What actually defines a direct hit on a location by a hurricane? I've just seen some archives on Hurricane Allen:-

"The center of Allen did not cross land at any location until it moved inland north of Brownsville, Texas. It did a remarkable job of 'broken field running' through the Caribbean at speeds of 15-20 knots. The eye passed between Barbados and St. Lucia, Haiti and Jamaica. It then passed north of the Cayman Islands, and between Cuba and the Yucatan peninsula."

I did think at first that a direct hit was when the eye actually passed over a location, but then I found that the eye of Hurricane Fabian last year didn't actually pass directly over Bermuda, but it still registered as a direct hit. So what does define a direct hit?

Thanks