Blast ... yes I do need to go back and read thru those old reports about the Houston evacuation. I seem to recall that was a nightmare for a lot of people.

Hikermor - you are right that the biggest disaster in So. Cal would be an earthquake. Hence there would be no advance warning. And as you say - a LOT of the freeway overpasses would come down. So realistically, we would be lucky here if we had one major freeway still intact that could be used for evacuation. Imagine the time it would take to get several million people out of the city using just one freeway. Complicating things - I'm not sure anybody here has a plan to broadcast emergency messages telling residents which roads are still open after a big quake (so there would be a lot of confusion). And I'm sure that authorities would want to use the surviving freeway to be able to bring emergency supplies INTO the city. So it's just a mess to think about. I doubt they could get most people out in two weeks. But it sure would simplify the relief operations if they could get as many residents out as possible.

I was actually thinking about other kinds of disasters ... possibly an evacuation due to a toxic chemical release - or even an incident involving chem/bio weapons (hopefully those crazies in N. Korea don't do something like that).

But still, if a lot of people pour out of a major city, it seems like campgrounds and motels would be occupied for hundreds of miles in all directions. Hence my own evacuation location needs to be outside that radius. And I should count on carrying enough gasoline for quite a long distance. Which tells me I better get a roof rack on my vehicle.

cheers,
Pete2