No, I didn't stay. I was prepared with two plans - one to stay and one to go. I had both my house and my parent's house boarded up, and had stocked both houses with plenty of food, water, flashlights and batteries. I also had "go" bags packed and waiting in the car. Up until Sunday evening they were still saying Wilma might be a category 1 or 2 when she crossed over my area, and my Dad wasn't feeling well and was dead-set against evacuation. I didn't want to make him move if I didn't have to, but by midnight news came through that the storm hadn't diminished as predicted by the windshear in the gulf, and I made the call to leave. I took a short nap and started the evacuation process at 3:00 am.
First I brought over my daughter with the pets and the bags I had packed in the car. I returned to pick up my sons, food and beer, and dropped them with my daughter and the pets. Last I went to my Dad's house and woke him up and told him he had to leave. I had everybody safely hunkered down by 5:00 am, which was perfect timing because that's when the winds started to howl. The power went out at about 6:00 am.
The winds stopped howling at around 10:00 am and we all stepped outside to see what things looked like. I couldn't believe the devastation around me. Trees and power lines were down everywhere. Roofs had been peeled off houses. The streets were filled with litter and debris. I've been through hurricanes before, and I've never seen anything like this. My Dad slipped and fell, and I wanted to try to get him to a hospital, but someone warned me that we were in the eye of the storm and it wasn't safe to venture out yet. So I brought him inside, elevated his leg and put ice on his knee. It's a good thing I didn't try to go, because we soon saw a big black wall of wind and rain coming our way. The back half of the storm was even more ferocious than the first.