But the city hasn't had a mandatory evacuation since Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

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When Hurricane Floyd raged outside as she choreographed "Kiss Me Kate" in 1999, Ms. Marshall drew from its manic energy and sideways-sweeping rain.

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Many of the suburban Philadelphia areas were hit by Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and by a flash flood last summer, said Marko Bourne, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

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Some 3.5m people from Florida to North Carolina spent hours in traffic jams, fleeing (or, more accurately, crawling) from Hurricane Floyd, advertised as the biggest storm to threaten the United States mainland in living memory.

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