My own rule of thumb with hurricanes is that if they warn you about them, it’ll be ok. It’s the ones they don’t tell you about that’ll kill you.
For the record:
Hurricane Floyd, 1999: Came ashore near Cape Fear, N.C., on Sept. 16 and continued along the coast into New England. Caused 56 deaths, $4.6 billion in damage.
Hurricane Andrew, 1992: Most destructive U.S. hurricane on record. Blasted across south Florida on Aug. 24, struck Louisiana coast two days later. Caused 23 deaths, $35 billion in damage, mostly in Florida.
Hurricane Hugo, 1989: Made landfall near Charleston, S.C., on Sept. 22. Storm surges swamped coast from Charleston to Myrtle Beach. Caused 21 deaths on mainland United States, $9.7 billion in damage.
Hurricane Alicia, 1983: Battered Galveston and Houston on Aug. 18. Glass littered streets in downtown Houston as wind broke windows in high-rise buildings. Caused 21 deaths, $3.4 billion in damage.
Afterthought: can someone remind me again, when is it exactly that they don’t warn you about hurricanes? (In the era of modern weather forecasting, I mean.)