A great, thoughtful original post to be sure. The followup stuff has been interesting as well.
To be honest however, I just saw this thread and looked in hoping to see who this "Francine" was and what she looked like.
A bit disappointed, frankly.
Oh, and the hurricane and tornado stuff? Leave me out, thanks. Had some terrifying stints with tornados in Texas and Iowa as a kid. I'll take my chances with earthquakes, Tsunami's and volcanos up here.