Each year, Floridians are generally warned of the violent Hurricane season that occurs in Florida extending from the summer months into the fall season. However accustomed one may be with the perilous storm season that visits Florida each year, unannounced severe storms may take affect at any time. It is always wise to be fully prepared for any such events to occur.
Living in an apartment community in the bay area may not always be the safest housing option. However, many communities in Tampa and the surrounding counties such as Pinellas and Hillsborough have built their apartment communities with the intent of surviving such storms.
If you do prefer to avoid any probabilities of having to seek shelter during a storm, you may want to avoid parts of Pinellas County and Bayshore Boulevard areas that are accustomed to flooding. Although Bayshore offers million dollar mansions along side of the Gulf waters, this part of Tampa is usually the first neighborhood to be flooded. In fact, many parts of South Tampa, including those homes on Platt Streets experience many floods. South Tampa is an older neighborhood with poorly built roads and smaller streets, thus, making that part of the town highly susceptible to retaining water.
Tampa apartments in New Tampa are less prone to floods and arguably may be more adapted to storm fronts. These units are newly built and may have added storm safety features into their floor plans. However, it is always best to check with your leasing manager in order to ensure whether or not you will need to evacuate in an unfortunate situation. Again, it is a safe assumption to assume that your home can sustain a basic Florida storm, especially those areas that are inland of the coast, such as New Tampa.
Carrollwood, like New Tampa, experiences flooding less than the South Tampa neighborhoods. However, these Tampa apartments are slightly older and may require some commercial updates.
In the event where an evacuation from Tampa apartments will need to be implemented, you may want to search for an apartment that is near an evacuation zone or shelter. There are plenty of evacuations routes throughout the bay area, making anywhere you want to live easily accessible to travel out of the emergency area. If you do prefer to be more specific in searching for neighborhoods further away from the coast, try using our Tampa apartment locator in order to learn more about each neighborhood and its location.
Overall, most if not many communities in the Tampa bay neighborhood are relatively storm safe, as Florida experiences thunderstorms on a weekly basis. However, for more severe threats such as hurricanes and tornadoes, it may be more convenience to avoid coastal areas and location that experience intense flooding.