I went through a force ten typhoon in Hong Kong in 1983. An experience for which the word awesome is for once appropriate. I was in Hilton Head, South Carolina in 1999 when a big one was forecast. Everyone was told to leave, not convenient when you are a tourist with nowhere to leave to, but some locals in a bar (who I automatically trusted) said they didn't think it would be too bad and if it was they would come and get us. They were right, and the weather conditions the next day were so eeerily beautiful, coupled with a general absence of other people, that it made the holiday.
Given the downpour in Stratford on Avon a couple of hours ago, I wonder if the *** end of Harvey has reached us. I had to shelter in a pub while it passed. Tragic.