Wow. And believe me, we have heard about the frequent wildfires out there (all over the west). ;-)
Fire is very bad indeed, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s worse than rain - not when it means days of monsoons that make massive floods. Which in Agnes (”tropical storm” *only*, when it went overland), completely changed the Mid-Atlantic forever. We’re talking total abandonment of some “creek” communities, never mind the railroads that were altered forever (Conrail), etc. I’m not looking forward to something like that, although I doubt it will be that way for us in MD and PA again. We get lucky that way - almost nothing truly extraordinary happens here. Safest place to live. Regular rainstorms - no problem, maybe some flash flooding. But monsoons - that’s a different matter.
I’ll bet the same thing happened with the horrificly massive Mississippi flooding c.’93, too - which I also recall alot of coverage. ;-) That was about the worst case of flooding in this country I think I’ve ever seen.
Ya, the fires usually get some coverage; dramatic footage and all, they can’t resist. Personally, I’ll take heavy rain over a firestorm. The one behind behind my house two years ago scorched half a million acres; everything charcoal. Funny thing is, that fire was 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Can you imagine the coverage of something like that being 15 miles from Manhattan? ;) When a true firestorm hits a community, there’s nothing you can do but run through the smoke; the heat is so intense you have to stay two blocks ahead of it, and it rushes at you at the speed of a car. Heavy rain like you’re having would be a disaster if it hit here, we would have flash floods, but you guys are more prepared for that kind of weather; I think you guys will do fine. I remember the ‘93 floods too. That did get solid coverage, but again, that was a true disaster. Only when NY or DC is potentially involved do we get the true hysteria coverage. Anyway, good luck.
Update from SE Pennsylvania (Montgomery County). Judging by the Weather Underground map, our drowning is just about to start. So far today it’s been humid, but temps surprisingly pleasant in the upper 70’s. Overcast. Ground is saturated from a wet August, so it may get ugly. We have a backup generator which runs most of the house, so we should have well water, lights, refrigeration, and even A/C, but no stove or oven. Biggest worries are 100 foot tulip poplars and the creek out back. We’ve done what we can to prepare; the rest is out of our control.