I've always wanted to witness what its like to be in the eye of a hurricane... Then again, I've always wanted to chase a supercell around Kansas...

Yes, the storm surge and flooding is usually the main killer and damage inflictor in hurricanes... usually most of the wind damage occurs right along the coast. Well... hmm, then again, look at Homestead, FLA in 1992 Andrew. It looked like a fat f5 tornado went through there.

Stateside, around the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, we have N'or Easters to deal with, many times the winds (along the coast) and pressures associated with these approach hurricane force. But when I read about the storm in Europe, I found that to be quite extreme and worth pointing out. I remember an ice storm here a few years ago that knocked out power to around 300,000 people around Baltimore, which is very high. Usually summer storms may black out only around 30,000 customers tops, by comparison. Fortunately, my dad designed and built our house, so it isn't cheap 2x4 construction. Timber frame - very solid construction and very quiet during storms.

Could someone describe the "Force" designation... we don't use that here in the States and I'm just curious. We have distinctions for our hurricanes (Saffir-Simpson scale Category 1-5) and the Fujita 1-5 tornado rating but thats all I can think of now for anything wind related...