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Dramatic video shows royal caribbean cruise ship passengers panic during freak storm.

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Dramatic video captured the moment panicked passengers ran for their lives aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship hit by a freak storm — which sent deck furniture flying as the vessel prepared to leave a Florida port.

The Independence of the Seas was about to embark on a voyage from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas about 4 p.m. June 16 when heavy rain and violent winds slammed the 15-deck, 1,112-foot-long vessel.

“Just a fun evening leaving Port Canaveral this past Friday. No announcement from the captain before or after, also no mention of what happened. Just pretend like it didn’t happen I guess,” TikTok user Lucassparrow1110 posted .

Sparrow also posted harrowing footage on Twitter of chairs and umbrellas flying on the ship as screaming passengers seek cover from the storm — and several people are seen sliding across a windswept walkway.

“Instead of telling people to come up to the top deck when we have a severe thunderstorm warning, maybe you should be more worried about your guests and employees and tell them to get inside,” he wrote.

At one point, a lounge chair narrowly misses a woman carrying a child.

Jenn Stancil, who captured footage of the storm moving in, told Fox 35 Orlando : “It just turned crazy. It looked like a scene from the movie ‘Twister’ is exactly what I thought, because you see these chairs flying up in the air.”

Jerry Pike, a local photographer who was sitting in his vehicle in Jetty Park during the outburst, also posted video of the storm.

“This is my view of Independence of the Seas as she started to get battered by the heavy winds whilst mid-spin attempting to turn around to leave the port,” Pike said in a tweet .

“You can see the rain line pushing towards us, and the Indy was completely gone from view due to the rain shortly after this,” he added.

A meteorologist for Fox 35 reported that winds reached from 55 to 60 mph at the height of the storm.

“The Independence was just getting battered by winds as it was trying to push off the dock,” Pike told Insider . “Then [it] was covered by the gray cloud of rain and we couldn’t see more than 20 yards out the window.”  

Kyleigh Cole, an agent with Boardwalk Travel Agency, expressed concerns about how Royal Caribbean handled the incident.

“There’s always something you can do, other than just letting the guests and the travelers getting poured on, rained down on and being in the middle of a storm,” Cole told Fox 35 .

“This could have ruined somebody’s cruise experience where they’ll never take another cruise again,” the travel agent added.

In a statement sent to the news outlet, the company said the “Independence of the seas encountered a sudden gust of high winds. This lasted for a brief period and there were no serious injuries to our guests or crew…”

The ship reportedly arrived safely at Coco Cay, an island used by Royal Caribbean about 55 miles north of Nassau.

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Videos capture terrifying moments of Royal Caribbean cruise caught in bad weather

A spokesperson for royal caribbean said the turbulence did not last long and there were no serious injuries., by monica galarza and kaitlyn schwanemann • published june 23, 2023 • updated on june 26, 2023 at 7:27 am.

A sudden storm hit a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, sending passengers running for cover as furniture flew around the deck.

Passengers had just boarded the Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas docked in Port Canaveral in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and were about to depart for the Bahamas when gusts of hurricane-like winds hit the ship.

Videos shared on social media show lounge chairs and tables flying across the deck.

One video captured the terrifying moment when a lounge chair narrowly misses a woman carrying a small child and hitting her stroller. Fortunately, the stroller was empty.

Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.

Another video shows cruise guests running from the turbulent weather.

A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said the storm did not last long and there were no serious injuries reported.

The cruise was able depart for the Bahamas and arrived at CocoCay on time, the spokesperson said.

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@cornettahh Another angle from the 6/16/23 squall that hit #independenceofthesea while docked in #PortCanaveral around 4pm. It hit so fast and was gone in a matter of minutes! No ship announcements were made before or after so people on the lower pool deck were hit completely without warning. 😳 #hurricaneseason #floridaweather #cruiseship #royalcaribbean #chaos #ocean #sea #squall ♬ original sound - Cora Cornett

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Passengers hit by a storm on a Royal Caribbean cruise line cling to railings as intense gusts rock the ship and send debris flying, videos show

• A Royal Caribbean cruise was battered by gusts of rain and wind before its departure Friday.
• Passengers shared videos of patrons sliding along the deck during the storm.
• The cruise line says no serious injuries or damage occurred as a result of the storm.

Passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship ran for cover as umbrellas, chairs, and other furniture flew around them during a sudden, spectacular storm that struck Florida's Port Canaveral on Friday.

As the Independence of the Seas prepared to depart, strong winds and rain battered the 15-deck ship. In multiple videos posted to YouTube and Twitter , passengers are shown slipping and sliding across the decks while attempting to get safely inside.

The ship departed for the Bahamas despite the storm and arrived at CocoCay on time, according to a Royal Caribbean statement to Insider. The company called the storm "brief" and said there were no serious injuries to crewmembers or passengers.  

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Passengers took to the internet to describe their personal experiences. 

"Instead of telling people to come up to the top deck when we have a severe thunderstorm warning, maybe you should be more worried about your guests and employees and tell them to get inside," tweeted one passenger who filmed the storm .

Jerry Pike, a photographer and Florida local, told Insider he watched the storm hit the Independence of the Seas while sitting in a car in Jetty Park facing the port. Though the storm lasted only minutes, he said it was "exceptionally strong." 

—Jerry Pike (@JerryPikePhoto) June 16, 2023

Pike estimated winds reached between 40 and 50 miles per hour at the height of the storm, which he added was "terrifying" to watch. A meteorologist for Fox 35 reported winds reached from 55 to 60 miles an hour at their peak strength. 

"The Independence was just getting battered by winds as it was trying to push off the dock," Pike said. "Then [it] was covered by the gray cloud of rain and we couldn't see more than 20 yards out the window."  

The storm is just one of many expected to hit the Florida coast as hurricane season begins in the Atlantic Ocean, which runs from the beginning of June to November 30.

Watch: The rise and fall of the cruise industry

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Chaotic videos show Florida cruise passengers hit with chairs, debris during severe weather while in port

Videos show people running for shelter as the chaotic scene unfolded aboard royal caribbean's independence of the seas..

Wild weather causes chaos on cruise ship

FOX 35 in Orlando spoke with cruise ship passengers who were onboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas in Port Canaveral, Florida, when wild weather moved in.

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – Passengers say they were caught off guard by severe weather as they were boarding their cruise ship at Port Canaveral in Florida last week.  

According to a report from FOX 35 in Orlando , cruisers weren’t even out of the port on Friday when the thunderstorm moved in quickly. People were running to seek shelter as the chaotic scene unfolded aboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. 

Jenn Stancil captured video of the storm moving in – completely covering another cruise ship in the water as people ran to safety . The passengers can be seen scrambling to get out of the pouring rain as deck chairs were flying through the air, even hitting some people.

CRUISE SHIP CARNIVAL SUNSHINE POUNDED BY LARGE WAVES DURING COASTAL STORM NEAR CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

Watch: Intense storm sends deck chairs flying, knocks down cruise ship passengers

Video recorded on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas shows deck chairs flying through the air and passengers being knocked to the ground when a severe thunderstorm blew through Port Canaveral, Florida.

Those who witnessed the mayhem told FOX 35 News that they had never seen anything like that on the water or even on land.

"It just turned crazy. It looked like a scene from the movie ‘Twister’ is exactly what I thought because you see these chairs flying up in the air," she said.

Lucas Sparrow was on board with his family when the chaos unfolded.

"People were getting blown, losing their hats, towels," said Sparrow.

The entire video one passenger shared with us was only four minutes long, showing how fast weather can move in and the need for warnings to make sure passengers are safe.

