DestinHurricane wrote:What a day it has been! We saw about 4-5 feet of surge in the bay. A few trees down and roads are covered with debris but it looks like my area survived with no structural damage, I dont know why they even issued evac orders for my county, I didn't leave and I'm glad I didn't. My prayers are with our neighbors to the east, looks like lots and lots of destruction. What a storm that was crazy to track, I remember when people were doubting it to even become a cat 1. Remember when we all laughed at the HWRF model?
I think you answered your own question as to why the issued evacuation orders for your county. A storm that got far stronger than almost every model and professional forecasted, along with a chance that the track could deviate further west. I think erring on the side of caution and issuing an evacuation order for the largest population center in the landfall risk area was probably a solid call, as opposed to an equally likely hypothetical: a direct impact from a strengthening major hurricane and no evacuation order.