Not everyone who'll decide to ride it out is an idiot. Some simply have no where to really evacuate to. There are shelters, but they' have their own set of issues. Did you hear about what happened at a lot of shelters in New Orleans?
I live in Stamford, CT. 2 blocks away from the ocean. Luckily our families are all in Albany, NY. We just got there, as we have a 9 month old daughter and aren't taking any chances. If we didn't have family far enough away from the worst parts, I'm not sure what we'd do to be honest.
Not everyone has this option. I'm pretty optimistic that it'll be more annoying than utterly destructive. Living without electricity for a few days can be dealt with. Hopefully people won't lose their homes, or worse, their lives.