i would be at the head of the evacuation line

I haven't had a lot of experience with hurricanes, and I hope not to have any more. Last summer when D. and I were moving out here from North Carolina, we hadn't chosen a definite departure date. Then the news indicated that a hurricane was headed towards NC, and we decided at about 8pm to pack everything and leave the next morning, as we didn't want to be faced with the choice of driving in hurricane rain/wind or being stuck there for another 3 days. We left Durham by mid-morning, but unfortunately the hurricane was moving faster than we expected or the path wasn't quite as predicted, and the edge of the storm hit us on I-40 about halfway between Winston-Salem and Asheville. The wind wasn't too bad, perhaps 30mph with some gusts, but I have never seen anything like the rain. It was the rain equivalent of a whiteout, windshield wipers could not keep up, and visibility was limited to about 15 feet in front of one's vehicle. We could not see the tail lights of the car in front unless we were that close, which was obviously a dangerous distance. Pulling over and stopping wasn't really an option as none of the road markings were visible and it was likely that you would be hit by another car that couldn't see you. It turned into this bizarre situation where all the traffic was in (more or less) the right lane driving 20mph with hazard lights on. If you got too close to the car in front the blink-blink of their hazard lights made them visible from a little further away. We drove like this for perhaps 40 miles at which point the rain decreased to normal heavy rain. It was the scariest driving experience of my life (minus recent accident, but I wasn't driving), and if that's what a minor hurricane looks like 300 miles inland, I hope to never experience a major one near the coast. I can only imagine what the damage from Katrina is like; my thoughts go out to everyone in New Orleans.