I wonder why they don't fly more recon into storms like this...not just for the sake of posterity, but I would think the research data would be invaluable for protecting lives at some point in the future. For instance, if we ever saw rapid intensification right off the coast of some area, we could use this data to better extrapolate the conditions in the eye. This information could be broadcast to those in the path to no longer treat this as though you are going to get hit by a hurricane, but rather to treat it like you will be hit by a tornado. Then, people could put mattresses on top of their heads and so forth to protect themselves. I could easily see such measurements as being valuable.

Probably this biggest gain with this data would be to mariners. Cruise vessels often must make the decision to either punch through a depression/storm. With such rapid intensification, it is possible for even prudent mariners to be caught in a catastrophic hurricane. Let's just hope that we don't find out later that this actually happened to someone.