No hurricanes … but some folks are unhappy

It’s not over yet but touch-wooders are out saying this is going to be the quietest hurricane season for Florida and the Gulf region in decades. And guess what … not everybody is happy about that.

Depending on you listen to this is the quietest season in 27 years or it’s the quietest since 1997. Whichever it is; it’s a long time. Only two named storms turned into hurricanes this year. (Compare that with 2005 when they rolled through most of the alphabet and Katrina hit New Orleans and environs.)

The hurricane season ends November 30 and with El Nino out in the Pacific somehow – it’s too complicated for me to understand - calming the chances of hurricanes building in the Atlantic the region will be very unlucky to take a late hit.

So while most people are celebrating – especially the tourists who visit from Britain et al in the summer and keep their fingers crossed – there is a large group of unhappy folks in Florida and beyond.

And I’m not talking about the surfer dudes who are whining about the poor waves this summer because the storms haven’t roughed up the Atlantic as usual.

I’m talking about the construction industry. For ever hurricanes in Florida have provided a steady flow of work and money for contractors and the companies that supply them with product.

But if my memory serves me well it is three years since mainland Florida received anything more than a slap across the face with a wet rag, as we say in meteorological parlance.

With the building industry being devastated since the bottom fell out of the housing market, there were a lot of people hoping for a good hurricane or two to wash through. Now a good hurricane is one that does quite a bit of damage – and makes the insurance companies pay out – but it doesn’t cause any deaths.

Not a good hurricane

Early forecasts were for this to be an active season but it hasn’t happened so there are a lot of tool belts left hanging in people’s garages as their owners – hopefully – draw a little unemployment benefit.