So if 1/10 times you end up dead in storm surge, that’s okay with you? Just to sit in your living room rather than spend a couple of days a short distance away in hotel or shelter or with friends/family? What other things in life do you routinely do with those odds against you? I will never understand why people with means don’t leave. I totally understand why impoverished people with no means to leave don’t leave, and often die. For them I have sympathy, for the libertarians and anti science crowd, not so much. |
So, most people don't know this, but this is exactly what "mandatory evacuation" gets at. When a mandatory evacuation is issued for an area, it’s because things are so serious that the government recognizes it must also leave the affected area. So, you are taking 100% responsibility for you and your family's safety - police, fire and emergency medical services are suspended at that time and while the notice is in place, first responders will not respond in the event of an emergency, as conditions are too dangerous for them. You won't get a fine or go to jail or anything for ignoring a mandatory evacuation, and legally no one can remove you from your home. A mandatory evacuation just indicates that should you need emergency services, you're not getting them. |
During the peak of hurricane season, there is almost constantly at least one storm out there that could potentially threaten their home within days, depending on how it moves and develops. If people evacuated every time a hurricane potentially threatened their home, they would be evacuating multiple times per year. That’s not realistic for most people.
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Wow! This is news to me. So first responders are not allowed to enter and help people in mandatory evacuation zones? |
Florida resident here. Yes. Once there are sustained winds of 35 or 40 or 45 MPH (I forget which), then emergency responders will not come to rescue you until after the storm has passed and it is safe for them to do so. You are also expected to hunker down with at least three days worth of food and water and whatever other supplies you might need. |
This is NOT how it works-cinder blocks don't protect you from storm surge! BTW Pinellas is getting flooding as we speak. Hopefully the non-evacuating fool and her kids are ok. |
My uncle is also in the area. His house is directly on the water but they are protected by some barrier islands. He says that the storms always turn and that the house has not flooded in the 80 years it has been there. That said, my aunt always makes him evacuate. |
That is only while the mandatory evacuation is in place and while the worst conditions are moving through. I work in emergency management. I have personally sent helicopters to peoples homes to rescue them. So don’t act like first responders are putting their lives at risk for idiots who don’t evacuate. |
*arent |
Sorry, but you’re not completely protected by barrier islands when there is a 20 foot storm surge. |
Idalia is making landfall as a category 4 Hurricane with sustained winds of 156mph.
I hope that the end is quick and painless for the people in the evacuation zones who chose to stay behind and are met with 16+ feet of storm surge - unsurvivable. A few days at Motel 6, totally survivable. |
As someone who has experienced 6 hurricanes over a Cat 3 (and probably 15 under that), you aren’t considering that at some point we don’t have the motivation to start over from nothing again. Insurance doesn’t make you whole. Friends don’t always come back from evacuation. Sometimes we’re just willing to risk it and understand that may be the end - but we’re too tired to do it all again. |
By the way, Idalia is a name of Greek origin which means ‘behold the sun.’ Someone at the World Meteorological Organization had a sense of humor. |
Hey, I *do* get that. I don’t live in a big hurricane zone, but my family lost a lot in Carol ~70 years ago and the memories persisted. We don’t like to embrace death in this culture, so it’s hard to accept when people do. But I can see why some folks would just want to leave it to fate. I saw many interviews with impoverished and working class people who were devastated by Ian and could not imagine the stress of trying to rebuild a life after something like that with no real means. |