I seem to remember a few years back another storm was thought to be heading straight towards Tampa. Everyone was worried about it then, but the storm veered away from the area. The cat3 that hit there 101 years ago pushed storm surge over 11 feet and flooded everything. It has a lot to do with the counter-clockwise rotation pushing water into the bay with nowhere for it to go but land. There are over 3 million people in that area now , and of course the elevation is from sea level to about 50 feet.

Weather people are worried about the rest of Florida as well, but a direct hit to the Tampa Bay metro area (Clearwater, Tampa, St Pete) could be catastrophic. Note - the last major direct hit to Tampa was the one in 1921. NOAA has said before that a direct hit of a CAT4 would flood Tampa with 20+ feet of water, and estimates from 2016 said they expect property damage to be in the hundreds of millions. That doesn't include crop damage. In 1921 over 50% of the citrus trees were destroyed - and remember that was a CAT 3.

It is extremely rare for a direct hit to Tampa, especially thanks to Cuba's mountains, and in fact the last hurricane that directly hit was in 1946 (not a major one).

I'd just watch he hell out of the weather channel to see if it will steer towards Tampa, and if it does get the hell out. That area with the bay is the perfect storm.

edited - Forgot to mention I actually did live in Florida in the Daytona area for a few years before coming back to Texas. I've been through hurricanes in FL, and even one in MD while I was growing up (which flooded my town). I stayed for those.

I seem to remember a few years back another storm was thought to be heading straight towards Tampa. Everyone was worried about it then, but the storm veered away from the area. The cat3 that hit there 101 years ago pushed storm surge over 11 feet and flooded everything. It has a lot to do with the counter-clockwise rotation pushing water into the bay with nowhere for it to go but land. There are over 3 million people in that area now , and of course the elevation is from sea level to about 50 feet.

Weather people are worried about the rest of Florida as well, but a direct hit to the Tampa Bay metro area (Clearwater, Tampa, St Pete) could be catastrophic. Note - the last major direct hit to Tampa was the one in 1921. NOAA has said before that a direct hit of a CAT4 would flood Tampa with 20+ feet of water, and estimates from 2016 said they expect property damage to be in the hundreds of millions. That doesn't include crop damage. In 1921 over 50% of the citrus trees were destroyed - and remember that was a CAT 3.

It is extremely rare for a direct hit to Tampa, especially thanks to Cuba's mountains, and in fact the last hurricane that directly hit was in 1946 (not a major one).

I'd just watch he hell out of the weather channel to see if it will steer towards Tampa, and if it does get the hell out. That area with the bay is the perfect storm.