Just heard them talking about Katrina and how this is taking the same route and that in Florida Katrina killed people. They are trying to point out not to take this lightly. I talked to one guy at work and he said he's not even putting up his shutters if it's a cat 1. STUPID! As Jeb noted. PEOPLE DIE IN A CAT 1.
Katrina started in the Bahamas, came into Miami, then hooked south and scared the crap out of us in the middle of the night, before making a u-turn and going on to destroy the Gulf Coast. No one in our neighborhood had their shutters closed for it (we weren't even in the cone for it), including our ultra cautious neighbors, who shutter for EVERYTHING. Even with that storm we had power back in hours. The Florida Keys Electric Co-Op rules.
I tend to think that we are going to get some ugly weather but not a direct hit. We are going to make a decision later tonight on whether or not to evacuate (me and little one, anyway), but the opinion right now is it's probably safer here in our concrete bunker than in other parts of the state.