• Martin and St. Lucie counties: A mandatory evacuation order started 11 a.m. Sunday for the barrier islands and all mobile-home residents. Martin County also is recommending other residents in low-lying areas leave.
• Okeechobee County: A A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for residents living in RVs and mobile homes.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:4KZOgDBgFKMJ:www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/storm/2005/atlantic/wilma/closings.html+florida+evacuation+orders+for+Wilma+palm+beach&hl=en
There's one; I'm sure there were more.
The big population centers are Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, with a combined population of several million--at least 5 million, I think. They weren't expecting a big storm, and because they are much more populous than Martin and St. Lucie (which were hit relatively lightly, and at the northern end of the stack) a big evacuation would have faced the same challenges Houston faced before Hurricane Rita.
I think we need to take a close look at what southeast Florida was told to expect in the days before Wilma hit, because I don't remember anyone focusing on Ft. Lauderdale, of all places, being worst hit. Not with the storm making landfall on the Gulf Coast and predicted as a Category 2.
I do not recall Ft. Lauderdale and Miami getting warnings to get the hell out of Dodge because this was going to get bad. I think that before the blame gets out of hand, people should look and see if that was the message, or not.