The new hurricane mentality in Florida

Every paradise has a rainy day.

Hawaii has volcanoes. California has earthquakes and wildfires. Florida has mosquitoes the size of beagles - and the occasional hurricane.

At least that was the conventional wisdom until last weekend when the Sunshine State got clobbered for the second time in three weeks by hurricane-force winds.

Now in the wake of hurricanes Charley and Frances - and with a possible third strike from hurricane Ivan - some residents are beginning to wonder whether Florida has become too dangerous for human habitation.

"We will probably see some people leave Florida now," says James Gilkeson, a finance professor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. "They'll want to get out because they are scared."

But a trip through one of the hardest-hit areas of St. Lucie County reveals that many hurricane survivors still want to live in Florida - just not while a major hurricane is passing through.

Morris Griffith boarded up his home prior to the storm, but still lost part of his roof. He says if another Category 2 hurricane threatens, he and his family will ride out the storm, as they did Frances, with friends in a secure home with hurricane shutters. But he quickly adds, "If it is Category 3 or higher, we're heading out of state."

Many longtime Florida residents acknowledge there are dangers associated with living at the edge of the tropics. They note that earthquakes, volcanoes, and tornadoes offer little if any advance warning. But with modern weather satellites and other monitoring equipment, hurricanes almost never arrive without several days of prior warning.

To those who prepare, the early warning offers enough time to take meaningful measures to protect lives and property, and, if necessary, get out of the way.

The difficulty, hurricane experts say, is that many parts of Florida have not experienced a major hurricane since explosive growth and development has changed the landscape. A large number of Florida residents have been lulled into a false sense of security, they say.

But now that may be changing.

Even kids are getting the message. Asked what advice he would give to children elsewhere who hadn't lived through a hurricane, 13-year-old Mattavious Genes offers a proclamation worthy of a police chief: "If a hurricane comes, you should go someplace safe that is not in [a mandatory] evacuation area because, if not, there will be consequences and repercussions."

One key to surviving in a hurricane-prone region is having a network of friends and family spread across various parts of the state.

Last month, when hurricane Charley threatened his home in Fort Myers, Lt. Cliff Morine of the Marco Island Police Department sent his wife and daughter to stay with his mother, who lives on Hutchinson Island, east of Fort Pierce.

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