Is she on the Gulf Coast?

Barrier islands are not safe in big storms.

@MizJ No, thankfully on the east coast, but still in the projected path. Maybe it will just be a big rain event there. I hope so.

@Organist1 I am on the East Coast but I am on the mainland.

@MizJ Stay safe! My friend is in Melbourne Beach.

@Organist1 I am just across the causeway from there!

@MizJ My friend keeps sending me beautiful pictures of that area. The wildlife varieties are amazing, birds especially! I love the pics of rosette spoonbills she sends, and ones of enormous alligators, sea turtles, egrets and herons. What a great place to live!

@Organist1 I love the roseate spoonbills! Does your friend have a place to go on the mainland?

@MizJ No, she doesn't. She and her husband have a house on the island, but in the past have gone to a hotel somewhere on the mainland. They have secured their hurricane shutters and anything that might blow away. I hope they're safe. They just put on a new metal roof. How bad is the wind supposed to be? Do you feel safe?

@Organist1 I have supplies, 2 cases of bottled water, plenty of flavored seltzer, buckets that I will fill for non-potable water. One of the cases of water I put in the freezer so I can use it as ice if the power goes out that will go in the fridge (fridge becomes a cooler). Nuts, energy bars, and food I thawed to cook tomorrow so am ok for food. I can easily go a week. Have a couple of tarps, duct tape, and am charging the drill battery. PM me please and I will give you my contact info in case your friends need help such as a place to escape inland.

@MizJ It sounds like you are well prepared. I will PM you. Thanks!!!

Trade hurricanes for earthquakes?!

@MizJ It's interesting that people back east think California is besieged with earthquakes all the time. All the disaster movies are just movies. The damages even from the few big quakes we've had is fairly limited and far between. Most quakes go unnoticed and cause no damage - maybe a few broken dishes. Hurricanes and tornados in the southeast quadrant however wipe out vast swaths of communities on a routine basis... so I mean come on. Also the climate here is most favorable to just about anywhere in the country. I've been looking for a couple years now so I'm keenly aware. I've lived here since 1960 and never had a problem with earthquakes or weather - if I didn't have major debt now I wouldn't think about moving at all. Also, I hear that California real estate is "over" priced, but it's relative. On the flip side the real estate back east is very cheap for the reasons we're talking about. Now, the fires we've had and might have because of climate change and drought is a new twist... there've been homes I've looked at to buy a few years ago only to find they've burned down since, so yeah that's actually the main problem now on par with the bad weather back east. I'll still put up with a few broken knick knacks every 20 years or so rather than get wiped out and do without food, water and electricity for weeks at a time every single year. Oh, then there's the politics and stupid populations in the red states... I couldn't deal with that no matter what.

@AlbertSchepis It takes a while for the tectonic plates to build up the pressure from their different trajectories that creates an earthquake.

The price of housing there is ridiculous.