VACATION TURNS INTO NIGHTMARE FOR A SEATTLE MAN AFTER A ‘ROGUE WAVE’ PARALYZES HIM

Watch: Florida cruise ship passengers scramble for safety during severe thunderstorm

Video shows cruise passengers scrambling for safety as heavy rain and gusty winds battered Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas ship as it prepared to leave Port Canaveral, Florida. 

FOX 35 News reached out to Royal Caribbean about the rough weather, and they asked about their protocol in such as situation. 

FOX 35 received the following response Wednesday morning: 

"On Friday, June 16, while departing from Port Canaveral, Independence of the Seas encountered a sudden gust of high winds. This lasted for a brief period and there were no serious injuries to our guests or crew. Independence of the Seas continued its regularly scheduled 3-night itinerary, arriving to Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas, on Saturday morning, as scheduled."

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Nightly news, passengers speak out after storm causes chaos on cruise ship in florida.

Passengers are sharing videos and speaking out after a cruise ship was hit by a storm while departing from a port in Florida. High winds caused by the storm sent items on the deck flying. The company said a sudden gust of winds hit the ship during its departure but no one was seriously injured. NBC News’ Guad Venegas reports. June 25, 2023

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Travel | videos show flooded decks as severe weather strikes carnival cruise ship.

The bad weather the formed in the Atlantic this weekend gave crew and passengers on board Carnival Sunshine a rough ride Saturday. Videos showed flooding on the lower decks and tumultuous seas rocking the ship before it was able to get into its home port of Charleston, S.C.

“Carnival Sunshine’s return to Charleston was impacted by the weather and rough seas on Saturday,” the cruise line said in an emailed statement Monday. “The weather’s prolonged impact on the Charleston area delayed the ship’s arrival and as a result, the next voyage’s embarkation was also delayed. We appreciate the patience and understanding of all our guests. Carnival Sunshine is now sailing on its next cruise.”

The high seas were associated with a non-tropical low mixed with a storm front that had been sitting on Florida all week that the National Hurricane Center had been keeping tabs on, noting a small chance it could form into a tropical or subtropical depression.

As the system moved up toward the Carolina coast, gale and high seas warnings were issued from Florida up to Virginia, and Carnival Sunshine endured some of those effects as it waited to get into port. Weather reports showed winds in the area of up to 75 mph.

The aftermath aboard Carnival Sunshine after a severe storm. The crew from Deck 0-4 evacuated to the theater, and anywhere they could rest… the crew bar destroyed. pic.twitter.com/MqsDJYvrSG — Crew Center (@CrewCenter) May 28, 2023

Videos on social media showed some of the damage. One post from the Twitter account @CrewCenter, associated with website Crew-Center.com, which is run by former ship crew, showed “the aftermath aboard Carnival Sunshine after a severe storm. The crew from Deck 0-4 evacuated to the theater, and anywhere they could rest… the crew bar destroyed.”

The website report stated there were no injuries, but passenger space on Deck 2 also experienced flooded hallways and staterooms.

@CarnivalCruise #carnivalsunshine . This was on Deck 12 at 11:38pm. We were in the piano bar right before when 30+ bottles of liquor jumped off of the bar and broke. We were told to leave the piano bar as there was liquor running across the floor. pic.twitter.com/2t1OLwY4go — FlyersCaptain™®© (@flyerscaptain) May 29, 2023

Passengers in public spaces reported bottles flying off shelves as the waves of more than 12 feet rocked the ship.

A Twitter post from @FlyersCaptain said “We were in the piano bar right before when 30+ bottles of liquor jumped off of the bar and broke. We were told to leave the piano bar as there was liquor running across the floor.”

After a major makeover, the cruise line renamed what was the Carnival Destiny to Carnival Sunshine in 2013. It has a passenger capacity of 3,002 based on double occupancy.

The ship sails year-round on a variety of itineraries from Charleston.

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Carnival cruise ship battered by waves in storm off Charleston

By Aliza Chasan

Updated on: May 29, 2023 / 4:16 PM EDT / CBS News

A storm off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, battered a Carnival cruise ship for hours late Friday night before it docked, leaving passengers terrified.

