Just to put a structural engineer's slant on it. If you think of the force of a 60 mph wind as 1.0 units of
wind force, the 155 mph winds of Michael are 6.7 times as high.
Anyone who got up in the AM and heard that a 155 mph hurricane was hours away (it hit at 11 am) and
did not immediately load up a few items, pets, valuables, whatever is important and bail out is
really nuts.
I went thru two hurricanes by 8th grade, more since. If you are more than 5 or 10 miles inland, not near
a creek, stay for a Cat 3 or down. Most homes will survive the winds of a Cat 2, or even 3 with modest
damage, usually roof shingles. If it is Cat 4 or 5, get the hell out of the way, likely to lose the whole structure.
I designed a home building system which used composite beams for primary structure, tested to have
no damage at 185 mph winds. Got patented, maker started producing......no interest. It would cost around
20-25% more than a wood house, folks would rather build cheap than strong.
Remember the 3 little pigs, straw vs bricks? That photo Ben posted is the Big Bad Wolf getting ready to huff and
puff and blow your house down.
Bill