might be worse news for people in the direction of orlando, but it could have hit tampa. the worst has not come to pass as of yet. a category 3 storm hitting tampa would have been completely unprecedented. you d have to go back to 1921 when it decimated this area. thankfully at that point, it wasn t a big population center, as it is now with millions of people. there was only one fatality in 1921. but the structures as they were were badly damage. a lot of people, including the mayor, who have been raising red flags about what a major storm with a direct hit on tampa would do. they faced this back in hurricane charley in 2004. there they dodged a bullet. unfortunately, for the people of punta gorda, the storm tracked at the last minute, turned and hit punta gorda and decimated that town. it was supposed to hit tampa. we were here in tampa, waiting for that, and ended up driving