Depending on the typical disasters in your locale, just bugging out a matter of miles might be the typical scenario for many so the base camp idea is a sound one. I don't live in hurricane country, where you might need to travel quite a distance to escape the immediate danger zone. For flooding, it might not be very far at all to higher ground. Or in my neck of the woods, wildfires might mean just driving a mile or two to get away from danger.

I still have this image in my mind of visiting a friend in West Hollywood, smack in the middle or dense, urban territory, and looking down the street at a wildfire raging just a mile or so away on a low hill. Big flames and smoke were shooting up (luckily no wind, so just straight up) into the air. Everyone else was pretty much just carrying on as usual, driving around and walking along the sidewalk. I guess we were all safe even so close to the fire, so just getting a mile away was enough in this particular case. With the wildfires we had last fall, it was often the same thing--just drive a few miles away and sit in some parking lot until they let you back in.

I guess many of these recent flood victims are in a similar situation. They might not have had to go far, but they could be stuck for days in parking lots waiting until they can get back to their homes.

Well, I'm focussing on a vehicle based bug out, which I'm not sure you're really as interested in as much as walking out, so I'd pick more stuff to haul than you probably.