Hurricane Earl is set on a path for the U.S., currently projected to head up north to lower New England and potentially could maintain its hurricane strength while doing so.
Without minimizing the crouching-in-a-bathtub-while-your-house-pirouettes-around-you effect, it's important to remember how expensive storm damage can be, and how helpful it is to take preventive measures. Even though Earl doesn't look like it's going to pull any category 5 wizardry on the Northeast, consider Katrina's effect, it was only category 1 or 2 when it hit, but the roofs of our American brothers leaked so terribly that they had to use generators to run the dryer in order to produce more towels to stop up the water. Preventive measures like customized shutters are extremely expensive, but, after the stories I've heard, I wouldn't put my trust in ply board.
Bottom line: Prevention is expensive, but cleanup is even more expensive. The Northeast isn't used to hurricanes, it would be better for us to ask the victims of the Hurricane Katrina how devastating it was.
