Retire in an Area Prone to Hurricanes?

For the past 5 years or so, my husband & I have been considering moving to the Gulf coast area when we retire. More recently we've been checking out the Pensacola area. However, given the number, size, and general nastiness of the storms that have rolled through Florida over the past couple of years, we're rethinking that idea and considering staying here in Arizona (just traveling more instead). We get some crazy weather here in AZ on occasion (heavy rains, big winds, rare microburst), but nothing ever approaching the severity of the hurricane events around Florida coastal areas. Apparently, that old saying about "the grass isn't necessarily greener..." is true!

This comment was moved from a different Blog to this one for a better fit:

I lived in South Florida for 18 years. Every year the hurricanes threatened my life there and some of them actually stopped my life while moving through. It is a stop because you and your family worry as each bulletin comes over the tv. You load up on supplies, board up windows, sandbag, and hope it all isn’t needed. None of it is fun. It is costly, and if you have to evacuate you spend hours on the road and then more expense holing up in a motel if no friends or relatives are close. I lived in Homestead. It was decimated, just like Mexico Beach. You can’t come back. You have to rely on donations of food and water and find a temporary home until you and the insurance agency can come to an agreement. You have to have monetary reserves for all the unexpected expenses and lose things you have had all your life. So, take heed. It isn’t like falling off a log. It is personally devastating and I will never live close enough to spend another day on hurricane watch.
by PamE — October 16, 2018

I understand Jane in the above note. We live slightly inland in coastal Charleston, SC. We love it here and fear the same TV /hurricane messages. But we stay.
The only thing I can say similar to Jane is it is like having a beloved pet. You have them for maybe 15 years or so. You know that they are going to die. But the pleasure they bring you for those 15 years or so are worth the heartbreak when they leave. You are crushed. You are in pain. You are a wreck for a long period. You say you will never get or love another pet for the rest of your life. But eventually something happens and you do. Someone brings you something that needs love, or your former veterinarian calls and tells you a pet that reminded him of your previous pet had a litter and the owner needs your help and will gift you one. What do you do?
You ignore the hurricane warnings and return to the “danger zone” of what you love and need and begin anew.

Loved Jack’s comments! We were Florida snowbirds for 13 years in the middle of the state. We have just made the big move full time to the gulf coast near Venice. In the center of the state, there were tornadoes to worry about. I may change my mind but right now I will take the risk to be 6 miles from the beach. The new hurricane standards are pretty stringent and hopefully we would have little or no damage. During hurricane Irma, one pool cage in our community was damaged. Everyone has to decide what they are comfortable with doing.

Sandy, never, ever underestimate the danger and devastation of hurricanes! Sounds l8ke you have never lived through one. Good luck in your new home, but I just don’t want you to think that a hurricane is comparable to a wind storm that blows your pool cover off! Just make sure you have an evacuation plan.

It really doesn't matter where you live these days. Places that "never" flood are flooding. Fires are decimating our forests and homes in the West. Hurricanes are getting stronger.....I could go on and on but that has never stopped me from living where I am happiest. I was born in California and experienced earth quakes. I was raised in the Florida Keys and experienced hurricane "Donna" in 1960. Then I went to Anchorage, AK for many years and felt some really strong earthquakes and just missed a couple of avalanches along highways there....lived in Texas for over 25 years and there is nothing like a Texas tornado. After all that I loved every single one of those places and wouldn't change a single memory. Now we are retired in Fort Myers, FL. We live about 25 miles inland from the beaches because of the cost of homes on the water and expensive various insurances (flood/home). We were directly hit by Hurricane Irma with very little damage. It was a Category 3 when it hit us. Living a bit inland we do not have to worry about storm surge BUT when picking out a community it is wise to check out their history of local flooding. Fortunately our community weathered the storm very well and not one home had flood waters. We live in a newer (6 yrs) house that is built to Miami building codes,have an evacuation plan and keep supplies on hand year around. We also invested in electronic shutters, etc. etc. If you do your homework on living in Florida, it is a great place to live. With that said, if we are ever faced with a Category 4 or 5 hurricane in Fort Myers, our car will be the first one on the road North outta here!

Maimi, Yes, we were here for a hurricane. We also were in Hawaii on the 17th floor of a hotel once for another hurricane. Hurricanes are incredibly frightening but maybe because I grew up in the Midwest, tornados scare me the same. I have an evacuation plan. I have all the things they recommend for a hurricane. I still intend to be gone when one comes though. I realize I am fortunate that I can leave.

