I have lived on the water on every state on the Gulf Coast and have been through over a half dozen hurricanes, but only as an interested long distance spectator. I am not a person who has to be told twice to get the fuck out of town when a force as powerful as a hurricane is out its way.

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And you don't want to be if you can avoid it.  Even if you are someplace that can withstand the wind, the flooding is always the wild card.

No hurricane here, except in the big souvenir glasses.  The weather here is starting to cool with 110+ temperatures in the rear view.  Lots of pretty women, cool shows and gambling.  Tell them little phil sent you and ask for a deal, lol.

Living in FL these things are a way of life for a part of every year.
'04 was the worst. Charlie from the west, then Frances and Jeanne from the east.

Did the "right thing" for Frances. Packed everything important and headed northwest, as it was supposed to bounce off and head northeast. Nope. It went straight through and damn nearly right over where we were staying.

Three weeks later Jeanne comes. The entire area left for Frances and apparently felt the same way I did when Jeanne was headed our way. Too tired, too spent, and too exhausted to go through the routine again. The neighborhood that was a ghost town for Frances....had a block party for Jeanne.
I shipped the kid off to relatives in a really safe place, so it was just me, the dog, some cash, my gun, and a bottle of liquor (the essential hurricane survival kit...lol).

So we all bring food and booze to the end of the street (2 blocks from the ocean). Bunch of guys "play" so they brought their instruments and amps. The group "Feeder Band" was born. We drank and cooked out, they played so loud someone actually called the cops....in the middle of a freaking storm...lmao!!

We toasted whenever a feeder band rolled through and made things ugly, but around 8 was when things got scary and we all wished each other well and went home to ride it out. Around 1a.m. things were bad enough to wake me from my drunken stupor and I went outside. Didn't seem too bad. Sure, windy and rainy as hell but pretty cool to watch. Then I ventured a little bit more and juuuuust got past the garage wall that sheltered the front porch.
Damn thing picked me up and tossed my dirty ass about 20 feet across the front lawn like a rag doll. Couldn't even stand up. Crawled back to the porch and made it back inside the front door.
Realized worrying wouldn't change anything...so another glass of Crown Royal and it was back to bed and just see what the results would be the next day.

The next two weeks were rough....but weirdly cool.
We tarped roofs by day...and had cookouts in the street every night. All the steaks, crab, and shrimp you could eat. Had to clear out all the freezers before anything went bad.
People who never spoke and barely waved to each other...were thick as thieves, sharing whatever they had, and partying every night.

Once the power came back on...and the rumble of generators came to an end....everyone went back into their houses and things were back to "normal".
In an odd way...I miss abnormal.

Just sayin'
DD

Due to unchangable circumstance I had to drive through Hurricane Bob.  It was 150 miles of hydroplaning excitement and or fear.  It is unimaginable how much water the sky can hold.

Living in Fla and all along the east coast, I've had the unfortunate experience five or so times.  I've seen concrete buildings washed away like a plastic float along the coast.  I've seen roofs literally lift up and get hurled like a flying saucer.  I saw a lady blown into a brick wall and knocked out cold from the impact.  And that doesn't even touch the 10 to 20 foot flood surges.  Nope, you don't want to play with hurricanes... they always win.

A couple in Florida, one in Tx and one in the caribbean.  As long as they are low category 1s they are sort of fun, if you don't live on or near the water.  Just make sure you have enough food, water candles and jack.

drive back to DC as a big CAT 2 one was approaching; back then there was just 1 2-lane causeway from Nags Head to the 'mainland.'  The traffic backup was terrible.  Got lots of rain & wind & ended up taking about 9 hours for a normally 4-5 hour drive.  But it turns out I got off Hatteras Island about 1/2 hour before they shut down the only bridge and I'd have had to ride out the storm on the barrier island.  I agree that it is extremely unwise to ignore evacuation orders if you're in a vulnerable area; Mother Nature doesn't screw around!  If you're familiar with the geography down there, I learned that Oregon Inlet (which separates Hatteras Island from Nags Head proper didn't exist before a CAT 4+ hurricane in sometime around 1936; it was a solid barrier island before that storm but the inlet was carved out by the hurricane!

Floyd devastated Rocky Mount, NC in '99. The mall was flooded so bad they had to tear the whole thing down.

I was in Silver Spring, MD when Isabel hit...not as bad, but our power (and thousands of others') was out for a week.

My mother, who is hunkering down on MD's Eastern Shore right now says they've dubbed this week as "Hurriquake Week".

Let's hope everyone stays safe.

xoxo
Caylee

Back in 1974, the ship on which I was stationed was caught between the end of one typhoon and the beginning of another one. Not a pleasant ride.

I went through the '04 storms in Tampa. Not too bad where I was, just lost power for several days a few weeks in a row.
You learn to deal with it. Stock up, board up and hunker down. Except when I lived on the water, I wouldn't evacuate for less than a Cat 3.  And maybe not then. Cat 4 or 5, ya gotta leave.

Yes several in Fla, one in Puerto Rico and my first tour in 'Nam went over on the USS Iwo Jima through a typhoon.  I puked everything up but my nuts and toenails. don't believe any of that rating shit, they're all bad.

Lived in South Carolina when Hugo came through there. It was pitch black outside, trees snapping everywhere, and rain blowing so hard against my apartment building that moisture was coming through the wall around the frame of my sliding glass door! Power went out about 3am and I got it back about 6 days later.

About 4 years ago , it was Hurricane Sherie (aka Blondetoplay)......8-P