Hurricane warnings are, no doubt about it, a lifesaving blessing. As alarms are meant to do, they usually nudge people into a state of alert caution. Naturally, they are often a bit scary. But the first early words on infamous Hurricane Gloria last week proved far more than attention getting. They were downright intimidating. Bringing accounts of fiendish 150-m.p.h. winds--and coming three weeks after capricious Elena had given the Gulf Coast states an ugly bashing--the National Hurricane Center warnings made plain that Gloria might whirl and dance up the heavily populated East Coast like some catastrophic dervish.
Urgently reiterated by television...