Anyone who studies hurricane history knows they are fickle, will do unexpected things that put a lot of people in harm's way, and to assume that decisions can be made with utter certainty in a timely enough manner to act upon them is being completely unrealistic.
Jacksonville had just had a major storm go through there WHILE Irma was creeping up the state. Some mistook it for the bands of Irma which were not there yet. Then of course Irma got there with what is now determined ‘CAT 3# STORM SURGE’...added to that Jose’ was pushing water forward which otherwise might have drained out.
I was on the phone most of the night with my brother who lives there....lots of wind and rain pounding in his area @ large trees were uprooted of which he sent photos of in his neighborhood, which was above the flood zones. Lost electric about 2:00AM Sunday/Monday...it was a long night! But by onday night had their electric restored.
All in all it’s been a mess in Jacksonville breaking all previous records for flooding.
However iirc they took measures to improve flow out of the city - expanding lanes and setting up means to close off inbound freeway lanes to permit ALL lanes to be outbound. this seemed to be ignored in Houston, but was used in Florida.
All very true..
But, this is why I think officials really need to re-think the current strategy of mass evacuations. Our ability to predict tracts and effects is simply not good enough to provide proper advice in a sufficient to time to evac multi-millions. We should be evacuating people in areas prone to storm surge, or low level areas that might be expected to see severe flooding. But, the vast majority of people in hurricane target areas do NOT need to leave. Their lives are not threatened.
What they need to do is: Be PREPARED for 1-2 weeks with no power or water. That’s no picnic, for sure... but, it beats being stranded on a highway for hours upon hours. And, not being able to get BACK to your home for days and days.