The state of Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, Panthers still scheduled to play tonight

[Jeune Poulet]

The hurricane's path isn't projected to pass over there but it's still extremely insensitive, reckless and stupid to not reschedule the game.

This qualifies as a state-wide crisis to say the least and will impact millions of people indirectly and demand time, energy and resources.

 

[Romang67]

Why would the Panthers be impacted way down in Miami? That's like saying that Chicago is having a blizzard so St. Louis is cancelling their home game... (not to minimize at all the mess that Tampa & that area of FL is about to go through in any way - stay safe any FL HFers).

Not unheard of for Hurricanes to make sharp turns in that area.

 

[Rob Brown]

A good friend of mine and his family live in Tampa so this is top of mind for me even though I'm not there. Hoping for the best for everyone in the area.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I guess they don't see it as impacting land until a day after the game. Plus at the moment it's not expected to directly hit South Florida.

 

[Svechhammer]

Like you were saying, that area is already water logged and a new storm surge has the potential to be really bad. Especially if it hits Tampa directly.
1 aspect that should keep it from getting to the NC level is the natural geography. In NC you had these natural peaks and valleys and the roads were usually in the valleys and the water would flow through the valleys destroying the roads. In Florida the water should be able to spread out more.

What happened in our mountains was bad because that area had already had a solid 3 or 4 days of consistent heavy rains before the storm came through and just dumped more than it could handle in normal times on it. Shouldn't really be comparable to what is going to happen on the west coast of Florida, because it was literally an unprecedented storm that might never happen again. Nothing in that region was built with a mindset that flooding could be an issue. Insurance companies don't even offer flood coverage for those areas, because the chances are so slim it would ever happen.

That said, a direct west to east landfall of this strong a storm heading right at Tampa is not something I can ever remember happening. Thankful that the storm appears to be dying down a bit, but I am worried the storm surge is going wreck an area that probably isn't well suited for a direct hit. I remember driving through the region after Andrew in the 90s, and really hope nothing like that that ever happens again.

 

[Panthers Propaganda]

N

I wish they would stop calling hurricanes people's names. It's silly.

No one is named Milton so it’s fine

 

[Mr Kot]

I pray for you florida.

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Just an easier way to track them. When they say Hurricane Andrew, Charlie, Wilma etc, most people know which storms they are, as opposed to Hurricane 10-2024 or whatever.

It’s calmed some, but they water in the gulf is warm and feeds these storms this time of year.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

No one is named Milton so it’s fine

Milton Bradley begs to differ!

 

[Svechhammer]

N

No one is named Milton so it’s fine

 

[Edgelord]

This gives a good visual representation of worst case

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843666019245797864

 

[Golden_Jet]

Of course first 2 Tampa games are against the Hurricanes.

 

[Edgelord]

Of course first 2 Tampa games are against the Hurricanes.

If there is a god, you can't tell me they don't have a dark sense of humor

 

[StreetHawk]

Not unheard of for Hurricanes to make sharp turns in that area.

It’s the reality of living in that region of the US. There are hurricanes there, as there are earthquakes along the pacific coast, tornadoes in the Midwest, flooding in other areas etc.
hopefully people are firstly safe and evacuate as directed. And that they have purchased the proper insurance to protect their assets and that they can recover from it.

 

[Race Dawg]

Hurricane Milton, once a Category 5, is now a Cat 4 and will come ashore as a Cat 3 hurricane and looks to be aiming for Tampa. Tampa hasn’t taken a direct hit in over 100 years, according to my local news, but any hit in that area is going to be beyond awful as they just dealt with Hurricane Helene and this storm is massive. Tampa isn’t scheduled for a home game until Saturday, but a lot is up in the air as they brace for Milton. Hockey’s obviously one of the last things on most people’s minds and a lot of people have evacuated. Keep our HF brothers in your thoughts and prayers. The storm surge will be incredibly destructive, the area is already saturated and debris is all over after cleanup from Helene.

For the Panthers, as of this morning South Florida is out of the cone, hockey appears to still be on for tonight’s banner raising ceremony, so I guess Boston’s coming in to play and will fly right back out. Hockey today, hurricane feeder bands tomorrow.

Milton looks to be coming ashore Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Hopefully it will move quickly and won’t pause as others have done in the past, including Wilma who also formed in the Gulf in 2005. Florida will be safe and sound. Sunny skies for their game against the Senators in Ottawa Thursday night...

Com'mon up to Ottawa on Thursday night Panthers. You will be safe there as its forecasted to be sunny with a few clouds.

 

[Ratsreign]

The hurricane's path isn't projected to pass over there but it's still extremely insensitive, reckless and stupid to not reschedule the game.

This qualifies as a state-wide crisis to say the least and will impact millions of people indirectly and demand time, energy and resources.

Playing a game in Sunrise tonight adversely affects none of those said things.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

would be cool if Tampa temporarily relocates to Atlanta if needed (praying they dont)

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Hopefully it doesn't happen, but what's the league contingency if Tampa gets hit super hard and the arena takes a lot of damage and/or the city basically can't function well for like a month or two? Do all their home games just get canceled and moved to later in the season, or are they forced to play those home games in a different arena near the Tampa area that wasn't as affected?

 

[WarriorofTime]

Big question for me, is it safe to fly in and out?

Hopefully it doesn't happen, but what's the league contingency if Tampa gets hit super hard and the arena takes a lot of damage and/or the city basically can't function well for like a month or two? Do all their home games just get canceled and moved to later in the season, or are they forced to play those home games in a different arena near the Tampa area that wasn't as affected?

They'll put them in a temp arena. After Hurricane Katrina, the Saints played in Baton Rouge, San Antonio and even a game in East Rutherford, NJ the following season. The 2005-06 New Orleans Hornets played most of their home games in Oklahoma City (before the Sonics moved there).

 

[Master P]

This gives a good visual representation of worst case

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843666019245797864

Here is an even better one.

This was during Ian.

 

[WaitingForThatCab]

I wish they would stop calling hurricanes people's names. It's silly.

On the contrary, it's a great tradition. f*** you, Hurricane Donna.

Here is an even better one.

This was during Ian.

Yeah. Ft. Myers beach got evaporated. RIP Island Pancake House, where else am I going to go hung over and get a comically overstuffed breakfast burrito now?

 

[StreetHawk]

I wish they would stop calling hurricanes people's names. It's silly.

What else can you go with?

I do get your point. Because, often people when talking about a major hurricane years later omit Hurricane and call it Katrina or Hugo only.

I mean, in La, I would imagine that there was a massive decline in kids named Katrina post hurricane compared to the 3-5 years before it.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Got a lot of players on my fantasy playing tonight, so the game must go on!

 

[kingsholygrail]

I'm in my early 40s, and I've never seen a hurricane move from west to east like this. Hope NHL postpones the lightning game.

It's rare but it does happen. I think the last one was 1888.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Big question for me, is it safe to fly in and out?


They'll put them in a temp arena. After Hurricane Katrina, the Saints played in Baton Rouge, San Antonio and even a game in East Rutherford, NJ the following season. The 2005-06 New Orleans Hornets played most of their home games in Oklahoma City (before the Sonics moved there).

Airports are closed, according to a friend there, and arena will have engineers determine if structurally sound before next game happens.