Me too, evacuating should be easier this time, I stayed for Rita but almost all of galveston/houston evacuated, traffic jam from hell (24 hours to go 4 miles). Media scared so many people that folks 100 miles inland at 50’ elevations evacuated! All roads clogged, no gas, no AC, no water. This time everyone is saying “never again, I’m staying” LOL, so it might be possible to actually leave this time.
I had that gut feeling with Rita long before it was forecast to hit the LA/TX border. I made my plans early and when the mandatory evac was called for my area I was ready to go. I could have left earlier but had a family member who had to work up to the last minute because her job was for the telephone company. I fortunately knew all of the back roads and took them. The main evacuation routes were very similar to TX, barely moving or not. It only took an extra 45 minutes to get to my destination. The areas 100 miles inland here did call for a mandatory evac and it was a good call because of it being very heavily wooded. The tree damage was unbelievable that far inland.