" You just hit on one of the biggest reasons why people will not evacuate and go to a shelter. Their animals. There are no shelters that will allow a person to take their pets, and many people, especially the elderly, will not leave them behind. "
Unfortunetly that is true because there is no where or no way for the animals to relieve themselves over long hours stuck inside shelters. During tornado threat when my family had to go into a storm bunker we made sure our outdoor dogs were not tied up so they could gage for themselves where to run. It's all we could do, they always came out unharmed. Just like some farmers cut their animals loose. Sometimes animals natural extincts for survival are better than ours.
The one time I've left (hurricane Floyd that didn't hit us but looked awful) I packed up both dogs, 5 cats and two birds and headed to my parents house N. of me.
When we went through the un-named storm and the one that hit us in 1999 (can't remeber the name of it to save my life) I kept the dogs inside until it was safe for them to go out. I figured if they made a mess in the house, it was better then having them die. Unbelievably neither of them even so much as tinkled in the house, though by the time I opened the door to see if it was safe to let them out, their eyes were floating.