Heh, we had it similar. The house sheltered the front door on the North and West, and it's recessed so it's not open to the East either. As a result, we were able to safely open that door during the first half Frances. We boarded it up during the eye (since we knew we had a few hours), and opened a door on the opposite side of the house that would now be sheltered. We were extremely careful, and had a backup plan, but that worked out just fine.