Hurricane

In 3rd grade I remember having the section on weather and developing the ability to compare and contrast tornadoes and hurricanes. Pretty straight forward really you think. Both are bad weather and destructive, both in their own different and special ways. I will have to say that now having lived in hot spots for both, their differences are way more intricate than just cyclones over land vs. cyclones over water.

Tornadoes strike quickly with little notice and there seems to be a lot of luck associated with what gets wiped out and what doesn't. There is lots of severe devastation over short areas (per individual tornado) and the time of danger is usually relatively short. You don't have much time to think about what to do, you just do it. It is sudden, life threatening stress, but the threat is over pretty quickly and you can get down to cleaning up. We know very little about tornadoes and really struggle to understand and predict them.

Hurricanes give you days of notice and 15 different predicted paths. They even have a name..that is creepy to me. (PS: All this talk of hurricane Ike is making my dog nuts. He keeps hearing his name on TV, stands up and looks around expecting a treat or command.) Once you see it is actually heading you way you have to do all sorts of fun stuff. Boarding up your house, sandbagging, etc, all of which takes forever but may save your home. These things are fruitless against a tornado. If a tornado decides your house is gone, it just is. There is nothing you can do about it. With a hurricane you have days of weather that is relentless and widespread. Hanna is causing rain from North Carolina to DC right now, and is expected to ultimately make it all the way to New York City. You are also making one million different decisions once you realize it is coming your way. Do you evacuate and leave your home? What do you pack? Where are you headed and how long are you gone?

Life and death in a basement for 2 minutes I can handle. You have no control over what happens and there are no decisions to be made. Days worth of stress and decisions over what to do would ruin me. These folks along the coast live in some of the most beautiful places in the country, but with that comes a lot of extra mental cost.