Passengers aboard the Carnival Sunshine described shattered glass, water pouring into rooms and hallways, the ship pitching about and a lack of communication from cruise staff. Some passengers and crew members needed "minor assistance" from medical staff, a Carnival cruise spokesman told CBS News. "Guests on board the ship were safe," the spokesman added. 

Carnival Sunshine, which was headed from the Bahamas to South Carolina, arrived in Charleston behind schedule, according to the spokesman. Some crew cabins needed to be temporarily taken out of service because of water damage. The ship's next voyage, on which it has since embarked, was also delayed.

The National Hurricane Center on Friday warned of a non-tropical area of low pressure off Florida that was set to move northward and inland over the Carolinas during the weekend. Forecasters said there would be gusty winds, dangerous surf and rip current conditions along portions of the U.S.'s southeastern coast through Sunday.

Passenger Sharon Tutrone, a professor at Coastal Carolina University, tweeted Friday that the ship was rocking. She said that the only time passengers heard from the captain was in the afternoon, when he told them he had an experienced crew and would do everything he could to minimize discomfort as the ship encountered the storm. 

"They said it will get worse as we get closer to the storm," she tweeted. "@CarnivalCruise  is doing an EXCELLENT job!"

She tweeted again on Saturday afternoon, describing " 14 hours of high winds, rain and massive waves ." 

"We were surrounded by lightning and the ship took a huge hit by a wave and sounded like it split in two," Tutrone tweeted.

Several passengers, including Brenda Goodwin Sherbert, posted on social media about broken glass on the ship . They also wrote about water coming in through balcony doors.

"We had a 40 foot wave hit our side of the ship,.. we almost fell out the bed.. things were crashing all around us and the carpet on my side of the bed was soaked bc water came in thru our balcony door," Goodwin Sherbert wrote.

Passenger Reid Overcash, who was on the cruise with his wife, said televisions on the ship displayed a message during the storm: "Public address announcement please standby." 

He said it was when winds had reached between 70-90 mph and the ship was tilting left that he truly feared for his life.

"Myself being in emergency services and retired, I knew nobody was going to come and rescue us with winds over 40 knots," Overcash said.

The trip marked Overcash's seventh cruise. He said he's not going to let the frightening experience stop him from going on more cruises in the future. 

"It's just one of them unlucky experiences that occurs once in a while," he said.

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Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.

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Severe Weather Delays Cruise Ship Back to Florida

Andrea Santillan

• December 15, 2023

Due to severe weather, Holland America Line has postponed the departure of Nieuw Amsterdam’s Caribbean cruise scheduled for this Saturday from Port Everglades.

Together with compensation, the cruise line offered booked passengers a new embarkation date and a shorter itinerary.

Holland America told passengers that it would instead visit Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas and Key West, Florida, before returning to Fort Lauderdale on December 23.

The original voyage should have been to Samana, Dominican Republic; St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; and Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos. 

Cruise line compensation

The cruise company has offered future cruise credits that are equal to 100% of the guests’ cruise fare for the initial 7-day voyage as a way to make up for any inconvenience caused. Additionally, the passengers’ payment accounts will be credited with 25% of the fare amount for the first seven days.

Each guest will also get $150 in onboard credits. Any tours booked through Holland America that can no longer be accommodated due to the change of ports will be refunded. 

For guests needing additional nights in Fort Lauderdale or Miami, the cruise line offers $300 per stateroom per day in onboard credits to help passengers minimize their unexpected expenses. Holland America also recommended a few hotels where they might find vacancies.

Cruise lines have been known to adjust voyages from time to time because of weather or dry dock needs.

In the last few months, two sailings on Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas and six cruises on Carnival Panorama were canceled because the vessels needed repairs.

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Flooding deluged towns in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, prompting rescues and calls to get to higher ground

E mergency crews in parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania waded through murky floodwaters to rescue residents as storms unleashed downpours that blanketed streets and gushed into homes and businesses Thursday night, officials said.

