Naming Conventions for Places in the Florida Panhandle and Hurricane Preparedness

Here are the names of some of the places we have been in since Sunday:

Saint Andrews State Park - just passed through since we hadn’t made a camping reservation and there was no availability for Sunday night. 

After waiting a while in case of a cancellation, we drove 61 miles further south-east to a private campground which was just across the water from Saint Vincent Island (and Saint Vincent National Wildlife Preserve) on one side, Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park on the other, and whose mailing address is Port Saint Joe.  

Now we are in Saint George Island State Park

Do you by chance notice a pattern here? These are the names of these places because these vulnerable barrier islands and peninsulas on the Gulf of Mexico need all the divine help they can get.

In fact, this whole area was flattened by Hurricane Michael on October 10, 2018 and has yet to recover.  Michael made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, right near the Saint Andrews State Park mentioned above.  See map below. Landfall area circled in red.

Everywhere we have been these past few days sustained major damage and is either still closed, partially closed, or closed indefinitely. (For example, the lights in Florida Caverns State Park, my previous blog post, just came back on a week ago.)

The homes in the area are built on giant stilts in case of flooding.

Also, there are some weirdly shaped houses. Trying to be more aerodynamic in case of strong winds?

This sign is posted at the ranger station in our current campground, Saint George Island State Park