Say you're in a seaworthy fifty-foot houseboat. Would you rather meet a cyclone moored in a shallow bay with some thoroughly brutal tides (we're not on Earth) or run for it and try to get around the edge of the storm? (It's necessary to the plot that they run for it; I need justifications. *g*)
You've got, oh, fourteen hours warning. There are likely to be tornadoes as well.