[GreenhouseZ]

Originally Posted by LKJ1988

No where to drive clive when the roads are dead locked with traffic.

Exactly. When Floridians head north to evacuate en masse, they end up stuck in traffic and running out of gas on the highway. Ahead of the storm that hit in 2017, several people I know just drove north to get out of dodge; then ended sitting in traffic for hours and couldn't find lodging once they got to GA, SC, Alabama, etc.

Originally Posted by Corrie22

there's a lot of people that just can not do it....age, some handicap, medical, etc...and a lot of people that just can not afford to do it...evacuating is expensive...too expensive for a lot of people...and evacuate to where?

Yes, so many factors behind deciding whether to leave or stay. Some folks always stay, no matter what government officials say. Some do it because they think they know better, but most don't leave for the reasons you stated.

I've experienced several hurricanes, none of which threatened my life, and it was horribly stressful, during and after. The road to recovery will take years. Just sad all around.

[SanyBelle]

Originally Posted by Arcenal813

Understandable…
However, I’m speaking mainly about people who live on the barrier islands. It is practically impossible to live on Sanibel or Captiva without a car or without access to one. The nearest grocery store is across the bridge.
And most if not all who live there are at least wealthy enough. Living there is costly.

I agree you can't live on Sanibel or Captiva without a car, but Sanibel has Jerry's Grocery Store and it has a few smaller stores, Bailey's is one, Huxters is another. I don't know Captiva well enough to know if it has a grocery store.

[carnivalday]

Originally Posted by FL_Expert

I was thinking the same thing, but this is really the fault of meteorologists. I don’t recall Naples even being in the forecast cone much of the time and I think Lee County was on the very edge. It was a bizarre hurricane track though with that weird zig-zag pattern it took.

It is not the "fault" of the meteorologists. Some hurricanes have very specific steering patterns that make it easy to forecast; this storm was not one of them. That was why the cone was so large for so long because the models were all over the place. They had it narrowed down to about 50% of the Gulf coast right up to the day before it hit land. The center of the cone was going right over my house for 3 or 4 days before it hit landfall; I barely got a breeze. Its just not an exact science.

[Corrie22]

Brandon has some video of Sanibel on his facebook.....it's not all the destruction the news is showing

https://www.facebook.com/brandonorrwplg

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by GreenhouseZ

Exactly. When Floridians head north to evacuate en masse, they end up stuck in traffic and running out of gas on the highway. Ahead of the storm that hit in 2017, several people I know just drove north to get out of dodge; then ended sitting in traffic for hours and couldn't find lodging once they got to GA, SC, Alabama, etc.



Yes, so many factors behind deciding whether to leave or stay. Some folks always stay, no matter what government officials say. Some do it because they think they know better, but most don't leave for the reasons you stated.

I've experienced several hurricanes, none of which threatened my life, and it was horribly stressful, during and after. The road to recovery will take years. Just sad all around.

This is where a EV shines since it can sit for hours and not use up much pow wow while a gas car just hogs away on the gas.

[OpinionInOcala]

Welcome to complex systems.

This was an odd storm, with myriad atmospheric variables that came into play throughout its course that increased the uncertainty of its track and ultimate landfall destination, even to within a comparatively short window for evacuation purposes. There's a personal responsibility argument to made here, though it's diminished to some extent by the aforementioned point — which is to say, for at least some, the decision to evacuate was foreclosed not only by storm forecast variability and media mixed-messaging, but also by the absence of available gasoline within the period of time it became obvious that Ian was going to shift south (and east) in noteworthy fashion.

A mess to be sure, but it seems more the case here that folks shouldn't conflate the inherent limitations of computer modeling with either the need to attribute blame ex post facto or the desire to substitute personal responsibility with the benefit of hindsight.

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by GreenhouseZ

Exactly. When Floridians head north to evacuate en masse, they end up stuck in traffic and running out of gas on the highway. Ahead of the storm that hit in 2017, several people I know just drove north to get out of dodge; then ended sitting in traffic for hours and couldn't find lodging once they got to GA, SC, Alabama, etc.



Yes, so many factors behind deciding whether to leave or stay. Some folks always stay, no matter what government officials say. Some do it because they think they know better, but most don't leave for the reasons you stated.

I've experienced several hurricanes, none of which threatened my life, and it was horribly stressful, during and after. The road to recovery will take years. Just sad all around.

I remember talking to someone that lived just south of the Tampa area when Irma hit. They were new to Florida and since they lived near the water decided to drive to Alabama for safety. It took them over 12 hours to get there and gave them a real scare stuck in traffic with that storm coming. Finding gas was not easy. They were not impressed at all with the way evacuations are conducted here. Thinking that the lanes on I-75 were all going to be northbound to speed things up, they found that wasn't the case at all. Shortly after they decided they were not cut out for living in Florida, and now live in Arizona.

So yes getting on the freeway and trying to escape Florida presents some serious issues, and may be more dangerous than staying put.

[GreenhouseZ]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

I remember talking to someone that lived just south of the Tampa area when Irma hit. They were new to Florida and since they lived near the water decided to drive to Alabama for safety. It took them over 12 hours to get there and gave them a real scare stuck in traffic with that storm coming. Finding gas was not easy. They were not impressed at all with the way evacuations are conducted here. Thinking that the lanes on I-75 were all going to be northbound to speed things up, they found that wasn't the case at all. Shortly after they decided they were not cut out for living in Florida, and now live in Arizona.

So yes getting on the freeway and trying to escape Florida presents some serious issues, and may be more dangerous than staying put.

Exactly right. An unsafe situation.

[SanyBelle]

Originally Posted by SanyBelle

I agree you can't live on Sanibel or Captiva without a car, but Sanibel has Jerry's Grocery Store and it has a few smaller stores, Bailey's is one, Huxters is another. I don't know Captiva well enough to know if it has a grocery store.

Quoting myself! lol

A friend just asked me how the island grocery stores will get stocked without trucks being able to drive groceries and supplies over the causeway. Does anyone know what the plan is, if there is one yet?

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by SanyBelle

Quoting myself! lol

A friend just asked me how the island grocery stores will get stocked without trucks being able to drive groceries and supplies over the causeway. Does anyone know what the plan is, if there is one yet?

I imagine those stores must be badly damaged.