast, I say, “Insure thy self.”

      • Tarquinn2049
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        Yeah, used to be that insurance costs were almost directly skewed based on risk. But then people were upset that it costed so much to insure some places(the ones that should be prohibitively expensive to insure). And then slowly over time they baked in little increases in price everywhere else to subsidise huge price cuts in those areas to out-compete the companies that put the onus entirely on the people taking risks. Eventually, as it became more and more widespread to do that, it became financially more viable to spread it out rather than have drastically more expensive areas. And now we all have to partially cover people who are taking way more risk than we would.

        • The Pantser
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          4 months ago

          That’s communism in a nut shell, Republicans should be up in arms over it

          • Tarquinn2049
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            14 months ago

            Forms of communism that mean they are making more money are actually ok by them. They just have to find a different name to call it so they don’t have to say that icky word that gives them feelings.

      • @ApatheticCactus
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        34 months ago

        That or build something that can stand up to being hit. Tall order, but the inner armchair engineer in me thinks it’s like, totally possible.

        • Tarquinn2049
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          24 months ago

          I think you forget, building it stronger once would cost 50% more upfront. Better to build it twice, or three times at only 100% cost each time. That way you can be the lowest bidder every time.

  • @TriflingToad
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    Currently in my house in Florida, where I am looks to be not on the direct path but not completely free. Hurricanes can move a lot, especially when they get on land and staet losing speed.

    Once we evacuated 5 hours in a car with all our animals (at the time 2 big sweaty dogs) in a car that wasnt even the size of a minivan. We packed everything we needed just in case. Once we got inside the hotel we booked we took a ~2 hour nap and upon checking the storm again it had moved to come right to where the hotel is. We then had to drive 5 hours BACK home where we began.

    Anyhoo, wish us luck! I don’t wanna evacuate with 4 cats and a large dog haha

    UPDATE: 5:30 10/8
    I got 5+ ‘amber alerts’ today. They just wouldn’t stop haha

    • @[email protected]
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      164 months ago

      Good luck to you and your family. I don’t know anyone in Florida, so I will be thinking of you as a proxy for all the people I am concerned for in the potential path of this hurricane.

    • @strawberrysocial
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      84 months ago

      I wish you luck trifling toad🤞 Escaping a situation with just people is difficult, with additional animals makes it so much more stressful. Especially cats since they have to be put in a crate and need a litter box etc.

    • @[email protected]
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      My first thought was, “5 Amber alerts amd a hurricane… good god what’s going on in Florida?!”

      You had me even more worried there for a second.

  • @[email protected]
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    534 months ago

    Within hours, Milton strengthened to a Category 2, then a Category 3, then a Category 4 and finally a Category 5.

    Someone had a word quota to fill.

    • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod
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      54 months ago

      Probably submitted the article with 1.1 line spacing and 13 point font

  • @Maggoty
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    NOAA changed Milton’s heading on Hurricanes.gov to plead with people to listen to evacuation orders.

    We’ll all be very happy to feel silly if this doesn’t go the way it looks like it’s going to go. But please for the love of humanity get out of the way of this thing.

    • @Raiderkev
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      524 months ago

      My friend lives in Florida and has not, nor his words “will ever” evacuate for a “stupid hurricane.” I’ll give you one guess who he’s voting for.

    • @IMNOTCRAZYINSTITUTION
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      184 months ago

      I was listening to a live stream with a couple meteorologists explaining everything. they were fairly jovial and laid back seeming guys but at one point, one of them got a deadly serious tone to his voice and started talking about how this one can’t be rode out, can’t be survived.

    • @Filthmontane
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      154 months ago

      I’ve lived in the Tampa Bay area my entire life, never evacuated before, and I left last night. Fuck Milton. Not worth riding this one out.

    • @Treczoks
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      104 months ago

      Why evacuate? Just write your name, DoB, and SSN on our arms and legs, and use a waterproof sharpie for that. Just in case, you know?

      • @Maggoty
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        74 months ago

        I mean I’d rather have you, not your pieces.

      • @Maggoty
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        64 months ago

        That’s the same site yeah. Mine left an s off, I’ll go fix it.

      • @nutsack
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        34 months ago

        i don’t understand how to use this website. where do i click on to see who needs to get out

          • @nutsack
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            14 months ago

            that is quite a lot of people

        • @[email protected]
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          64 months ago

          I’m not sure NOA is responsible for evacuation orders, IIRC they advise state and local governments on who should evacuate and it’s up to the local government to coordinate and reach out to their populations.

          • @nutsack
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            34 months ago

            The evacuation orders look super random. I guess it depends on the politics of the county. Great

        • @[email protected]
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          34 months ago

          I need only three things:

          1. Where is the hurricane
          2. What path did it already take
          3. How strong / fast is it

          Bonus: Prediction path it will take.

          I was thinking this would be very easy to visualize. From such important data sources you’d expect more.

  • @Itdidnttrickledown
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    494 months ago

    I guess their god doesn’t like florida. I wonder why?

    On a more serious note I really hope all the decent people of florida the best of luck. To the rest I hope you only get thoughts and prayers.

    • @teamevil
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      264 months ago

      Thanks…I’m trying to make the place suck less

        • @Itdidnttrickledown
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          34 months ago

          In this world of self appointed warriors for good who seem to think the goal is to control others. Evil is the new good.

    • @CheeseNoodle
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      234 months ago

      Floridas gonna be the next Atlantis, a mysterious land that vanished under the ocean from which tales came of strange people comitting outragous deeds. Future historians will see the tales of the mighty ‘Florida Men’ and assume it was some kind of myth.

      • @Dasus
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        144 months ago

        More like Doggerland a place having verifiably existed, and which would hold answers to what man’s primitive ancestors were doing, but which we don’t really go to look at, because studying shit that’s underwater is expensive and we’re not that interested.

    • @[email protected]
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      74 months ago

      I wonder why?

      Anytime Americans are asked which state would you get rid of, Florida is the top answer.

      Maybe their god is starting to listen.

      /s

  • JaggedRobotPubes
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    464 months ago

    I’m gonna tell myself that this is finally bad enough to spur widespread action on global warming as a way of feeling better about it and you can all preemptively shut up with your reality checks.

    • @Fedizen
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      Tbh I’ve learned a lot about how thermal energy affects these storms and I gotta say, the only people who are gonna be living in Florida 20 years from now are people who live in submarines.

      We ought to be executing oil company CEOs for treason.

    • @[email protected]
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      In Germany more than 200 people died in a severe flooding in 2021. Just 2 month prior the conservative party CDU removed flood protection laws in one of the states most affected. In one of the towns completely destroyed they were again voted strongest just a few months later.

    • @strawberrysocial
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      84 months ago

      Are you doing okay? I feel kind of the same way I think.

    • @[email protected]
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      44 months ago

      I’m gonna tell myself that this is finally bad enough to spur widespread action on global warming

      I, too, want to believe that humans are capable for caring enough about themselves, each other, and their descendants in order to put in place measures to make the world better for everyone.

  • @Fedizen
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    434 months ago

    Hurricanes don’t like it when you ban books. Prayin for you, florida man.

    • @finitebanjo
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      4 months ago

      A lot of whats about to happen to Florida in the coming months will be self inflicted because of their politics.

      • @Fedizen
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        114 months ago

        florida is like 55% republican. I’d wager many know how dumb it is

  • Bahnd Rollard
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    434 months ago

    Florida… Give him back his stapler, like right now.