Riding out a hurricane was not in my vacation plans...

Never on vacation. I'm originally from southeast Texas right on the Gulf of Mexico so I have stayed through all of them that came.
When I lived in Norfolk I lived right on the water and we had a hurricane come through...I left for that but it was mostly just a good excuse to take a trip back to Tx.

Once, back in 1976, we were camping on Martha's Vineyard when a hurricane came up the coast. We had to move into a hotel room and pack away our tent in the camp ground's storage facility. The wasn't life threatening, but folks were worried about windows being blown out. The drawbridges to the harbors were opening all day long, blocking traffic so boats could get to safety. I remember waking up at 2 in the morning just at the worst of the storm hit and watching the wind blow across the water from our hotel window.

The funniest thing was after the storm passed. My sister and a friend of ours and I were walking along South Beach just after the sun had set, looking for shells that the storm surge may have thrown up, when we saw a hand sticking up out of the sand. Just a hand. Totally freaked us out. Took a few minutes for one of us to get up the nerve to run up and kick it (we were too afraid to touch it). Yup, you guessed it, it was a rubber glove someone had filled with sand and stuck in the sand. We filled it back up with sand and stuck it up again to freak out the next people.

DH got stuck in FL and had to ride out Andrew on vacation


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I grew up in Southeast Texas, on the Gulf and yes, we've stayed home for some. Not what I would want to do on vacation!

I have not and I am so sorry you were faced with making that choice.  Please stay safe!!

That is a big bummer. We stayed on the Outer Banks last summer and I thought it would be really scary to be there during a hurricane. The beach houses are so exposed. I would have totally turned tail and gotten the heck outta there!

Also lived on the TX Gulf Coast. Had been through a few hurricanes. There is no way I would stay if I was on a vacation. Especially if I didn't own the rental home (and have to close it up/prepare it for a storm).

I'm sorry your vacation was cut short - that stinks.

I've been through big thunderstorms at the beach where the winds shook the house and the waves came all the way up to the beach. It was truly impressive & made me very glad that I wasn't there during a hurricane.

We were on the OBX years ago, and had to evacuate. How dumb were we that we only went to Elizabeth City, which is only 50 miles away. And I live in NC, so I should have known better. It turned out to be a minor hurricane, so we were able to come back to our rental, to gorgeous weather.

Well I was very close to my due date when Wilma hit so I remember that storm very well.  I was in south Florida and was a bit worried about going into labor but all was well (did have damage to our fence and pool screen, etc.) and my daughter was born a week later.  It was a bit of a nightmare for people trying to visit me in the hospital as most of the county was still without power so most traffic lights were not working.  I was lucky that we got power back at our house only 3 days after the storm.  There were other women at the hospital going home with newborns to homes with no power.  I can't even imagine.  Then again I can since my family and I survived Hurricane Andrew in Homestead so I know the damage a storm can do.

Sorry OP that you're having to cut your vacation short - that sucks.  

I've never had to ride out a hurricane in OBX but I know that there's only a few ways to get on and off OBX.  I imagine if you wait too long you might not be able to get out!

Sorry it ruined your vacation but at least you're safe!

If I was on vacation and a hurricane was headed my way I'd pack my stuff and GTFO. Even a low category storm has the potential to knock power out and even disrupt the water supply. It's bad enough to deal with that in familiar and comfortable surroundings, having to wait it out in a hotel would be so much worse I would think. 

I would ride this one out. Cat 1 isn't horrible enough to scare me. I've been in some nasty hurricanes though.

Thank the dear Lord we were spared.