[Moonman62]

I finally go in touch with relatives in South Florida via cell. They said this was the worst Cat 1 they have been through. They said the winds were very under rated and had considerable damage. Power is still out.

It had very strong gusts, but it didn't seem any worse than the fringes of the storms we went through last year. And I went through the fringe of Andrew and Katrina wasn't anywhere near that powerful. Andrew had a steady howling wind. Katrina strengthened and got better organized just as it hit the coast. It didn't weaken much as it went over land and the turn southwest caused it to hit areas that weren't expecting it.

[zarf]

The folks I spoke to were in the 90-100 mph SW wall when it stalled over the Pinecrest area.

Sustained hurricane winds for 3 hrs.