Very little is ever engineered beyond 130mph - except for hardened military installations.

That doesn't mean it won't hold. Many homes that are built to 110mph windload codes hold at 130 - witness Ivan, where many did, with only shingle and tarpaper loss.

But within the eyewall is often embedded tornadic activity that radically drives the gust levels up, and sustained 160s can lead to gusts north of 200.

Bottom line is that nobody knows for a fact if it will hold, but its the best bet that people who can't get out have. When your alternative is a home or business that you have every reason to believe WILL fail, you take what you can get.

The only way to know that a structure of this kind WILL hold in that sort of wind is for it to happen. You can engineer for it, but even if you do, there's no guarantee that the construction meets the engineering specifications.

May God be with everyone still in NO and spare a human tragedy. Property can be replaced.