The storms were part of a sweeping weather system that plunged parts of Florida underwater early Thursday morning, a day after it churned up multiple destructive tornadoes and brought flooding and widespread power outages across the Gulf Coast.

Flash flood warnings stretched across western parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh Thursday night but were canceled early Friday morning as heavy rain tapered to showers.

Heavy rainfall will target parts of New England Friday before the system exits the US Saturday.

Flash flood emergencies – the most significant flood alert possible – were issued in the western Pittsburgh suburbs of Oakdale and Coraopolis.

Rescue crews in Oakdale deployed boats to go door-to-door Thursday evening looking for people who may need to be evacuated, CNN affiliate KDKA reported. Flood currents in the area were strong enough to carry a floating dumpster through the streets and could nearly reach the bottom of stop signs, footage captured by the affiliate shows.

Oakdale resident Megan De La Torre said the damage to homes and businesses is hard to watch.

“I grew up in this area and have lived right here for years. This is devastating. This is going to affect so many things,” she told KDKA.

In nearby Pittsburgh, emergency units rescued a woman who became trapped as her car began sinking in rising floodwaters, Pittsburgh Public Safety said. The city had received nearly 3 inches of rain Thursday, making it Pittsburgh’s wettest April day on record.

The weather service also warned of life-threatening flash flooding of highways, streets and underpasses in several West Virginia counties, including Boone, Cabell and Jackson. Emergency crews in the area reported water rescues, the agency said.

In South Charleston, West Virginia, video showed floodwaters blanketing roads and parking lots during torrential rain late Thursday.

The storms brought damaging wind gusts to portions of the East in addition to heavy rainfall. More than 60,000 homes and businesses were without power Friday morning, down from a peak of nearly 120,000 Thursday night, according to PowerOutage.us . In Louisiana, which was hard-hit by storms Wednesday, 20,000 were still without power.

Storms also produced tornadoes in Florida Thursday. A tornado damaged homes in at least one Florida neighborhood in an area north of St. Augustine late in the morning, St. John’s County fire officials said. Another tornado was observed just north of Tampa in the early afternoon.

A flash flood emergency warning of life-threatening flooding was issued in the Tallahassee, Florida, area, where more than a month’s worth of rain fell in the city in just two hours early Thursday morning. The city sees 3.52 inches in a typical April, but over 7 inches fell there since Wednesday night.

Multiple flash flood emergencies were issued on Wednesday, including in New Orleans, as incredibly moist storms deluged parts of Texas and Louisiana. The severe weather also struck Mississippi, leaving two people dead and damaging at least 179 homes, the state’s emergency management agency said.

Wednesday and Thursday’s storms packed almost double the moisture found in typical spring storms in the region. The added moisture helped the storms to unload torrential, flooding rainfall.

As the atmosphere continues to warm due to human-caused climate change it’s able to  soak up more moisture  like a towel and then ring it out in the form of more extreme gushes of rainfall, increasing the chance of flooding.

Storms carve a path of destruction

As the storms bulldozed from Texas to Mississippi Wednesday, they left damage and destruction in their wake.

At least five tornadoes occurred in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama Wednesday as the storms caused widespread power outages and damage to homes and businesses across parts of the Gulf Coast.

At least 10 people were injured when an EF1 tornado ripped through Slidell, Louisiana, police said. Storms left city roads scattered with trees and power lines and rising water levels prompted first responders to organize water rescues, Slidell police spokesperson Daniel Seuzeneau said.

Tornadoes also churned up in Saint Francisville and around Lake Charles, Louisiana, the National Weather Service said.

Another EF1 tornado struck a stretch of businesses in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas. No injuries were reported Wednesday, but the storm damaged a strip mall and a neighboring car repair shop, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jeffry Evans. Images show a large portion of the businesses’ roof collapsed into the parking lot and surrounded by rubble and metal debris.

