I am willing to bet that was a disconcerting feeling. Glad you made it out ok though. I was in hurricane Andrew in 1992. We were fortunately a little further north than the areas that received the most damage. We still lost every tree in our yard and some of them were very large. We also lost a window during the storm, but were able to use a mattress to patch it up quickly. There is nothing like being in the eye of a hurricane however, as it is just eerily calm. I was dating a girl at the time whose grandfather lived in Homestead, one of the hardest hit areas; and his house was destroyed. The walls had shifted on his foundation. Wind gusts had reached 212 MPH according to the National Weather Service, and I am pretty sure there were some tornado touch downs as well. It took us hours after the storm to get to his house, because all the street signs were down, and the area was completely unrecognizable. With all the national guard personnel, and millitary helicoptors overhead, it looked like a war zone. I also worked at Publix, a local grocery store at the time, and theres nothing like seeing people fist fighting over water and food. I am glad I don't have to go through that anymore.

 

I would still rather be in an Earthquake, that way you don't have the warning.
I went into the Homestead Air Force base right after Andrew to recover some Jet engines and other various parts that managed to survive, not much left although the runways were still there.