We moved the last couple of comments that discuss living in Fort Myers, Florida, to a different Blog:

What is the Better Part of Florida for Retirement: Coast or Interior:

https://www.topretirements.com/blog/great-towns/what-is-better-part-of-florida-coast-or-interior.html/#comment-309573

We survived Irma with not much damage. Got a new roof and a new perimeter lighting system. Where I lived before, there were destructive tornadoes. Bad weather can hit anywhere. Forest fires, earthquakes, etc. I'm staying in SE Florida.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/hurricane/2018/10/14/hurricane-michael-arc-ruin-trail-destruction-florida-panhandle-big-bend/1614787002/

We moved to SE Florida coast one year ago. We couldn’t be happier! The cost of living is lower, utilities cheaper, and waking up each day now is like waking up in paradise We love boating, swimming, fishing, outdoor concerts year round, sitting on the dock of the bay restaurant enjoying an ice cold beer and watching a football game being played in the snow. We are close to Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Keys, the West Coast, Bahamas, Palm Beaches, and our beach Life is great.

OK Skip I’m in! Can you tell me the location & name of your piece of paradise, thanks

Thanks, Skip.
Its good to hear favorable impressions and experiences. There is so much spoken gloom and doom, it becomes disheartening.

Its gratifying to hear paradise still exists, in the flesh and the mind.
A small sliver from this side of heaven will be mine very soon.
Again, thank you, Skip.

My wife and I moved from Yuma Arizona in early 2017. We have had one hurricane pass just east of us in Sun City Center (2017). Lots of rain and wind but nothing we hadn't experienced in Yuma. Another hurricane passed to the West many miles recently. We did have clouds and some rain, maybe 1/2 an inch but little wind at all. We now love in On Top Of The World in Ocala Florida. Our home was completed in January 2018 and is built to the most recent building codes. Being inland the risk of damage is much less than in coastal areas.
Our cost of living is reduced and we are closer to family.

Whew, power and internet back after 3 days! We live in CT in the summer and Tropical Storm Isaias just about did us in. Much stronger winds than predicted, almost the whole state without power. Fortunately it struck as the tide was going out or it would have been worse. More and more dangerous storms predicted - seems like no place is safe. What we learned from this storm is we need a better emergency kit. Out old camping lantern needs D batteries, we need to go LED!

I am in a gated condominium community on the bay in New England. The storms aren’t getting any worse, but the antiquated electrical grid goes out with the slightest breeze here. Nobody takes responsibility to trim the trees over the power lines, and even the slightest rain storm brings tree branches down on the power lines. In the past 10 years, there have been numerous times when power has gone out for a week or more. We all have total electric, including heat, and the HOA will not allow generators. It is starting to get life threatening for me, as my health has not been good. An emergency kit doesn’t do much after a night in the winter with no heat. By the way, has anyone discovered a battery operated coffee maker, or a battery operated indoor generator?

If you have a garage or basement, you could have a Tesla Powerwall, or similar, installed. This battery can store enough energy to run your refrigerator and lights for up to a week depending on the size of the battery. It is not cheap but it does not make noise like a generator.

Thanks, but I'd rather take my chances with the spotty tornadoes of the upper Midwest.

So, we went through Hurricane Irma, here in Central Florida. It really wasn't a big deal storm, here. Yet, it ended up costing a lot and causing the power to go down for a long period. Mostly that was because Duke Energy hadn't really prepared. As with Maimi's experience, they hadn't taken care of tree trimming. (They had even cut the budget for the activity after they bought our power company). They provided no charging stations for folks without power. They did a terrible job of communicating, via social media or on their emergency lines about outage statuses. As a result, there was a huge negative response in the media and on social media. Many of us wrote letters to the editor and posted on Facebook. I suggested to our insurance company, which had to pay for our spoiled food and the like, that they sue Duke. I do believe that Duke learned its lesson. They have spent the last two years trimming trees, fixing power lines, and improving their response time to power outages. Make noise and use social media. Sometimes these utilities do respond.

I live in Washington, DC and we often are affected by the storms that move up the coast. Power continuation during bad weather is a very important component in any community and I am glad to be reminded of it. In my co-op our five buildings have power lines below ground. We had one building that was above ground and converted it also. Before this we had almost two weeks without power one June after a severe storm in that one building. No A/C in a hot summer can be a killer here, not to mention other life saving devices.

Lynn, I have lived on the Carolina coast for over 30 years so have experienced many hurricanes. I have never heard of the power company providing charging stations. How would they do that?
I doubt if Duke Power is concerned about being sued for food lost. Is the power company responsible for trimming trees or is it the property owner? I think the latter.
Improving response time for outages? They bring in as much help as possible before and after a hurricane. I'm sorry if you are a bit inconvenienced after a storm but they are doing the best they can.
And Peder, a tornado gives no warning while you have plenty of time to prepare for a hurricane. I'll take a hurricane over a tornado any day.

Dick, I don't agree. Duke has responsibility to trim/remove trees in their rights-of-way which includes near any overhead lines. Duke has stated (in fact, demanded, that in our heavily, tall tree community) that they MUST do this. (Their sloppy trim procedures are an issue.) For me to trim on my property might be fine (and very dangerous), but in 27 years here, it has never been trees on my property that were a problem despite many outages. The problem is often miles away.

