What’s Tropical Storm Fay Doing to Your Favorite Florida Timeshare? Part II
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tropical Storm Fay has created some very unusual conditions along Florida’s Space Coast. Because the storm has been stationary or relatively stationary over Melbourne, Titusville, Cape Canaveral, Daytona Beach, and New Smyrna Beach, massive amounts of rain has fallen. Some communities are expecting up to 30 inches of rain, and perhaps more. Small tornadoes, created by the tropical storm, have damaged roofs and trees in localized areas, and one neighborhood of manufactured homes received serious damage, with approximately 10 houses destroyed and some 50 others damaged. Currently flooding is a problem all along the central Florida and North Florida east coast, closing streets and causing power companies to turn off electricity in some areas for safety reasons.
Safety Warnings for Your Florida Timeshare Vacation
Surfers flock to beachside towns during tropical storm conditions to take advantage of higher waves. Here are important things to remember, however, about all that water:
Rip currents are strong and dangerous. Swim in the ocean at your own risk. Lifeguards may not be on duty, depending upon the severity of storm conditions, and even if they are, they will only go so far in risking their own life to save yours.
Don’t drive on flooded streets. Water can easily lift a vehicle of any size. “Most cars will float (and be swept away) in 18-24 inches of moving water,” according to the experts at the Flood Safety website.
When you are tempted to wade through high waters, remember that once rains cause flooding, it is no longer rainwater … it is sewage. And in Florida, where the State Reptile is the American Alligator, it is sewage with dangerous animals swimming in it.
Good News about Your Florida Timeshare
Florida has some of the toughest building codes in the nation. The newer your Florida timeshare is, the less likely it is to ever be damaged during a tropical storm or low category hurricane. Currently, Florida timeshares all along the Atlantic Ocean are physically undamaged, although New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach, and Palm Coast are dealing with serious beach erosion, that will be costly to repair, and will not happen overnight. The next time you vacation in a Daytona Beach timeshare, the beach may not look the way you remembered it.
If you are scheduled to vacation in Florida timeshare within the next few days, you may want to reschedule your trip if possible. If you can’t reschedule, don’t automatically assume you must cancel your travel plans. Remember that most restaurants and attractions are open for business, that the weather conditions of a tropical storm are fascinating to observe, and the theme parks rarely close due to weather. One dry stop to enjoy during your Daytona Beach timeshare vacation is the Daytona 500 Experience.
Many Florida vacation attractions are indoors, and as long as the wind is not threatening, it’s only rain…warm rain, at that. Don a plastic poncho and keep going. When you visit a theme park on a rainy day, the lines will be shorter and the thrills will be as great as ever.
Hurricanes and Florida Timeshare
The bottom line in owning Florida timeshare is that you may, during the time you own your timeshare, have a vacation disrupted by bad weather. But this can be true of any vacation destination that deals with snow storms, tornados, earthquakes, fires, or seasonal floods.
Because they are dramatic, and because television news people like to stand outside to prove that hurricanes are dramatic, hurricanes and tropical storms get a lot of media attention. Yet, hurricanes don’t pop up overnight. Weather forecasters can identify them and make some predictions about their path long before they arrive.
For any time when people need to exit the state of Florida in a hurry, state officials cancel the tolls on Florida toll roads. It is also state mandated that gas stations along hurricane evacuation routes have backup generators in order to continue pumping gas even during power outages. In other words, when Florida puts out their welcome mat to visitors, they have done a lot of work preplanning for your safety, regardless of the weather.
So buy Florida timeshare resales with confidence; don’t let a few days of bad weather each year scare you away.
