If you watch the weather you get more than a weeks notice for hurricanes. You may not know the landfall, but you know it's coming, and maybe close. By the time you get a landfall prediction, you should be ready to leave.
In 5 days a boat making 7 knots will travel 800 miles.
People who lack the experience of trying to reason with hurricane season seem amazed that boaters in Florida don't just move out of the way of an approaching hurricane. Here's why:
For boaters anywhere on the Gulf of Mexico coastline, and really, most places along both Florida's coasts trying to run away ahead of the storm's arrival is a fool's errand. Until within twelve or so hours of arrival, forecasting the point of landfall is unreliable. The initial decision of which way to run is just a guess. Then, factor in the amount of advance time necessary to 1) decide which direction will wind up being safer, 2) locate and arrange an alternate dock or anchorage, 3) fuel, load and move the boat any meaningful number of miles to its new location, 4) re-secure the boat, and 5) evacuate. And guess what - while you're doing that, every other boat owner (at least the responsible ones) around you is in the same situation, trying to solve the same set of problems and competing for safe places to anchor, tie up or haul out. If you can drop everything and get aboard immediately, three days might suffice, but in the world of hurricane predicting, three days is an eternity. Your decision making inputs will be changing continuously. Predicting landfall three days out is nearly meaningless. Predicting it 24 hours out is still unreliable, but if you're still figuring out what to do with your boat 24 hours before landfall, you're already behind the eight-ball.
The National Hurricane Center keeps getting better at track and intensity predictions, but honestly, when a big one gets loose in the Gulf of Mexico, every place is at risk, and a few miles difference either way from the predicted landfall can make all the difference. (Look up Hurricane Michael, October 2018, Panama City, Florida). And yes, brother - many are the times I have cancelled everything else and driven through the night with a plan and a bug-out bag to reach my boat ahead of a threatening hurricane and get it ready as best I can, only to watch the storm go someplace else. Insurance or no insurance, I take care of my boat. So does everyone I know.