Floyd and Others
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It's hurricane season again in the southeast. When Weather Notebook commentator Jan DeBlieu sees the signs, it's an all to familiar sight.

It' summer, the air drips with humidity and a clammy wind blows off the ocean. The signs are clear, a hurricane is coming. Wobbling along like a lethal top with winds to a 125 MPH. The storm is forecast to miss us but no matter. Our phone has already begun to ring with calls from people urging us to leave. We patiently assure each caller that we won't take any chances. Then we hang up and go back to our normal lives.

Most mainlanders don't realize that running from a hurricane is not always the wisest thing to do. When a hurricane hits the coast, it cuts inland like a buzz saw. It's bands of rain causing creeks to swell and roads to flood. Its circular winds felling grand old trees. Our island home is in a sheltering forest with trees designed to withstand high wind. And so, with each storm we must weigh whether we will be in more danger at home or on the road.

Last fall hurricane Floyd moved up the southeast coast with winds of a 145 MPH. At the last minute the storm turned inland 200 miles to the south. Had we evacuated, we would have gone right into its path. Into the terrible flooding that washed out highways and left thousands of people homeless.

So, this time too, we wait. We fill bathtubs with water and kerosene lamps with oil and we fervently hope we will manage to dodge the bullet one more time.

Jan DeBlieu comes to us from Manteo, NC where Cape Hatteras is the only thing between her and the stormy Atlantic.