[Jaydancer]

Since the original post was a thoughtful item about how it feels when a Cat 4 hurricane comes at you, I thought I would bring the thread back to its intention which certainly was not about "demographics" but about trepidation and fear for people.

Having lived in various parts of deeply South Florida from 1988, I have had far too much experience of hurricanes and storms. I have been evacuated, I have left voluntarily, and I have stayed in my home.I have been on the 10th floor and watched a side by side refrigerator fly by. Either way, when the time comes, it is really difficult to know whether to go or stay when a storm is coming, and each has its drawbacks, especially if you have animals. If you are driving north there are really only two highways out, or I should say 2 long parking lots.

However there is a certain rhythm to preparation before the storm hits. As the Boy Scouts say "Be prepared." And so, in April and May you make sure that you have everything you might need on hand, because when a storm is coming everything is flying off the shelves and out of Home Depot and it becomes very difficult to get anything. You have to hope that you happen to be at the store when the delivery arrives.

In all honesty I prefer staying at home, and I say this when I have been through a CAT 4 the eye of which went right across the house. The scariest part is when the house starts groaning and the walls begin to move, it's not much, but enough to give you a good scare. Then there's the noise, the freight train sound of the wind and the thumps and bangs of tree limbs or trees hitting the house. This storm took its sweet time, 24 hours to pass across. In the eye we were out in the street clearing debris from the drains so as to avoid flooding. No electricity in an all electric house (never again!), no phone for almost a week. Not pretty or fun, but our well built block home with poured concrete 'pillars' every 3 ft in the block and concertina shutters was not damaged that weekend, just a few Spanish style tiles flew off. Nor was it when the exact same thing happened just two weeks to the day later, but a Cat 2 this time. Who says lightening doesn't strike twice? Must have been the guy who wrote the song "It Never Rains in Southern California"!

Nevertheless, I loved living near the beach and everything that S.Florida is famous for. Would I want to be there now? NO! Very happy in the Villages on the top of a nice hill.
Happy Sunday Folks!