Of course, a monster like Mitch, sporting tornado-force winds in the main body of the hurricane, is something to be far away from and not fool with. Personally, when a storm with wind forces much over 100 knots aims its center at me, I start thinking Rocky Mountain vacation and boogie. If one with big strong winds is passing anywhere close, I boogie sooner. The reason is, as you mention, the water. If you live in the highlands, water damage from a hurricane comes with very heavy rainfall, the gullies along the creekbanks, where people live, filling up and flushing everything away.
Humans tending to clear vegetation where they live, mudslides become a very important factor.
Down here a couple of cat jumps above sea level, rain's no problem because to make the water rise the clouds have to fill up the ocean. On the mainland, runoff from the hills can put the surf up pretty well in the river flood plains, but once the rivers are out of their banks, they have to spread out very widely and can't come up much more. Wet feet, drinking water, and snake etiquette are your major problems. The real problem on a coastline or island is waves and storm tides. These have two factors.