Having seen and heard for the last week of the terrible and complete destruction of coastal communities along with their inhabitants in Katrinas path, I for one have changed my attitude about staying on the barrier island where I live if a Cat 3 or higher is about to make landfall on our coast. Last year we stayed as Frances and Jeanne ripped the Space and Treasure coast apart. Cat 2 force winds that we saw did an incredible amount of damage. But nothing like what Katrina did to the Gulf coast. I can`t imagine what those people went through when things started to get critical as the surge came ashore, coupled with 135+ mph winds and they new right then that they had made the wrong decision to stay put and brave it out and now its to late. Here in Brevard County we have a coast line with sand dunes that have been refurbished with new sand because so much was washed away last year. At my beach, it looks fantastic.The dune line is all that protects us from hurricane storm surge. Now if a storm of Katrinas porportion came on shore here with a 30 ft storm surge and god for bid at high tide, I think we`d have a big problem here also. In fact there would be a big problem anywhere with a Katrina type storm, it doesn`t matter where you live in the coastal areas. All in all, after what we`ve all witnessed with Katrina, if the same where coming our way , we who live on the coast when asked " Are you staying or leaving" we will think back at what we saw on TV in Mississippi after the storm and if you have any sense at all you will leave and still be alive to see another day.........Weatherchef