61.   It was a direct hit for a man who has never minded tossing spitballs at the powerful.

62.   Its size makes it easy to see and it cannot take a direct hit from a missile, he says.

63.   Melody said a direct hit by a tornado, God forbid, would probably just blow out some windows.

64.   New Orleans was spared a catastrophic direct hit that many in the Big Easy had feared after the storm turned eastward before coming ashore.

65.   North Carolina, Long Island and Cape Cod each have had more direct hits from hurricanes than the Florida coast north of Daytona Beach.

66.   No, not a direct hit from a barn-sized meteor.

67.   Now the area is bracing for another direct hit.

68.   Now, the area is bracing for another direct hit from a powerful hurricane.

69.   Northern coastal communities remained hunkered down late Monday afternoon against the rain and wind from the storm, but seemed to have avoided a direct hit.