I think you need to take into consideration is that water being 1000 times denser than air has an unbelieveable moving force itself compounded along with the windspeed. This is WAY worse than an f3 tornado or mere wind alone.
The analogy is Accuweather's, and their purpose was to impress upon people who might otherwise be taking this storm too casually that they should think of it as a multi-mile wide tornado and heed the warnings ASAP.