I'm a card carrying member of the "Multiple Hurricane Club" also. As someone who lives 1.8 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and 300 feet from a bayou, here's a couple words of advice.....
If you have to evacuate.....
Buy gas now and keep your tank full. There WILL be a run on gas and you'll be sol trying to get some before you have to leave.
Stay off of the major roads and interstates. Everybody and their brother will be on those roads...there WILL be traffic jams...you WILL get stuck. If you know of lesser known roads/routes out of town, take them.
Don't wait untill the last minute to leave. See above sentence.
Bring all of your meds and other medical stuff you might need, such as a cpap machine, blood pressure checker, blood sugar meter/supplies with you. You might be gone for several days.....and if worse comes to worse, you might need to stay somewhere else for several weeks.
Bring a utility bill with you as well as ID. You might need to prove that you live where you live before the authorities will let you back into your area.
Wash all of your cloths before you leave. You don't need to take everything you own with you, but when you come back you might not have power for several days, or longer and you'll need clean cloths.
Empty your refrigerator and freezer before you leave. Have a BBQ or something.
If you don't already have an answering machine, buy one....but make sure you buy one that runs off of 110vac. After the storm passes, you can call your home to see if you still have power or if the power has been turned back on. Call your home number and if the answering machine picks up, you'll know that you have power.....if it doesn't, the power is out and you might want to consider staying put where you are for another day or two.
Wash the dog. You'll thank me for that one later.
Good luck.
