That's' exactly why I thought of it!
The laundry room sounds like a very good move for you.
When these storms get into the interior, they can spawn lots of flooding and tornadoes so I guess it's timely for most of the South and even up into New England, unfortunately.
I try to make hurricanes as "fun" and not scary for the kids as I can. We try to instill that the storms are serious and we have to prepare but I don't want them to be terrified of them. Last year, when the winds died down a bit, the kids came out into the street (everyone was cooped up in the house so long) and they got their rollerblades and umbrellas and windsurfed down the street. I made a great scrapbook page of it!
My husband often has to work, storm or not, or is on call in case of mass casualty, so we often have to ride out the storm by ourselves. We try to play board games and read, and we keep the TV on as long as possible to keep an eye on the track of the storm.
Oh, I forgot making sure the cars are full of gas and grabbing some cash from the ATM.