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how far inland does a 5 do damage?
The Cat 5 winds? Not very far.
The winds weaken rapidly upon landfall.
The thing that is very different about a Cat 4 or Cat 5 hurricane is the extremely small area that is prone to almost complete devastation. Even with a Cat 2 direct hit there can be flooding that requires total evacuation, but with a Cat 4 or 5 there is an area that you come home to...nothing. Now 10 or 15 miles down the road, or 3 or 4 miles inland -- no devastation.
I wouldn't generalize that much. Charley was a Cat 4 that had a 5+ mile wide swath that was devasting from Punta Gorda to almost Orlando. Every storm is different. Size, speed, land topography etc.
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Re: Katrina's Forecast Track Shifts West, Northern Gulf Needs to Watch