Winter Garden Magazine October 2017 | Page 18

“ If you are looking for ways to help…. “ Storm surges sucked away oceans from the Bahamas and parts of the Keys, leaving miles of sand and beach where once beautiful ocean water had been, while flooding other coastlines. Although a rare meteorological phenomenon, water recedes when the low pressure from a hurricane pushes down on the water and pulls it into the eye of the storm. For those not familiar, a storm surge is often a dramatic push of sea water inland across coastal locations related to tropical cyclones such as hurricanes. A broad wind field circulating around the storm’s center can push massive amounts of water to the coastline. The severity of the storm surge is affected by the storm’s intensity and wind field, plus the shape of the coastline and the slope of the sea floor. Most injuries and deaths associated with tropical 18  |  WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE  |   OCTOBER 2017 cyclones are related to storm surge and commonly can occur after the storm has passed. This caused many animals such as manatees to be completely stranded and in need of rescue. Now despite evacuations, some of us crazy Floridians decided to stay and “weather” the storm. Though the rest of the world may have looked at us as if we were nuts, we knew this is our home. Despite storm after storm, we continue to stand tall. We continue to rebuild only for a future hurricane to possibly tear us down again, but you know what? We will do it all over again because to us, this is home. Florida can be looked at as the crazy swamp and muck filled state full of alligators and people taking viral videos out in a category 5 hurricane while drinking a beer before it gets warm due to