Long island is doomed if a cat 5 hits. I lived there a long time, there's no way to evacuate, in normal conditions traffic is impossible, in and emergency it would be completely impossible except by air or by water. There's no place on the Island where cat 5 winds would not be devastating, and the storm surge alone would destroy huge amounts of property south of Sunrise Highway. The North Shore of Nassau County would suffer tremendous tree damage, the roads up that way are few, narrow, and tree-lined. Out east things are low enough for washovers to happen, and even in the middle - places like Mineola, East Meadow, Centerreach, Islip and so on, flooding would be a big issue as the groundwater catch basin systems are of limited capacity. The more i know about emergency planning and management, the better i feel about moving away from there in the mid 1990's. Sorry, thats just how it is.

That said, my hurricane plans include hefty insurance premiums and bugging out early and often. First choice would be my in-laws' place in the Catskills, second choice is my folks pre-war, high-floor apartment in Morningside Heights in Manhattan (high ground). There's no way I'm staying to see what a direct hit would look like - all the models show my house under tens of feet of water.