Hurricane Ride?

Well, it looks like Hurricane Earl may be coming to visit me on the NC coast. I have a pretty good shot at it missing me and hitting a little further north but there are never any guarantees. My inclination is to stay put and ride the storm out. I know that most people who've done that have ended up regretting their decision, but that's been with the full brunt of the storm. Topsail Beach is only about 65 miles north of the SC border.



Here's the complications/considerations:



I have a car, truck, motorcycle, utility trailer, boat and boat trailer to move/park/store. The elevation on my lot is only 7-11 feet, depending on who you believe. The house itself is built on pilings so if we get water, it'll only come into the garage. We've had water inside twice in the last 25 years; both times about chest deep. I don't really expect it inside with this storm.



To further complicate things, I have a woodshop set up downstairs in the room that runs behind the garage. Big tools... 18" bandsaw, tablesaw, 8" jointer, etc. A lot of heavy things that won't do well in salt water. I can't move them upstairs as they are too heavy/bulky/probably won't fit through the door, etc.



I could put the boat in the garage; it will fit with the trailer with space to spare. The boat is a 17 footer and the garage is about 28 feet from front to back. Vertically, it has a 10 foot ceiling. I don't know what a boat would do to the underside of my house if it floated off its trailer inside there. Leaving the drain plug out so it doesn't float off will drown the engine (it's an I/O). Bury some anchor points out in the yard and let it sit out there?



I could rent a storage space on the mainland for my bike, I guess. I can ride it or pull it. Pulling it makes more sense since I'm alone.



Ah, hell... I'm rambling. I don't know what I'm going to end up doing. I need to come up with a plan for this storm and also one for a big storm that actually threatens flooding.