I have a few thoughts....  One I live on the Atlantic Seaboard and have for most of my life.  They tell me that I was in Hurricane Hazel when I was a year old.  I remember as a child being without water, electricity, and school for two and three weeks at a time after hurricanes.  We just camped out in our houses.  I remember sitting in one room of the house during hurricanes and going outside during the eyes of hurricanes to yell down the street at the neighbors to see if everyone was alright then returning to the one room of the house for the other half of the hurricane.  I moved away from Wilmington as a teenager and returned to Wilmington as a young married adult and raised my family here.  I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with my second child when Hurricane Diana came through.  We moved a mattress into our hallway for our two year old daughter, my husband, our siamese cat and me to stay safe.  You don't know what the barometric pressure of a hurricane does to a pregnant lady.  I have many, many hurricane stories to tell some are good some are bad.   NC had a flooder hurricane, Floyd, that caused several counties to be underwater.  My husband's family is in one of those counties and that county has finally just recovered from the damage.  It took almost six years and the devastation was not a thing like New Orleans.  There will be mold and mildew problems for years. 
Experience over the years will tell ole timers when to leave and when to stay.  I have only left for one.... Fran.  I took my two children my dog and my cat and caravaned up I-40 away from the coast.  In my rear view mirror all I could see was cars behind me.  I was one of the lead cars.  No one changed lanes because we were all going together side by side.  My husband stayed behind because he was working at a radio station that vowed to ride it out.  I evacuated to my best friends house 100 miles away only to become aware through hearing the winds picking up that the hurricane was going to affect them as bad as it would the coast.  That had not been predicted.  Most of my neighbors got stranded in Raleigh. I was in Durham thirty miles away.   My friends were thankful I was there with them because I started giving them directions on what we should do to prepare.  The hurricane hit the middle of NC harder than it hit the coast. 
Another hurricane, I do not remember the name of this hurricane, but it was five years ago and aiming right at Wilmington at a category 5.  I wanted to evacuate but HOME DEPOT did not let its employees stop working in time and my husband cracked a rib at work loading up everyone else's generators that we did not get to leave early enough.  Word came that there was no where to go.  The Floridians, Georgians, and South Carolinians had fled to the NC mountains and all the hotels were booked.  NOW LOOK AT YOUR U.S. MAPS....  I was scared and angry all at once.  Florida should have been routed to Alabama, Georgia to Florida once the hurricane had passed Florida and SC to Georgia once the hurricane had passed Georgia.  WE HAD NO WHERE TO GO!!
Luckily, when that hurricane passed the gulf stream the top was knocked off of it and it came in as a category 3. 
Last weekend when I was watching the coverage, I thought why are they (the mayor and the governor) being so stupid.  They should be loading the citizens up NOW on barges, airlifting them out, and bussing them out now.  This one stayed a category 5 the whole time it was in the gulf and there was nothing coming in the atmosphere to slow it down and the water temperature was only going to worsen it.  I kept saying that if they were Americans on foreign soil in danger our government would have taken them out with or without their consent.  I just spent my 30th wedding anniversary in New Orleans the week of July 12th.  We loved the city.  First visit.  We walked the whole week all over the French Quarter, the riverwalk, the Natechezz steamboat, and downtown area.  The faces are real to us.  It hurts to know that some of the street people, waiters, waitresses, trolley car drivers, shop owners, the kids that we saw in schools and day cares,  even the horse that gave us the tour of the city may not have survived this.  New Orleans was a culture shock for us being NC born and bred but we loved the flavor of it all.  There is a very dark side of New Orleans too.  We read the newspaper there.  Obituaries told of stabbings of young people who had died.  Two in one night but not in the same part of town.  So many deaths to cancer for 30 and 40 year olds.  Our cab driver told us it is a hard city life for young adults.  That many die young there.
My last thoughts... I can be us next.  I would not want to be referred to as a refugee.  As a Republican, I must say that I am dismayed that the country has started blaming the administration.  I see this as a problem between states.  WE ARE THE UNITED STATES.... Instead of setting up shelters in the area that the hurricanes are predicted to hit, the neighboring states should set up shelters in their states.  And help evacuate before hand.  It all boils down to money.  It costs lots of money to open and run shelters.  When FEMA was allocated money before Katrina hit, I thought that that was a great action and that things would run smoother.  Didn't happen.  NC is taking in evacuatees.  Our school system and one of our private schools will have New Orleans students enrolled starting Tuesday.  I have not heard that on national media coverage.  This is too long... must go now... but one closing thought... don't listen to the national media.... they sensationalize these things.... we learn to ignore them down here when we get hurricanes.... We all need to pull together in times like these....