MajicMan: TinyE, that depends on the structure. After Andrew hit Florida in '92, building codes in Florida became much stricter. so newer homes and buildings along a beach county and certain miles inland are much stronger.
My home is all concrete block (except the roof), but even the way a roof has to be held down and built is much tougher than most places (if not all other places) I know. So 60 mph wind in a tropical storm doesn't bother me (truth in Florida is we get severe thunder storms often that reach near tropical storm wind gust and rain, just not for as long a period or wide a swath of land). I don't know anybody in my community that boards up for a tropical storm or a Cat 1 Hurricane. Our homes are built after Andrew, concrete block and meet such standards that the thing we all get most pissed about is the rain and knowing we are going to lose power.
Flooding causes way more damage than the wind in most cases now.. A cat 5 is knocking everything down, but anything 3 and below and the flooding will most likely do the most damage, unless it makes landfall in an area with older homes and structures. Like this is the first Cat. 4 to hit Texas in more than 50 years so I am not sure the building code and how many older buildings they have in the area where Harvey made landfall
The thing with Katrina is that the day after she made landfall in Mississippi the headlines were "New Orleans spared", it wasn't until the flood barriers broke the day after that and the flooding happened that it went to shit. Mississippi was in much worse shape from the storm.
My scale
Tropical storm - Annoyed and want it to move fast so it doesn't flood anywhere.
Cat 1 - Annoyed and want it to move fast so it doesn't flood anywhere - hope I don't lose power.
Cat 2 - Annoyed and want it to move fast so it doesn't flood anywhere - Going to lose power, hope it is not for more than a day.
Cat 3 - Serious, need to board up, will be using supplies and losing power. Hope power is back within 2 days.
Cat 4 - This is serious trouble, Need to board up, grab supplies and important docs and possibly leave the house - hope for no flooding and minimal damage.
Cat 5 - Chance my house is gone, need to pack the important docs, photos, grab supplies and stay somewhere else. Hope my house is still standing and only needs repairs and no rebuilds anywhere.
i think I get carried away with films of boats being blown across city scapes and pictures of semi trucks up in trees. Also, having lived in Tornado Alley for thirty years I've become accustomed to wind being the big killer.
