Not sure what a born hand waver is, but maybe, huh?
Generally speaking the government should not be ordering mass evacuation like this unless there is more certainty than a possible, could be, hurricane.
The amount of dire warnings strongly implying that people were going to certainly die if they stayed was absurd and almost comical. Unless Tampa received a direct nuclear strike I don't think it make a whole lot sense to try and have tens of millions of people evacuate in a near panic.