My relatives watched the Weather Channel and other cable news weather--and yes, they grumbled about the local coverage. Their claim: the locals didn't want to rock the "tourist dollar" boat, so kept the forecasts mild.
Amazing. So. Florida is a liberal hell-hole, and equally dependent on tourism, but we have weatherman on the local channels who literally spaz out if a big storm pops up anywhere during hurricane season.
Still, we don't rely on the locals alone -- there's always the weather channel, and the NHC via the net. Even with that, there's no advance certainty as to exact landfall, as Katrina and a host of other storms have proved.
The old adage applies: hope for the best, but make damn sure you're prepared -- or long gone -- for the worst