I didn't know there was no state income tax - I knew TX didn't.
I don't like cold either - I get sick easy. It would seem to me that if you really want it warm, you have to live on the coast, or somewhere down south where it really gets hot during the summer.
Yes that's why I've been looking south. AZ gets warm but it's far from the ocean. I find the older I get the worse the cold affects me.
Do you live in the Pensacola area? That's in the Gulf. We're looking there too - the beaches are beautiful.
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Close enough to Pensacola, yes.
What do you mean mismanagement of population - too many people? So how do you avoid the sinkholes - is there someway of testing the ground to see if they're there?Well Florida is known for all those things!
Sink holes are caused by the water tables receding. Here in Florida a lot of the fresh water is being used up by mismanagement of population, (and we bring water down through GA)... but the loss of the normal levels under the coral rock base no longer supports the coral rock nor the heavy building on top of the land. In some areas the salt water from the ocean and gulf are filling some pockets but this is not a good thing for our fresh water supply. (fresh as in not salt)
PS Anything north of the Lake Okeechobee is considered yankee land because it gets really cold (to us southerners
In other parts of the country shifting dirt such as caused by heavy building, salt deposits, earth tremors, and I suppose even unmanaged (?) fracking can cause them.
We were looking at Destin. It's beautiful there but the homes are expensive. I've never been exposed to hurricanes so I'm being wary but my husband was looking at homes there and he said they were built years ago so no hurricane demolished them.Close enough to Pensacola, yes.
The beaches are indeed beautiful. Not quite as nice as some decades ago but still - sand is almost like sugar. And the water is often shades of blue and green.
Most hurricanes people stay here. It depends on the hurricane and where you live. If you're directly on the beach or in a mobile home, it's a good idea to st least be prepared to head to somewhere else (even local shelters or a friend's house), especially if it's stronger. I wouldn't stay there for a cat 3 or higher, or one that looked like it could become that.
If your house is strong enough (mostly they are) and not in deep danger of flooding or storm surge, most people just make sure they have emergency supplies and stay. I evacuated a few times when my daughter was small for her sake.
Generally you might expect to be without power for a little while. Most times they restore a good percentage within a few days. Water is usually unsafe to drink for a while. So you need food, water, and a few other things to prepare. Most people just keep all that on hand and replenish it every few years so it isn't too old. If you have a generator you're spared a lot of hardship. That's about it.
Since Houston they've been making too big a deal of things, because I think they under-reacted there. Really, there's a common sense way of dealing with hurricanes here, and with good information people are able to make good decisions.
Honestly I prefer it to living in areas prone to severe tornadoes. That has been where I've lived most other times in my life. Hurricanes give you warning, and you learn what to expect and how to handle it.
Though we had one rather harrowing experience when Georges stalled over the Gulf and basically dumped much of the water (the bays were emptied) onto the land. That wouldn't have been too much even, but a plant decided to dump all their ponds in the midst of it, flattening everything in the path (it was a wide creek basin) but also flooding homes in our neighborhood. That was almost a very big lawsuit, but I think they got away with it. No one was injured. But that's a freak situation.
Really bad hurricanes can hit anywhere on the coast of the US - Gulf coast or east coast. Though there is somewhat protection in some areas because the "finger" of Florida can slightly slow a storm and it's less likely to enter the Gulf to strengthen and then turn back on itself ... so the odds may be better further east than Destin down into the curve. It's a minor advantage though.
