Even so, hundreds of Hatteras Island residents defied an evacuation order.
People will never, ever stop defying orders to leave a potentially dangerous situation. If the storm had/is causing havoc and widespread flooding, I guess the governement would be blamed for not rescuing these folks if they called for help - even though there was a mandatory evacuation order in place. It doesn't take a "big one" to start a blame game I guess.
I just don't get it. This was a storm with potential to be a huge rain maker because of it's slow movement with fairly high winds. These guys got lucky this time, but they won't learn until they get caught in a dire situation.
That is pretty much what it took for a lot of LA/MS/AL/FL people for Katrina.