How would you prepare for a Cat 4 Hurricane? Would you ride it out or evacuate if it was voluntary?

If the piece of property you're staying on is NOT subject to catastrophic flooding .
If you can self sustain for 7 to 10 days you'll probably be OK

But if you can't provide freshwater, food, heat for a living and cooking as needed, refrigeration and power as needed, routine medications and emergency medicine as needed.
Don't have a way to deal with human waste and garbage as it accumulates.

Or the piece aground that you literally are trying to stay on is possible or likely to flood out making it unlivable then it's time to leave.

Leaving without my dogs isn't even an option for me, Id stay before id leave them behind.

I'm inland a bit, so we will get hammered with some rain and wind but the river and creeks have to rise 42 feet before my house is in danger of flooding.
That happened once in the last hundred years, I have 12 acres, the lower 6 has barn, practice MX track..the upper 6 has the house...the upper plot is 42" higher in elevation. 2005 creek rose 22 feet, covered my lower property and Barn... the house itself was never in danger.

If it gets that bad or worse again the dogs get loaded up, guns, ammunition food generator, fuel , cash and all negotiable items that I keep at the house go with me. If my wife is home she will take one one car as well.
The other car and everything else stays it's just property.

I used to live in South Florida. I've weathered several hurricanes, and I'm still here. My daughter's first birthday party was during a hurricane. I was in Miami when a Cat 5 hurricane was expected to hit. I was working at Miami International Airport at the time, and all the planes were evacuated and the airport shut down. It was weird walking through KMIA with no one around. Kind of like the movie "The Langoliers." Anyway, the entire city shut down. All city employees were sent home. At the last minute, the storm changed direction, and the next day was the most gorgeous one I had ever seen. I was happy that I had that day off!

I was also in South Florida for Hurricane Wilma. the eye of Wilma came directly over my apartment building. It ripped trees up, severed electrical lines and the water main. For five days, we survived on food that we had stockpiled before, water from the water main, and cooked with a Coleman camping stove. That stove also boiled the water for both drinking and bathing (everyone got one pot of hot water per day as the stove fuel was limited). The community came together and we had a big cook-out using everyone's perishable food on the first day.

Like any other crisis situation, if it doesn't kill you immediately, it is manageable if you keep your head and cooperate with those around you.

Still treading water up there in Houston?

It depends on the strength of the building or housing. NOLA was fraught with those who wanted stay home only to be evacuated by the Coast Guard.

I don't think I will see one in Iowa. However, a tornado is always a possibility. I would not stay and try to ride out a hurricane. If it doesn't destroy my place I can return. But, if I had stayed and it gets destroyed ...........

depends. Is my house built on a 100 yr floodplain - I, my wife, and dog, plus a few essentials (rifles, ammo, fire proof lock box with important documents, canned dog food, fresh water, jerky meat fruit and nuts for 7 days, blankets) are going to evacuate. If my home is not on a floodplain, and is 50' or more above the low ground, then I will ride it out. Have 2 generators and enough fuel to run them for about 5 days. in a pinch, can run one for 10 days.

PFC (Join to see) I used to live in Pearland, Texas. I stayed for Hurricane Alicia, and smaller hurricanes, but boarded the windows and left for Hurricanes Rita and Ike. With this storm, the major danger is flooding, so if your area floods, you might want to consider evacuation if you can safely evacuate. If your area does not flood, you are right, it is iffy.

Honestly, it really all depends on the terrain and the areas you are in. I'm not really familiar with Texas as I've only been there once, but in my current area (NC) I would ride it out. My main reasoning is first, my house is slightly elevated. Second, I have a large drainage ditch in front of my house which collects water runoff. So as long I can keep the water flow free of debris, I should be able to handle most large storms we've had.

At most, I may need to purchase a couple sandbags to help prevent water coming in through the garage.

So I'd say the answer depends on your area and how prepared you can possibly be for such a scenario. Good luck to you either way.

Living in Hawaii, no place to run, so you buy rice and toilet paper and hunker down. There are shelters you can go to, but all houses are built to withstand hurricanes. (Cross your fingers)

reminds of aan experience I had when I was young and dumb in Korea, Me and a buddy of mine decided to go to the "hill" (Itaewan) during a cat 3 typhoon, which is a hurricane just the rotation is opposite, we ended up getting too drunk to even care, and spent the entire night in a bar. came out and the sun was shining bright.