FL had the same lack of time and they had activated their responses as it this was going to be a direct hit for disaster purposses.
In fact the big problem FL had was from the power company not government lack of planning.
The time to prepare is when there is no storm comming.
To be honest hurricanes are and have been much more of a reality for floridians. They also have a greater budget. To say LA was unprepared simply is wrong the fact we evaced 1/4 of the population of this state in 36 hours is amazing and that was becausse of planning. Not bad for a primarly rural state We are a "working coast" here which means not we simply cant do that every time a hurricane enters the gulf some place if we did the state would be bankrupt and it would have distrous effects on the national economy