What's the big deal, Polley?

Those of you not in the area may think that this is just another hurricane. And it may be, when it finally hits. But, right now (and for the last 18 hours) it sure looks like something VERY different, for those of us here.

Let me tell you, last night I was truly concerned... Try this: imagine a system 140 miles wide, with 175 mph winds (280kph) slowly heading first left, then right, then RIGHT AT YOU! How solid is YOUR home? OK, so you decide "Gee, discretion is the better part of valor. I'll pack up the car, swallow my pride, and relocate to El Paso for a week or so." But then you remember the other 4 million people who are thinking the same thing; you look at the TV and internet maps; you consider the density of gasoline stations in Texas and the wave-front of earlier drivers who'll have worked their way through there in the past 12 hours (locusts, sucking the gas out of the ground); and you wonder just how comfortable your car will be, when you end up sleeping in it. Hmmm.

Get the picture? Scary.