Well put. I remember Hurricane Andrew where people immediately the next morning were remarking that it wasn’t so bad. You really won’t know how bad this was for a day or so after it’s over.
I was on the last flight out of Nassau, Bahamas before Andrew hit - coming home from my honeymoon... Flying through the Bermuda Triangle in a hurricane - even though it was just the first part of the rain was NOT amusing! I thank God we were able to get out of Miami as they snagged my boarding pass for my connection on accident when they were rushing getting us all on board in Nassau. Tensions were really high in the Miami airport already with people rushing to make sure they didn’t miss their flights so they could get the heck out... That was scary for me, and I can’t imagine what it was like for those who had to STAY there!
Even with thunderstorms you can’t tell from looking in YOUR yard how bad it may have been even 2 blocks away. Was through one storm that saw a tornado on the river a few blocks from our house, but thankfully it was short and stayed over the water... That happened to us last week as the bad front moved through too - lots of lightning, thunder, hail, etc... in my town, but a few towns over people lost their barns, outbuildings and livestock. You never would have known looking at my block...
In a storm like this? Ridiculous to underestimate, deadly in fact... I have a horrible feeling there are going to be some bad numbers coming in once people can actually get IN to the areas that were hit the hardest. In many places they are reporting gas leaks all over, but the FD cannot respond as they are still underwater... The big fire in Queens - in a mandatory evacuation zone - involved the FDNY in boats and scaling buildings to evacuate at least 30 people in the path of the fire. And that’s only those they could reach...