You know, something has happened in the last- oh, 20 or so years . People are becoming more...wussy, for lack of a better word.
My family has been in New Orleans since it was founded. I do not remember my parents telling me of evacuations or panic when storms came. I certainly don't remember anything resembling the wholesale paranoia about anything tropical that we have now. For hurricane Betsy we just boarded our windows, got candles & supplies and hunkered down.
Now something blowing 45mph in the gulf has people worked up. We had a 60mph thunderstorm two days ago. Should we start naming those and evacuating?
Really- the weather people are sensationalizing tropical storms now! The local idiots are even suggesting EVACUATING the city for a category 1 or 2!!! I'm sorry, that's sit outside and enjoy the breeze weather, and anyone who's lived in hurricane territory all their lives knows that.
It's all theatre now. Tropical storms were barely news years ago- now it's sad to see people terrified of a bunch of thunderstorms because someone named it.
It's like everything else on the "news" - hyper-sensationalized. Do a Google search for the phrase "Doppler of Death"; I recall that as part of the title of a humorous (but not very exaggerated) article about overdone weather coverage.