CATEGORY FIVE STORM DESCRIPTION

This is description of a Category Five storm from the US National Hurricane Weather Centre :

"Winds greater than 155 mph (135 kt or 249 km/hr). Storm surge generally greater than 18 ft above normal. Complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings. Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. All shrubs, trees, and signs blown down. Complete destruction of mobile homes. Severe and extensive window and door damage. Low-lying escape routes are cut by rising water 3-5 hours before arrival of the center of the hurricane. Major damage to lower floors of all structures located less than 15 ft above sea level and within 500 yards of the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas on low ground within 5-10 miles (8-16 km) of the shoreline may be required... "


HOW THIS DESCRIPTION MIGHT PLAY OUT IN REGION TO BE HIT BY STORM :

There are literally tens of thousands of buildings in the storm path that were not built to take even a Category 3 storm, large areas of camp grounds, ballpark estimate of 1000 or more caravans and trailer sites in parks and campgrounds, most roads near the coast are low-lying, and in many places there are only one or two roads in and out of the smaller towns, and as far as massive evacuations go....there were evacuations, but they were by no means massive. It's impossble to get figures yet for how many have been moved clear, but it's likely to be only the low thousands. There was no major emergency plan to swing into action. Nobody was expecting anything this big.