: I've been through at least three good ones here on the Gulf Coast,
: plus countless minor ones, and believe me, this really gets my
: attention....

: People keep thinking the wind and other violent weather is what's
: to worry about. It isn't; in my experience, relatively little
: damage comes from wind. The the lion's share of loss is a result
: of storm surge and flooding from too much rain too fast.

: In my view of it -- from 23' above sea level, my father taught us
: to "build up and away from the river" -- the hurricane
: itself is actually great fun. For the enthusiastic weather
: watcher, you couldn't ask for a more interesting and exciting
: spectacle. What sucks is, as usual, cleaning up after the party.
: For most folks, it mostly means a lot of hard work doing lots of
: immediate remediation afterward, coupled with days-long power
: outages.

: You just about have to watch the TV news to keep apprised of the
: situation, but unfortunately, watching the TV news is just about
: the worst thing you can do. They're horrendous about hyping the
: holy hell out of the story in their intense competition for
: market share or whatever, and it can scare the devil out of even
: the staunchest old coastal veteran. I have learned to keep the
: TV on MUTE, inspect the radar images and other pertinent
: visuals, and interpret the data on my own as best I can. They're
: almost criminally irresponsible for inciting panic.

: I'm keeping my fingers crossed for everyone, hoping the storm
: weakens, hooks to the east, and whatever else might help.

I've been thru three 'canes, one in NJ while on a bike trip, was interesting , one on a Navy surface ship off the coast of Cape Hatteras, no fun and one on a Navy submarine in the mid Atlantic, rolls pretty good even a few hundred feet down. Hope all those in the path of this thing stay safe.

Bill H.