We lost two patrol cars that year to storm surge at my PD and that storm came out of now where. I rode out a huge storm in a house trailer in Ruskin in 1969 as a kid. Now tornadoes in the midwest is another story those things will kill you. I bet more people were killed in just one or two of the big tornadoes last year than all the hurricanes Florida has had in the last 100 years.
Tornadoes are just as bad in Florida - Hurricanes I don't mind much - but the tornadoes that they spawn are extremely deadly. One family - the Cordero's was living in a trailer at the time during 04, entire family was killed. Bob was disabled from a motorcycle accident and his wife worked security, they had 3 kids.
When one of the hurricanes went overhead, a tornado spawned and was less then 2000 feet from my house, picked up their trailer and flung it like a rag doll. I used to help them fix up the place, gave them whatever my rental property had left over when remodeling apartments (i.e bathroom sinks and kitchen cabinets etc).
After everything calmed down, I drove my truck up the road to check on some of the neighbors and tenants I have, found the trailer disintegrated in the storm, scattered all over the place, grim reminder of how serious mother nature can be.
Why he didn't goto the shelter is probably same reason I didn't - I rode out enough hurricanes and storms that I never was effected by them.
