Sheesh--they sure wanted the storms to plow up into Tampa Bay last year...was on the road when they announced the TB Ivan track. People already burned out from Charley & Frances started running off the road, and into other cars. Saw 5 distinct auto accidents in 10 minutes that morning.
Yeah, I was just reading that article about evacuating NO, and there was also a link about evacuating Tampa/St. Pete.
But we did a pretty good job evacuating the county when Charley was headed toward us. Of course, Jeb Bush and the county EOC gave the order the minute the Hurricane Warnings were posted for the area.
I think they gave the evac order on a Thursday at noon, and by Thursday evening, my MIL's entire retirement condo had been evacuated in Greyhound buses to a sister facility in Sarasota.
Of course, the irony of it was that the Sarasota facility got more of a taste of Charley, than their waterfront retirement center on Tampa Bay.