I can't really imagine deciding to attempt to ride out the storm surge and wind of a storm like this in a vehicle at sea level. That's not a reasonable plan. People having that little concern for their own personal safety is really disconcerting.
I'm guessing your conclusion was that NE would be much worse in terms of tree damage? From what I remember from Gloria on Cape Ann the winds were solidly TS but for a much shorter duration, tree damage was still widespread.
When the hazard is death by drowning it makes sense to err on the side of caution in terms of evacuations.
The logical thing to do is to prepare for the worst, so evacuations that turn out to be unnecessary (in hindsight) will always be an issue.
Yeah, maybe rate each factor 1-5 (freshwater flood, surge, wind) and take the highest one.. There's no perfect way, but not accounting for the deadly effects is a mistake imo.