Surviving the fury of worst Atlantic storm since records began

You might think that in a contest between being a bit embarrassed on the one hand and saving your life on the other, saving your life is always going to be the winner, writes Terry Prone.

And yet, having wrangled an airline ticket out of Florida as the hurricane bore down, a small part of me, listening to the radio met bulletins, thought: “Sure they’ve downgraded Irma to Force 4, which is piddling, really, and it’ll probably go right up the east side of Florida anyway and I’ll just feel like a panicky fool.”

The downgrading was brief. Once it was over, Irma was back in full fury as a category 5 and being described as the worst Atlantic storm ever. Not just in living memory, but since records began.