I have lived in hurricane prone areas - Florida Keys & N. C. barrier island - but I never paid much attention to yearly predictions. They are little more than someone's best guess according to past performance. Mother Nature does as she wants but my respect for her power grew exponentially after seeing Miami/Homestead following Andrew and Charleston after Hugo.
Although, I never feared the storms, I respected them and did pay close attention when one was headed in my direction. If predictions were for a direct or close hit of a Category 2 or more, I packed up my 'evacuation' boxes (each had it's own designated spot in my trunk or back seat), brought in porch furniture, boarded up, pulled the appropriate plugs and headed off island. Sometimes it was only to a hotel on higher ground across the bridge, other times further inland.
If the prediction was only for a Cat. 1, I hunkered down and sat it out. Always filled bath tubs and water jugs, made sure candle/lamp oil supply was good, charged up rechargeables, placed folded towels on window sills and sliders, and - in the Keys - cut my one lone coconut that was tree ripening. High wind can turn them into missiles. As for adrenaline rush, I sat in a protected spot on my 3rd floor porch and watched the water rise in the I.C.W. and sound across the road. It got up to the pilings of house across the road before I got sleepy and went to bed so excitement, yes, but not much adrenaline rush.
But that was when I was young, healthy and independent. Now I still live in Florida but inland in what appears to be a sturdy, secure building very near my daughter and her family. To stay or go is up to them but I still have my evac. boxes.
