There's no reason for a hurricane to be anything more than a public nuisance. I lived under Wilma for a whole 48 hours (just leaving five years ago tonight as a matter of fact), and Emily only a few months before that. How did we prepare? Bought lots of beer (before they cut off liquor sales a full 36 hours before it hit, the bastards!), tied down the water tank on the roof and pruned a few trees (one still fell over anyway), probably didn't need to board up the windows. Power was back on in the center of town within 12 hours. Phones (land lines, cell phones worked right away) were another story, took a month. Most of our houses are concrete block with reinforced columns in the corners. More than sufficient to withstand a cat5. You don't need a study to figure that out. A note to you all up in New Orleans, it helps to build above sea level. But let's have a study to be sure. You are creating a bureaucratic paradise up there, but you still have some catching up to do :-)
I can tell you that hurricanes sound really cool.