Having lived in Punta Gorda for ten years, including having the eye of cat 4 Irma come within 25 miles of my house, I know a bunch of things that the newsies and weather bunnies don't tell the public as it doesn't fit their agenda. With Irma, we were supposed to be totally underwater. And we might have been, except Irma moved east into the state.. Instead, Charlotte Harbor was almost a mud flat, due to hurricane force winds coming from the northeast instead of the southwest, moving the water back into the Gulf. Also, extremely important, Irma passed during low tied. Hence, instead of a flooding storm surge, boast were on mud. No flooding occurred whatsoever due to storm surge. It looks like this will happen to the Tampa area with Ian. Wish you the best of luck. Thanks for the picks too.