That was a crazy time. Most of us had never seen a hurricane before. We saw what Andrew did to Miami/Homestead, and knew that is was coming for us. Then they showed us that documentary, I guess just to scare us. They made us stay in the dorms under guard, and we had to move all the furniture off the walls away from the windows. We were basically locked in that way for two days. Pretty scary stuff for a bunch of 18-20 year olds. Of course, Andrew weakened significantly and ended up making landfall in a less populated area about 30 miles west. We had some minor flooding and limbs down, but nothing too terrible. That was my one and only hurricane experience.
Hurricane Alicia was very different from Hugo. With Alicia, they quit counting the tornados after 50 because they were popping up so fast. On Crystal Beach, I saw an A-frame house that had been pulled off it's stilts, spun around and laid on the ground without breaking a single window. Just a couple of roof shingles had been blown off. In Houston, I saw objects penetrating walls of buildings - just sticking out of the side. Shards of glass, boards and the like just sticking into buildings and trees. A month + a day after Alicia, Houston/Galveston had more rain than Alicia dropped. Hugo was different as I had a meteorology grad studunt who was doing his master's dissertation on the storm tell me there were only straight-line winds. Dozens of homeowners told me a tornado went right past their house because they heard that "freight train" sound. I responded by telling them to get on the freeway up to speed and stick their head out the window; it will sound the same way. Official wind speeds were were much lower than than some outlying speeds I heard. The eye hit north of Charleston around Georgetown. "Danna Wanna's" dad was the chief deputy of detectives in Berkley County and she told me he said wind speeds topped 200mph in Monks Corner. (Lawd, that girl was, uhhh......., nice). Because of the wind speeds, the tidal surge was signifigant. On Ilse of Palms, I had houses floated off their piers (short piers, but the island was under water). Alicia had trees twisted and broken laying every which way. Hugo had trees blown down two directions; one way before the eye, then the other way after.
When Katrina hit, I wanted to help and I hooked-up with a website posting answers to questions to folk's claims questions. I was later asked by an Ontario on-line news site do post there because Canada wanted to help those affected. Since then, I've seen quite a few online rip my latenight work and sign their names. You are correct that hurricanes can do some scary stuff. Me, I'm over being a storm chaser but I could be tempted on a severe one. One can make nearly 100k in about 4mos. I just don't have the energy for 6 days a week, 14hrs a day and working holidays.
G