Across Mississippi, more than 70 homes have been reported damaged or destroyed, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.

Torrential downpours also triggered treacherous flooding in parts of Texas and Louisiana, where officials rushed to perform water rescues as roads turned to rivers.

In New Orleans, water spilled into the streets as exceptional rainfall overwhelmed the city’s complex network of water pumps and other aging flood-mitigating infrastructure, the city’s Sewerage and Water Board said.

New Orleans saw one of several daily rainfall records that were broken across the South on Wednesday. The city’s Louis Armstrong International Airport received 6.44 inches – almost triple its previous record.

CNN’s Taylor Ward, Monica Garrett, Caroll Alvarado, Sara Smart, Rachel Ramirez, Jacob Lev, Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt, Devon Sayers and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.

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Strong storms trek through Florida, spawning tornado. Here’s what comes next

Twister near world golf village; sr-a1a washed out in flagler.

Tom Sorrells , Chief meteorologist

Thursday was a Weather Alert Day in Florida as a cold front brought rain, lightning, storms and at least one tornado to the Sunshine State.

A tornado watch , meaning conditions were favorable for the development of severe storms and tornadoes, was issued for Central Florida but expired at 3 p.m.

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A confirmed tornado that damaged homes in St. Johns County, just north of Central Florida, was captured on video . No injuries were reported.

In Flagler Beach, police say torrential rain washed out a portion of State Road A1A , prompting a temporary lane closure as crews work to assess and repair the damage.

As the front moved southeast, there were gusty winds of 50-60 mph, lightning and locally heavy rainfall across the Orlando area.

By sunset, the activity will taper off as the front progresses south across the region.

Winds could stay very gusty through Thursday evening.

Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, winds will diminish and shift west-northwest as the cold front moves offshore.

By Saturday, winds will veer northeast, with gusts up to 25 mph as high pressure builds over the Deep South.

Expect sunny skies, with high temperatures ranging from the mid-70s to low 80s along the coast and low to mid-80s west of I-95.

Overnight lows will dip into the upper 50s to mid-60s on Friday and the mid-50s to low 60s on Saturday.

Copyright 2024 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.

About the Author

Tom sorrells.

Tom Sorrells is News 6's Emmy award winning chief meteorologist. He pinpoints storms across Central Florida to keep residents safe from dangerous weather conditions.

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Passengers furious about how Carnival cruise ship fire was handled

FLORIDA — Midway through a five-day cruise in March, the tail of the Carnival Freedom cruise ship caught fire.

Passengers chronicled the drama that played out on board in hundreds of social media posts. They showed flames shooting from the tail, water leaking from the 5th-floor interior, and shuttered areas like pools, sports venues, and restaurants.

For 9-year-old Katherine Drey and her family, it marked the beginning of the end of what had been a great getaway.

“We couldn't swim, we couldn't eat, we couldn't do water slides, we couldn't go to the sports area,” Katherine recalled.

Katherine's mom, Kelly Booth, said many of the venues on the back half of the ship, including the pool and restaurants, shut down for the day. Some closed for the remainder of the cruise. The main dining room opened that same night, but several on board described waiting in line for up to four hours for dinner.

Passenger Gemma Phillips is one of several who told ABC Action News that Carnival brushed them off when her family asked for cruise credit or some sort of compensation for the trip’s interruption.

“The second that happened, like, vacation was no longer a vacation,” she said.

Phillips created a Facebook page for Carnival Freedom passengers. It has more than 280 members from the nearly 3,000 that were on board the full-capacity ship.

Many of the people posting in the group are outraged that Carnival isn't offering a partial cruise credit or anything else to make up for the stress and inconvenience.

A Carnival spokesperson said in a statement:

Any venues that were temporarily closed because of lightning in the area, or from the brief cleanup after the fire was extinguished, were reopened by the late afternoon/early evening.