Well, we have National Grid, which is the absolute worst ever! We do have underground lines for our large gated community, but the main roads that feed us do not. I just was told by National Grid that they are only responsible for tree trimming once every seven years, which is insane in New England. Nobody takes responsibility and the effects are devastating! When people are expected to live a week or more with no heat in the winter, it is life threatening. I don’t know what the solution is.

My wife and I just spent five days without power -- in central Connecticut. I raise this to make the point that the effects of hurricanes, and poor planning by utility companies, can make life miserable far from the coast. Every year during hurricane season, I write an article at my web site or in my monthly newsletter reminding that the odds of a serious hurricane -- more than 75 mph winds -- slamming any one point on the coast are still rather remote. For example, hurricane modeling shows that Savannah, GA, should suffer a major hurricane between once and twice per century. (Look on a map of the east coast and see how far west Savannah is from the Gulfstream, which tends to whisk hurricanes up the coast toward the Carolinas). But even in a place like Myrtle Beach, there is just a 2.6% chance of a major hurricane in any one year, or a 10% chance of any hurricane at all. (Source: Hurricane Watch, by a former director of the National Hurricane Center.) My wife and I have owned a vacation home for 20 years; it is 3/4 mile from the Atlantic Ocean in Pawleys Island, SC, and that area has suffered through a few hurricanes the last two decades. But our most severe "damage," if you could call it that, was a couple of leaks that stained walls and dripped on carpets. I blame shoddy construction, which has since been fixed, more than the heavy rain and wind. Bottom line: If you want to live on the coast, don't fear hurricanes. Just keep an eye on the Weather Channel during hurricane season and trust the local authorities. They have become very good at evacuation procedures, if necessary.

The utilities have cut their manpower to bare bones and rely on contractors in emergencies. So when a large storm hits they are busy and in demand from everyone affected.The solution, be as self sustaining as possible. Easier said than done though. Last week the Jersey shore lost power. I don't know what's worse, listening to a neighbor's gas powered portable generator running near your fence upwind from you 24/7 or living out of your cooler.

Billy, in many of the planned communities, like mine, that senior citizens live in, generators are not allowed.

We live in Suffolk County, NY. There are still 50,000 homes with no electric, and indications are that there will be no electric until Friday (the 14th) ! National Grid...

We live in Pawleys Island SC as well. Certainly there is a greater chance of hurricane damage but one can never predict what the weather will do anymore. Look at all the damage in the mid-west and in the northeast. There are problems and trade offs wherever you live. Just find a place that you really enjoy and meets your needs and hope for the best.

With rising ocean level due to global warming and increasing warmer oceans the potential for significant damage due to hurricanes and flooding continues to rise along the nations sea coasts and inland! Insurance rates continue to rise uncontrolled!
With our government refusing to act on global warming these threats will only continue to grow in the coming years!!

Ron has a point but you can look at the glass as half empty of half full. The west has water issues, the midwest has tornadoes and is pretty boring. California is very crowded. Most large cities have high crime and are expensive. Although they have more cultural opportunities. Figure out what you like and where you want to be. Check it out and make sure it's for you. Don't let something that might happen stop you from living your dream.

Right on, Gerard. No place is paradise, but some places check most every box depending on your lifestyle inclinations. I assist couples looking for golf communities in the Southeast, and the first thing I counsel is to decide on topography -- mountains, coast, lake, or something in between (e.g. Pinehurst, NC). Obviously, one has to know a little bit about the climate in each area. If you want the beach nearby, you have no choice but to accommodate the threat of hurricanes, slim though that threat may be in many places (near Savannah, for. example). If you want the mountains, then there will be a couple of months in winter that you will feel as if you are in New England, although the snow melts faster in the Carolina mountains. Most lake locations in the Southeast are relentlessly hot in summer without the breezes of the ocean or the cooler temps of the mountains. If you can afford it -- double property taxes, possible double HOA fees -- the two-house solution provides pretty much of a perfect climate year round (but not many want the hassle or the costs of two homes). My wife's and my vacation home is 3/4 mile from the ocean just south of Myrtle Beach. We have had hurricanes but no severe damage. We have flood insurance, but it isn't too expensive (few hundred a year). Evacuation plans are excellent in SC, and The Weather Channel updates are relentless when a hurricane approaches (even a week in advance). I don't think I have ever quoted The Mamas and Papas, but it seems appropriate here: "Go where you wanna go...live where you wanna live..." Just be prepared (to quote the Girl Scouts.

Gerard and Larry, very well put! Those who spend their lives worrying that every detail may not be perfect will never find satisfaction. Start with Larry's overview on choice, do your research, be happy and enjoy your choice and maintain some flexibility in the event any of the negatives occur. That's what is called making the best of a good retirement solution.

We’ve always been interested in retiring to the southeast, SC in particular. Lately, not so much. It’s called the “low country” for a reason. Serious flooding is becoming commonplace, effecting the quality of life there. Charleston county had numerous ordered hurricane evacuations in recent years. I don’t think, as an retiree getting older not younger, that’s something I want to have to worry about. Renting part time is looking better and better.