I was born and grew up in St. Petersburg and I’m old enough to have weathered plenty of hurricanes - St Pete has been spared many times, yet I do recall one storm in 1985, I was living in Denver by then, when my sister called from Pinellas County (Largo) and the entire sub-peninsula of that county was completely cut off from the rest of the state. Many very powerful storms passed us by and headed for Panama City - Camille. Big destruction. There were other milder storms that hit St Pete-Tampa directly. But NOW , with climate change, the storms are ramping up. If you don’t live that close to the beaches (Gulf) or downtown (Tampa Bay), you’re probably better off staying out. You can create a Safe Room and always have provisions on hand. Like people do inside Tornado Alley.