Veteran travel agent Tammy Levent, owner of Elite Travel, said there is no regulatory agency to advocate on passengers’ behalf when things go south on board. She recommended cruisers purchase travel interruption insurance, which could apply in cases where part of a trip is interrupted.

Gemma Phillips said this was her tenth cruise on Carnival and likely her last.

“I don't want to break up with Carnival," she said. "But I feel I have no choice by the way they are handling this.”

And Kelly Booth, a three-time Carnival cruiser, said she's already canceled a future Carnival trip and booked with one of their competitors.

“The way Carnival has handled this and the way Carnival has treated the guests that were on board has ruined what I think of them as a company,” she said.

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Subscriber only, opinion columnists | no escaping florida’s climate-driven insurance crisis | fred grimm.

The hurricane writer’s favorite cliche no longer fits. The bullet can’t be dodged.

A few years ago, we’d say “How awful,” trying to not sound relieved when a major storm headed for South Florida jogs north and slams some other coastal community.

“I am so, so sorry for those folks,” we’d lament when another hurricane curls around the peninsula and batters a luckless town on the Gulf of Mexico. All the while our ugly inner voice whispers, “Better there than here. Better them than me.”

The media inevitably declares that Fort Lauderdale or Miami or West Palm Beach or Boca Raton has dodged the proverbial bullet. As if storm-devastated communities like Fort Myers Beach, Mexico Beach, Punta Gorda and the Big Bend had lacked the necessary nimbleness to avoid disaster. Photos of wrecked homes and wretched survivors evoke flickers of guilt, but nothing that a $50 donation to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund can’t assuage.

But nowadays, it doesn’t matter if a major hurricane makes landfall in Pensacola or Jacksonville or Tampa Bay or Miami. We all pay. A big blow anywhere in Florida exacerbates the state’s escalating insurance crisis. A storm that never darkened the skies over South Florida can jack-up local insurance rates as if the tempest had rolled down Las Olas Boulevard.

Homeowner insurance rates have always been about risks, vulnerabilities and the heft of insured losses from previous storms, but lately, climate change and the too-warm ocean waters that supercharge hurricanes have distorted the formula. Along with coastal overdevelopment that fairly guarantees that any major storm making landfall anywhere in Florida becomes a multi-billion-dollar disaster. The Insurance Information Institute estimates that 2,362,323 Florida homes are located in coastal areas that would be inundated by storm surge if a Category 4 hurricane roared ashore in their vicinity.

After five major hurricanes in the last seven years, the cost of insuring a home in our subtropical paradise has become so expensive that 13% of Florida homeowners either can’t or won’t purchase property insurance (compared to a national uninsured rate of 7%).

The Insurance Information Institute estimates that Florida homeowners pay an average annual insurance premium of $6,000, the most expensive in the country. But a study released this week compiled from historic data and “real time quotes” by Insurify, an insurance rate comparison service, found that Florida homeowners paid an average $10,996 a year — 4.6 times more than the national average.

The Insurify study noted that the six most expensive cities in the nation for procuring homeowners insurance were all on Florida’s southeast coast: Hialeah, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, West Palm Beach and Port St. Lucie. Insurify Vice President Betsy Stella warned that “a hurricane season from hell could pile crisis upon crisis.”

Separate forecasts from Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science and AccuWeather both indicated that a season from hell might be in the offing.

The Colorado State report released Thursday predicted “an extremely busy” 2024 hurricane season with 23 named tropical storms, including 11 hurricanes.

The AccuWeather forecast issued a week earlier forecast “an explosive season” with 20 to 25 named storms out of the Atlantic basin, including from eight to 10 hurricanes. AccuWeather predicted that four to seven major hurricanes will form in the Atlantic.

AccuWeather expects from four to six hurricanes will make landfall during the 2024 season, which usually translates into more misery for Florida. The data-crunchers at First Street Foundation , a national risk assessment nonprofit, reported that the 20 American cities most likely to be pummeled by a major hurricane are all in Florida.

