I am still stunned at the number of friends and neighbors I have here in South Tampa who were ordered to evacuate, and chose not to. Today, I guess they're thinking they are pretty clever, because they think they spared themselves the inconvenience of packing up and leaving for what turned out to be a false alarm.

In reality, they aren't clever at all. It was just total dumb luck. If the storm had stayed on track, and come up the mouth of Tampa Bay, these people would have been in grave danger, and at the very least, would have had a terrifying experience.

Hopefully, the heartbreaking pictures and videos from Charley's devestation will change some minds for next time, but I'm afraid all that will happen is additional complacency.