Ike! Ike ! Ike! Until last year, the worst thing about the name "Ike" was its association with the wife-beater ex-husband of Tina Turner. Now the name means something else.
Until 36 hours or so before it hit, we were supposed to be pretty safe, but then it changed course. (A few years before, we'd been in Rita's direct path, but the change of path that year saved us from disaster.) By the time we got word that we were in trouble, it was truly too late to flee. For those who do not remember what happened with Rita, with tens of thousands of people stranded on roads for DAYS with no gas, food or water, many of us have a greater fear of getting stuck on a freeway than being stuck in our houses. If you don't get out by a certain time, there simply IS no getting out. (It took our relatives 8-9 hours to make the usual 1 hour trip the day before Rita.)
Well, by the time we got the news, we could have MAYBE made a quick get away under the best of circumstances, but it would have been 98% unlikely. Plus, DH called to alert me that his family, including his elderly mother, would all be coming to stay with us, as they were in one of the first mandatory evacuation zones. So then I had to try and get
EXTRA food, water, candles, etc. for all these extra people but there was NOTHING to buy because it was all gone. Even then, there's no way that hurricane should have been as bad as it was this far inland, but Ike broke all the rules. It sat on top of us for 11-12 hours with incredible force. Our house had no damage, by some miracle, but most of our neighbors did. It was like a war zone.
No power for 2 weeks. You had to struggle to get one bag of ice per day, if you were lucky. Gas couldn't be found for days and once it arrived, you had to fight for it. Food was hard to get. And the Texas weather? Well, Texas in September is just lovely. No landline or cell phone service, so if you needed the police or an ambulance you were out of luck. It was scary. DD and I stayed for a week, but after that my asthma kept getting worse and I knew that if I got in a jam, I couldn't even get help. So DH stayed here to work (they had power) and DD and I ran off to stay with friends in the cool, cool north.
After that, I issued the "no one comes to stay with us during a hurricane" decree. I told DH that twice now (Rita and Ike) we have not been able to even think about evacuating due to having to "host" his relatives. Once the hurricane was over, we couldn't leave because THEY still had to stay with us, since they couldn't go home. Ike scared me so much that I made it clear my focus from now on is my child, my DH, myself and my old cat. Those 4 beings are my sole concern. Yes, that sounds selfish, but the new plan was to put MIL on a plane to Chicago to stay with her other child, and let HIM take care of her for the duration of the disaster so we could take care of our own chaos. As it happens, MIL recently passed away, and the point is moot. Still, I won't stay again. I will run like the chicken I am.
I've been on an island (Cozumel) during a hurricane, but it wasn't a bad one. DH asked, "What should we do?" and I said, "What CAN we do? We're on an island. The airport is closed so we can't fly off. The port is closed so we can't get away by boat. And we certainly can't drive off the island. So I'd say we're &%$#*(@. Let's buy some bottled water and cookies at the gift store in case we lose power for a few days and then cross our fingers."
Let's just say that hurricane was no Ike.
I have 3 family members that all lived in the same block - they lost all 3 houses. They had to be completely demolished as they got water clear up into the second story, and all the water caused the foundations to move and crack.
Don't let the thoughts of potential tornadoes worry you. Just learn where you need to get in your house when there is a warning, and always take warnings seriously. 