The experts all warn that Florida’s insured losses in 2024 could be massive. “The financial solvency of all insurance companies will be tested,” warned Insurify’s Stella. Her assessment included Citizens, the state’s beleaguered insurer of last resort that Gov. Ron DeSantis described last month as “not solvent.”

DeSantis and Republican state legislators have pushed through a number of insurance reforms since 2021, including a revised tort law meant to limit costly lawsuits — with no discernible effect. The cost of homeowners insurance increased 42% last year, suggesting the problem was far bigger than a bunch of greedy litigators.

But the governor faces a dilemma of his own making. His contention that climate change isn’t worth his consideration conflicts with his constituents biggest problem — finding the thousands needed to insure their homes against superstorms fueled by global warming.

A single major hurricane crashing into the wrong place could utterly undo Florida’s home insurance industry. If Hurricane Ian could ruin $109 billion worth of property crossing over southwest Florida, imagine the insured losses if the storm had jogged just a degree or two north and pounded Tampa Bay’s three million residents with 155 mph winds and a 13-feet storm surge.

No dodging that bullet.

Fred Grimm, a longtime resident of Fort Lauderdale, has worked as a journalist in South Florida since 1976. Reach him by email at [email protected] or on Twitter: @grimm_fred .

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Cruise industry noticing success in Mobile according to city officials

MOBILE, Ala. ( WALA ) - It’s safe to say Carnival Spirit left the Port City on a very high note.

“This was an experiment with Carnival -- if you look at what is offered in New Orleans and what’s offered at Tampa -- they don’t offer the same class ship doing these itineraries. So we were able to show to Carnival - we told Carnival - you give us a nice ship with exciting itineraries and we will fill it,” said Joe Snowden, City of Mobile Executive Director of Transportation & Maritime.

The City of Mobile more than meeting their end of the bargain during the last six months. According to Snowden, during the Spirit’s inaugural season -- the ship was never at less than 100% capacity -- often times at 120% based on more than one person per room.

It’s a big part of the story -- the team from Mobile is sharing with cruise industry down in Miami -- attending the Annual Seatrade Cruise Global event. Monday they met with Carnival and Tuesday with Norwegian and Margaritaville at Sea cruise lines. Snowden -- along with Mayor Sandy Stimpson, and Visit Mobile President & CEO David Clark -- among those in the meeting. The goal to fill the vacancy during Spirit’s 6-month hiatus.

“They’ve already done their research -- and they’ve actually sailed out of Mobile. So, Margaritaville at Sea -- they’re executive staff knows Mobile. This is the first time where we’ve had heavy engagement. Very promising -- very, very promising,” said Snowden.

Also attractive -- the Alabama Cruise Terminal is within walking distance to restaurants, hotels, and entertainment -- all benefiting over the last six months. In that time -- Snowden says the City made $3-million from parking and wharfage fees.

Another thing to be proud of -- the Alabama Cruise Terminal consistently out performed Carnival’s entire fleet when it comes to customer service --something Snowden says goes a long way with the “decision-makers.”

“So as they look at all of the numbers of all of the different ships that they have we were ranked #1 with the surveys that people sailing out of Mobile -- we had the best overall southern hospitality. The scores showed that we were #1 in the fleet,” said Snowden.

Snowden says what also makes Mobile attractive -- plans for a new downtown airport, a new riverfront hotel near the Convention Center -- along with a recently announced world-class entertainment venue to replace the Mobile Civic Center -- not to mention an upgraded gangway for boarding the cruise ship. It’s all positive attention -- city leaders hope will drive future cruise momentum.

“We are getting noticed. I can tell you just from our engagement today -- people are noticing that,” said Snowden.

Something else the team from Mobile is taking advantage of at Seatrade -- they’re learning better business practices from industry experts on how to improve shore power to reduce carbon emissions and how to better promote excursions in the Port City -- to attract more passengers to stay a night or two before on the front and back end of the cruise.

Copyright 2024 WALA. All rights reserved.

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