In virginia we have I 64 from the beaches inland set up for evac. The Highway department flips a switch and all lanes go only east. Every exit has a motorized railroad crossing bar that goes down and prevents inbound cars from entering the highway to go west, when all lanes are functioning eastbound. It's an impressive system.

It is so sad so many people have to deal with this Irma. Pointing fingers or not. these people just need to get as far away as possible. Not easy for officials to devise plans for all of them to get somewhere. I doubt they are housing any one in Miami. That was the first to evacuate and will be the first to get hit.

I don't know about Florida but here in Texas, they do use buses to help people to evacuate and contra flo lanes. But putting several million people on the freeways at once just isnt' feasible. And like Dunster said, people want to take belongings and pets with them which makes it even harder. They also want to take their cars to protect them and so that they will have transportation when they get to where they need to go. Once you reach your destination, you'll need to find food, shelter, etc. That can be hard to do without a car.

I realized after Ike that if there is a storm coming and you decide to leave, you have to make that decision early.

I'm in the Tampa Bay Area. Contra flo will be used at the right time, southbound is open for gas tankers, emergency vehicles and 1st responders. School & city buses stay local to transport evacuees to local shelters. Please remember we have a larger than normal population percentage that is elderly. They & their pets are being evacuated to local shelters if need be. Irma is a very different storm than Harvey, Katrina or Andrew. For the most part people remaining in their homes are in non evacuation areas and we are ready. Local officials have stressed over & over they will not risk 1st responders' lives during the storm to rescue people who were told to evacuate than didn't. Pray for Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, and the West where wild fires are causing horrific problems. Thank you!

Now that should be a model for all states highway systems......not only weather related emergencies should be considered........

As far as using trains, the tracks must be certified to carry passengers and most are only cargo certified. If Amtrak is not already using a track line it probably isn't certified for passengers.

The governor has done a terrific job telling people what is expected and getting fuel and supplies here. There have been days to prepare, but some put it off. We bought gas and water last weekend and minimized driving. I have absolute admiration for all the officials, stores, and just in general folks who have worked to get as many people out as possible. The governor okayed school buses to transport people to shelters. Federal rules were relaxed so that gasoline could get into the state more easily. Verizon and At & T will not charge those who are at the end of the minutes if they go over. We are hoping our home will be okay. And Mom's. The path continues to move westward, so who knows?
To anyone who prays, thank you!

I believe the train only goes South as far as the Orlando area. When we have gone South at winter, we would travel on the Amtrak AutoTrain and then had to drive the rest of the way to the Cape Coral/Ft. Myers area by car or bus.

Something to do with the underground footing which is sandy????

Amtrak only goes south into FL on the east coast--the Sunshine Limited (that went from New Orleans to FL) has not been in use since Katrina due to that.

Irma is a MONSTER---regardless of where she tracks (and that is still little iffy at this point) she's going to impact all of FL in some way--we forget that FL is only about 100+ miles wide for most of the state and Irma is much wider than that! Prayers for all that are in shelters or hunkering down. My BIL lives in St. Pete and is not in surge area so is hunkering for his first hurricane since he moved there--we are so worried about him and flooding.

Have you seen all the items, plus all the pets that these people try to take with them. There might be only 4 or 5 families per bus and there just is not enough buses for that.