Debby – Rain, Rain, Rain

It looks like Tropical Storm Debby is finally moving offshore. She was a slow moving rain-maker. In our area, we had about 10-12 inches of rain from the storm.

While she did produce some wind, our strongest gust was 40 mph, her legacy will be the amount of rain produced. She just did not move fast enough and the rain just kept coming and coming and coming. We have not had a sunny day for over a week.

She did produce some high waves and rip currents; that certainly did not stop some brave souls from venturing into the Gulf for a bit of surfing.

Normally, there is not enough wave action to make surfing possible on the west side of the state. However, that changes when a storm is churning in the Gulf.

Lifeguards put out the red warning flags and discourage people from entering the water. But many surfers ignore the warnings and paddle out to catch a wave. I did hear one news report that said there was a $200.00 fine if a lifeguard had to rescue a surfer or swimmer who ignored the warnings and then into trouble. The good news is, I heard of no surfers having anything but a good time.

Even though we had about 10 inches of rain, we had no flooding. Florida has been experiencing a pretty severe drought for the last couple of years; this rain actually helped that.

One thing to keep in mind is the type of soil here in Florida. What Floridians call dirt; those of us from the North would call it sand. The soil here absorbs the rainfall quite rapidly. Northern dirt contains more clay and water tends to run off more. Here in Florida, the sand acts more like a sponge.

The national news did report on some large scale flooding in the state, but we had none of that in our area. Most of the flooding was in more heavily populated regions of Florida. It seems that when there is more paved areas and less open ground, the water collects and has no place to drain. The storm drains overflow and cause the flooding.

When these storms hit we get lots of phone calls from friends and relatives in the North; we really appreciate their concern for our safety. But the one thing to keep in mind, especially if you are considering moving to Florida, the media makes money by reporting the worst possible news.

Think about it, would a report about another sunny day in Florida, catch your attention? Of course not. One the other hand, a teasing lead of “Heavy flooding in Florida” produces lots of viewers for the news broadcast. More viewers bring in more revenue for the TV stations.

How many of us watch the Weather Channel for extended periods, everyday? When a storm is approaching or is close by, we check that station constantly. While the reporters do tend to accent the worst scenarios, for the most part, they do give us much needed information.

It seems the weather reporters wait for, and thrive on, these bad weather events. Mrs. FOG says the reporters have “Stormgasms”. They wait all year for these big storms. For them, it seems like a time to celebrate.

We are happy to see Debby go and hope we don’t see many more storms this season.