About Hurricanes

Hurricane season lasts from June 1 - November 30. Most hurricanes and tropical storms in Florida tend to occur in August and September.

As the hurricane moves across the ocean, it sucks in warm, moist air from the bottom while expelling cool air out of the top.

Surface temperature of Gulf waters needs to be 82 degrees for a hurricane to develop.

It gathers intensity until it makes landfall, where it then loses power.

Hurricane Categories

• Category 1 - Winds: 74-95 mph(64-82 kt) Surge: 4-5 ft
  

  No real damage to building structures. Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, and trees. Also, some coastal flooding and minor pier damage.

• Category 2 - Winds: 96-110 mph(83-95 kt) Surge: 6-8 ft
  

  Some roofing material, door, and window damage. Considerable damage to vegetation, mobile homes, etc. Flooding damages piers and small craft in unprotected moorings may break their moorings.



• Category 3 - Winds: 111-130 mph(96-113 kt) Surge: 9-12 ft
  

  Some structural damage to small residences and utility buildings, with a minor amount of curtain-wall failures. Mobile homes are destroyed. Flooding near the coast destroys smaller structures with larger structures damaged by floating debris. Terrain may be flooded well inland.



• Category 4 - Winds: 131-155 mph(114-135 kt) Surge: 13-18 ft
  

  More extensive curtain-wall failures with some complete roof structure failure on small residences. Major erosion of beach areas. Terrain may be flooded well inland.



• Category 5 - Winds: 155 mph+(135+ kt) Surge: 18 ft +
  

  Complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings. Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. Flooding causes major damage to lower floors of all structures near the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas may be required.

Because of possible power loss, it is important that you have a battery-operated radio or TV, and an old fashioned phone that doesn't require electricity.

If you prefer, you can sign up for CodeRED by calling (239)242-3901.

Flooding

It's important to know the elevation of your property and where you are in Cape Coral's flood zones.

On the right, I have a map showing Cape Coral's flood zones in orange, the Caloosahatchee and Matlacha Pass are in blue, and the rest of the Cape is in yellow. This is the revised 8/28/2008 flood zone map.

I have to apologize for the quality, but I couldn't find the map online, so I had to take a photo of the one I have at home that I got in the mail. Hopefully you can get a good enough idea of the zones.

If a hurricane is threatening and they are predicting a category where the surge is higher than your property is, you will need to evacuate.

The city has evacuation routes posted and shelters for those who need a safe place to stay. To find out what to do about hurricanes, get more info on evacuation routes and shelters, and to get a Lee County All Hazards Guide go to the Lee County Emergency Operations Center.

Preparing for a Hurricane

A hurricane warning means that a hurricane is expected within 24 hours and sustained winds have reached 74+ mph.

Even though Southwest Florida has not been hit as often or as hard as other areas, our city's policy about hurricanes is to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

You can make a kit to have on hand at the beginning of the season.

Hurricane Kit Items:

• Enough food and one gallon of water per person per day, for 3 days. Bleach and medicine dropper - dilute 1 part plain bleach in 9 parts water for a disinfectant, or 16 parts bleach in 1 gallon of water to treat drinking water during an emergency.


• Flashlight, batteries, hand-cranked or battery-operated radio, for NOAA weather alerts about hurricanes from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.


• Moist towelettes, garbage bags, first aid kit, can opener, pliers, duct tape, plastic sheeting.

• Cash, important documents, first aid book.


• Extra clothes, blankets or sleeping bags, mess kits, matches in waterproof container.


• Paper and pencils, books, games, puzzles and activities for children.
• Pet supplies, diapers and other things for baby, feminine and personal hygiene items.

Most shelters do not allow pets. Find a friend who is willing to take them or keep a list of pet friendly hotels.

Never leave pets outside during a storm. Keep small pets like birds and hamsters separated from cats and dogs, and separate cats and dogs, even if they are friends. Keep dangerous pets like snakes secured in crates or cages.

Memorable Cape Coral Hurricanes

The bridge had been in Alva, but was taken out and floated downriver when Alva needed a bigger bridge to accommodate increasing traffic.

Workers had just finished attaching the bridge to one side when the hurricane struck and sank it.

You can read more about what happened by if you get my free ebook, Weird Cape Coral, which you get when you sign up for my newsletter Gator Bites.

A school bus took some residents to shelters in Ft. Myers. The rest hunkered down at the Surfside Restaurant and Nautilus Motel.

During the storm, residents at the motel kept their spirits up with a rousing sing-a-long around the piano.

Five homes had serious damage and the company promised to rebuild for everyone who lost a house, even those who didn't have insurance. No one was injured.

The developers went out of their way to make repairs quickly and allowed homeless residents to stay at the Nautilus. They fed everyone for free for the first 3 days.

They lost 30 roofs, and so another good thing that came out of Donna was a change in the way the roofs were constructed and a tightening of building codes to make homes safer.

There was significant wind damage, trees down, pool cages ripped out, and power outages.

Again, building codes were changed to strengthen roofs, pool cages, garage doors. All new homes were required to have hurricane shutters for windows and glass doors.

Wilma, a category 3 hurricane hit in 2005. The eye of the storm went over Marco Island, winds were clocked at 125mph, and several homes burned to the ground in Cape Coral.

We moved in Cape Coral since 2006 and there haven't been any significant storms since we've been here. We had a threat in 2008, but Hurricane Gustav pooped out by the time it got here and we only had a minor storm. For more tracking information about hurricanes and tropical storms, go to Wunderground.

Water Twisters
Brush Fires

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