Lesson 2: Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst

That morning Charlie seemed to be heading somewhere else, and the county was at Level 2 on the emergency management system. "At 11:00 we heard it had changed direction and was coming directly at us," he says. "Then it speeded up. So we only had a few hours to prepare. It was a madhouse."

At 5:15 p.m., wind speeds reached 45 mph with gusts to 60 mph, and the electric utility shut down power to protect its substations. At that wind speed, firetrucks and ambulances cannot operate safely. But the storm was only starting. An hour later, the center of the 10-mile diameter eye passed one mile east of Wauchula.

"We were on the second floor of the emergency building, watching out the armored windows," Faulkner says. "My parents' house, where my family was gathered, is two blocks away. I watched 100-year-old oaks topple over on top of it. Actually, that might have been good. They did some damage, but they held the roof on."

When the wind reached 120 mph, it tore the weather station off the top of the emergency management building, so no one knows just how strong the wind got. They estimate 35 mph gusts above the 145 mph base speed.