Aine, I'm glad that you and your family are okay. I know what you mean about hearing the storm. I was in one of the worst cyclones to hit Australia (you call them hurricanes). The thing that I remember most is the sound. The wind reached an incredibly pitch, like a scream - you would think that it was impossible for it to go higher, and yet it did, again and again. It was utterly terrifying. Even 25 or so years later, when the winds reach an innocuous 70 or 80 km/h, I feel the shivers.

Regards, Stewie.