I would council that all of you people in the east who don't live where high winds are a regular occurrence be very cautious during high wind events. Here along the Front Range of the Rockies, we get significant wind events all the time. I can even gauge the wind by the sound it makes in the powerlines. However, the winds here have a bit of a Darwinian effect. Anything that isn't nailed down has already blown to Kansas. Any tree that was going to fall over has fallen over and branches that have be blown out of the tree. We get a lot of dirt and dust but very few houses blowing around in 40 mph (sustained) winds with 80 to 100 mph gusts.

But if your trees, houses, cars, little dogs, small women, etc. aren't used to high winds, they could be flying at you. Small dogs and even small women are pretty easy to deal with. A house on the other hand may carry a small Kansas girl with red shoes