I grew up in South Florida and I was in Ft. Lauderdale when Hurricane Andrew hit back in 1992. That was scary. We had no power for a week and any tree that was on our lawn was uprooted. There were houses in our neighborhood that were missing walls. The storm had directly hit Miami (an hour south of Ft. Lauderdale). My grandmother, who lived in Homestead at the time, came and stayed with us during the Hurricane (Homestead is a suburb of Miami and was the hardest hit by Andrew). We're grateful she did that. My dad went to her house a few days after the hurricane. Homestead was declared a disaster area by Bush the First. My grandmother's house was completely torn apart....all that was left was the concrete floor. There were no structured buildings left standing in Homestead. Absolutely devastating hurricane. There are some houses in Miami that still have not been repaired since. A friend of the family stayed in Homestead during the hurricane. Their house had been blown apart by a tornado that ripped through during the storm. When the eye passed over, they ran to a neighbors house to seek shelter.
Scary.
So, from someone who has been through one of the worst hurricanes in American history, you are all in my thoughts. I hope everyone is prepared with lots of water, batteries, flashlights, etc.