Then you have absolutely no idea what a "state of emergency" means. In a state of emergency you have very limited rights. Under martial law, you have almost none.

More importantly, in any of these situations, it's not at all a "two-way street" in that sense of obligation to obey exists between the public and the representatives of law enforcement. It never was a two-way street, it never will be. While YOU might believe you need to go to place X, when a perimeter is set up at the scene of an emergency, you have absolutely no legal authority to cross into the scene. What's more, the law grants the right to use force - in varying degrees and in some cases all the way to deadly force - to prevent anyone from entering the scene of a declared emergency. And in those situations, it's the person attempting the bypass the perimeter who is wrong in the eyes of the law.

I posted the picture from CNN to stimulate this bit of reality-based planning, in the hopes that seeing what happens in real life, in a peaceful place like Iowa, would remind us all that we need to think hard about what it means to "go" when directed, and what it means to "go" when you can't get back, even if you need to.

It's not my intention to have this decay into an argument over civil rights or to entertain the idea that there's a good reason to risk lives to save homes that are under water.

My point, and I hope we all take it to heart, is that in the case of a large-scale natural disaster, are you ready to go and not need to attempt to get back until the "all clear" is sounded?