What do we do when we're waiting out a hurricane? We study previous hurricanes to judge their effects and how they played out.
The BIG ONE came in 1992, his name was Andrew and he slammed into the Florida coast line at a reported 187mph, well over the speed required to be a Category 5. The destruction at the point of landfall was devestating, it went straight inland and flattened Homestead Florida. FLATTENED! Cat 5 is not to be played with, seek emergency shelter away from where the landfall is going to occur.
The good news from studying these storm disasters comes in the knowledge that the moment a hurricane makes landfall in Florida the intensity immediately goes down a lot. The size and speed of Andrew meant he went inland a bit before losing intensity but 20 miles away damage was minimal because the storm lost so much energy as it thrashed Homestead Florida.
There is complete information about Hurricane Andrew on Wiki.
