As a resident of Broward County in South Florida, I can only say that I’m amazed at how smooth things have been going.
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I have a summer home in Kentucky and a Winter home in Florida. The winter home is right in the predicted path of the storm. Are we prepared?
Nearly everybody in Florida is prepared as they can be. Most homes are made to withstand Hurricanes, not necessarily because people are into preparedness but because if you want to be able to afford homeowners insurance you must have a home built to not cost a lot of money after a hurricane. Perhaps you will lose a few trees and shingles but the homes are built of cinder block partially filled with cement with re-bar that goes down to the foundation. The roof is attached to the re-bar.
Our house is inline to take a direct hit. I worry, but don’t expect more than several thousand dollars of damage. I have a five thousand dollar deductible, so $5k is the worst it could be for me.
It will however be a mess for a long time to get livable again. I am hoping the storm changes course and heads east since I’m on the west coast.
Finally, as we approached 1/2 tank, we were at the point of having to turn back. As a last ditch effort I installed the "Gas Buddy" app and we were filling up within 15 minutes.
During the second half our our outward journey I saw many instances of cars lined up at empty gas pumps, ready to wait as long as required for fuel to arrive. In one case they were lined up at an obviously-defunct gas station simply because they no longer had any other options.
We ended up in a hotel room in Valdosta, Georgia (we were quite fortunate, as available hotel rooms were virtually impossible to find). Having become familiar with the city, which I had formerly thought of as a rural backwater, I have found Valdosta to be one of the nicest cities I've had the pleasure of visiting, and apparently the last bastion of true Southern hospitality.