[Keith in Iowa]

I can watch TV too - and the advice I hear given most frequently is go East or West, because the storm will be moving to the North. Seems rather logical to me, but I guess I'm too stupid to be able to figure that out, living in Iowa...

[dixiechick2000]

Oh...no.
You aren't stupid by any means.
A bit inexperienced, perhaps. ;o)

To be honest, I'd rather see these storms head north.
The longer time that they spend over land, the more steam they lose.

As far as the evacuation route is concerned, it was a mess!
But, it is better now.
Earlier, it appeared to me that using two interstates heading north (out of Katrina's way) made more sense than heading east or west (still in Katrina's way).

[jwpjr]

re: East or West, because the storm will be moving to the North

Too bad it's not that straightforward! Last year a hundred thousand plus Florida Gulf Coast residents evacuated to the Orlando area. The Tampa-St. Pete region was to be ground zero. Without warning the storm turned east far south of the Tampa area and went directly over the area where the Gulf Coast residents had taken shelter.

There is still no way to know if the storm will hit at or near NOLA. It has done nothing so far that it forecast to do. They have been predicting a turn to a more northerly track for several days now.

Truth is, there is no predicting what any storm will do. And the first to stress that are people who do their best to predict their paths.

My heart goes out to those who will have to deal with this storm. God bless them and be with them.

[bill1952]

I think you are both right. Just get as far away as possible from the coastal & low lying areas.

You will still get battered, but once inland the storm downgrades rapidly.

The problem that we had when we flew out was finding a place to stay. Everything was booked up everywhere.

We did manage to find a pretty nice place when someone didn't show up.