As I mentioned before, we're in Tampa Bay and in our county alone they ordered evac of 400,000 before Charley.
Our evac zone (which is the last) was not ordered out, so we were going to stay, but the first thing we did was put my parents on a plane to Atlanta to visit my sister.
They weren't in an evac area either, but we didn't want them to have to be here to deal with the aftermath of a hurricane (i.e. no power, etc.)
We didn't get hit, but like Dr. Masters said, if you evacuate and the storm misses you, you're no worse for wear My folks had a nice little vacation, and were happy to just get out of town for awhile.
You were wise to take care of your parents like that. Sometimes the elderly are too confused to make such decisions, and they need a push and a helping hand.