:banana: :banana: :banana: Glad everyone is ok.
Kristin made a good point about not placing too much emphasis on where the storm is forecasted to make landfall. They certainly do a good job of predicting and narrowing it down to a cone, but hurricanes never seem to hit exactly on target. If you're in the cone - prepare. Kristin, I will not even attempt to explain why you aren't supposed to open windows, lol. From what I understand that was what they did years ago and now they go on and on explaining how a small opening allows the wind to come in, pressure, blah blah blah.....keep it airtight is what I've gotten out of it (scientific explanation, huh?).
As far as buying shutters, here hurricane shutter companies are in abundance. They are required when homes are built (new bldg. codes). The standard ones are available at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. They are huge pieces of corrugated metal (?) that are screwed into the wall. Cheapest way to go, they do the job as well as any others available. Lots of downsides...they are very heavy and very dangerous. The edges are razor sharp. You should wear long pants and gloves when putting them up. We have numerous accidents down here of people slicing their legs, feet, etc. We have actually had a couple of deaths. Last year, a women was helping her husband take them out of the garage and they fell on her. Several years back, John was on the roof putting one up. Like I said they are heavy, so he simply rested one on his shin area. Lost his grip, it slide down his leg and opened it...to the bone. Sorry for the graphic image, but it was horrible. So, with the Hurricane forecasted to hit the next morning, he spent many hours in the emergency room (along w/other shutter victims) having his leg sown up. His mother almost had a heart attack from concern and bought us the accordian style shutters (for the upstairs only). Wow, they are wonderful. Simply open your window, close the shutters and lock. Takes no time. Before, it took about three hours for him to get the shutters up...and that was with great efficiency. Enough hurricane talk! No more hurricanes. Glad you guys are okay.
