The five highest points in Florida are in what is called the Florida Highlands. They are all in the panhandle area, very close to Alabama. While in seminary we lived in the Highlands. Oak trees, soft breezes. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Britton Hill, the highest point in Florida, is the crown jewel. A marker denotes the highest natural point in the state. All very lovely, except......

The marker looks like a headstone. Britton Hill is all of 345 feet above sea level. If, back in the day, Alabama had won the dispute over ownership of the panhandle, the highest point in Florida would have been Sugarloaf Mountain, at 312 feet. (yes, it is called a mountain) The state only averages 100 feet above sea level for the entire state. If you subtract the Highlands, it is much lower. Tampa is less than 50 feet above sea level, Miami is around 10 feet, St, Pete is maybe 60 feet. And these are not measurements at beach level. This is inland.

It is important to remember that Florida is a swamp. I know, many folks love Florida. The cities, the attractions. It is all wonderful. But all this was mostly built on a giant swamp. Why? Folks enjoy the sun and the sea and, mostly, Florida covers that nicely. However, if you go out to the Everglades (which is the swamp) and look east or west toward the coasts, you will see no hills. I have been told that if you can elevate a hundred feet (via helicopter) you can see the Atlantic to the east and the Gulf to the west. There is no real high ground to go to in the peninsula. 

When a major, major storm like Milton blows in, it is not just the coastal cities that get the storm surge. The surge pushes ocean water in so that, during the storm, the streams and creeks and rivers flow away from the ocean or Gulf. This backflow raises the water in the Everglades, which in turn, pushes water into the cities. Lake Okeechobee, which is the head water of the Miami River and a hot fishing lake, is only 16 feet above sea level. Lake O supplies drinking water for half the state. The Everglades' flood will wash into Lake Okeechobee and contaminate the water. One hurricane when we lived there, the Lake actually had saltwater fish for a while. 

Because Florida is so wet already, Milton will barely slow down as it crosses the state. If it follows previous storm tracks, it will cross the state and turn north, driven by the Gulf Stream and the winds and hit land again near where the last one hit. This could very well make Katrina look tame.

When I lived down there, the media blew every storm way out of proportion. Every storm was the storm of the century. Every storm was going to leave trails of destruction. And then a couple of trees would come down and a light pole would fall. But this one has already become a Category Five storm with winds hitting 200mph. That is about as bad as it can get.

How many people will be impacted? How will it disrupt the nation? How much will it affect the price of gas (oil platforms evacuated) and how will it affect the flow of goods? No one knows. Maybe, just a few trees will fall and a couple of streetlamps will go out. Or maybe this is going to be a really big storm.

This blog is out early to urge you to pray for those in the path. After it passes, there will be the need to help in some way physically. Afterall, there is no giant and generous nation out there to help America like the rest of the world gets help. We can't expect our own government to help the people impacted. It will be, as usual, up us to help our own. 

Begin to pray.