Even tropical storm winds that border on Cat 1 hurricanes aren’t all that bad. We get winds that high a few times a year in the Pacific NW and it isn’t that bad. Being 100 mile to the SW of land fall is pretty safe, especially if it is tracking farther east.
When was the last time you had to worry about a tornado from a front? That what we have to deal with on the GC and a hurricane..
Not too bad, no, but they are worse than a typical thunderstorm since they last for much longer.
But, I certainly wouldn’t be too concerned about tropical storm winds despite that. Still, it might be wise to prepare.
The forces of the wind vary to the square of the velocity, so while many structures might not appear to get hit that hard by a Cat I storm, they are still hurricane force winds or near it, and many structures will fail.
Additionally, 100 miles downstream on the Gulf Coast in Texas, might imply a larger accumulation of flood water runoff hitting your area from larger hydrology watersheds up river over a larger area, for several weeks after landfall.
While winds might die down, many structures built above a 100 yr flood plain, might not have been designed for that 105 year flood. When flooding begins to erode soil around foundations or saturates soil, the structural environment changes and hurricane force winds might become the prevailing force (i.e it all falls down).
Somebody can drive 70mph in a school zone, never hit a kid, and not think it’s that big of a crime. Meanwhile the cop watching the 70 mph speeder miss a kid on a bike by 2 ft, might not be as amused when he goes to enforce the law.
Likewise with hurricanes. Many will ‘ride them out’, not realizing how close the laws of physics may have come to total catastrophe. When failures hit, there is little response time or ability to respond safely during a hurricane.