Why Don't People Evacuate?

[ck2007]

As a resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, who stayed AND survived Katrina, I have to say that evacuating is not as easy as it seems!!
Sure, you have days in advance to plan and prepare and evacuate. But look at it this way, taking Katrina for example. There's a storm crossing over Florida and has made it's way into the Gulf of Mexico, we're still a couple days out and the path of this storm is uncertain, so now you have people all along the coasts of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida who may or may not be expecting this storm head on. Try being on the Gulf Coast with a hurricane approaching, these hotels up north state are booked and full and no occupancy. You have tons of people fleeing north, the rooms fill up quick. Not to mention hotels (and the gas stations) price gauging.

Another reason - Shortage of gas. If there's a chance we're due to expect a storm, everyone flocks to the gas stations. Filling up vehicles, gas jugs, and whatever else. These lines are long, every store is running out of gas and putting limits on how much each person can get. The Chevron refinery was so backed up with trucks waiting to get gas, the traffic due to people evacuating hold up the gas trucks on their way to deliver gas. And not to mention, the refinery has to shut down several hours/days before a hurricane gets close. So then there's no gas to deliver. Families who didn't get paid until right before the storm or whatever the reason now have no chance to get gas.

And the third reason - with all of these people evacuating can you only imagine the traffic!? Sure we have I-10, our main highways and our back roads as evacuation routes, but with everyone leaving at one time heading in the same direction is a disaster. People got stuck. Did you know people were stuck on I-10 and all along our evacuation routes DURING Katrina? Too many people, not enough road, or whatever else may factor into it.

With that being said, it's not that easy. During Katrina I was a teenager and still lived with my parents, we lived LESS then half a mile from the Gulf of Mexico, you could see the Gulf from our driveway. Did we try to evacuate? YES. Could we? NO. The CLOSEST hotel that had available rooms that we found was in North Tennesee! And due to my fathers work, he had to stay and take care of preparations at work. We had lots of family who couldn't leave, some didn't have the money, others couldn't find a place to evacuate to. So we all stayed in our house. Worst experience of my life! To hear the tornados touching down around us, to watch the water rush into our home and to come through the walls. To watch out neigbors houses crumble and float through our yard. I don't wish that on anyone.

But those are just some of the reasons why everyone can't just up and leave. We aren't stupid, it's just alot harder then it seems. It's absolute chaos. I know some wont understand, but they don't live here and they didn't go through it. That's just how it is. And thank you for volunteering here after Katrina. Katrina DESTROYED Mississippi, a natural disaster broke us. A FAULT in a MAN MADE levee destroyed New Orleans. We all suffered, and we all needed help and alot STILL do.

Also I want to add - Mississippi has not seen such storm since Camille. Since then we've had tons of storms since then, we know what they do we know we can survive. We have to use our judgement if we want to leave for say a Cat 1, 2 storm. Do we need to miss a week of pay when we know we are only going to get wind and rain? Some people can't afford to just up and leave, and when they can its last minute and there's no where to go. The areas affected by Sandy are not prone to storms as we are on the Gulf Coast, so they had no idea what to expect.

[texdav]

As a resident of gulf coast ;I can contest unless you want to be in crowded buses ;placed in terrible pulbic shleters ;it takes funding. Normally I and wife spend at least a thousdand dollars even after spendig hours o the telhone getting reservations and driving perhaps as far as 100+ miles. Les tha that often if not right on shore its better to ride a strom espeiclaly a cat 1 or lowe 2 out;at elast where I live. I fact the local emergency managemnt does not call for evacuation i a cat 1 ness right o shoreline. Evacuation can be every reting an dangerous.Houston for example was called for evacuation Gustof. My siter in law and husband drove for four hours and never got out of hosuton area. They turend around in fustraiton and where home in 20 minutes.Large cities with millions can be near impossible;IMO.By the way it never hit houston area .

[adamosgp]

Some of it is stupidity, some of it is not having the ability to evacuate for health or transportation reasons, some of it is a lack of funds, some of it is that unknown of how far away from home do you have to travel and having enough gas and rations and money to stay away for an unknown amount of time.

Being born and raised in Orlando, I've never evacuated from home. It helps when you're in a concrete/block home. But half the battle is your home foundation being high enough from ground level or living in a neighborhood with a solid drainage system to avoid flood problems.

People think about winds, but they never contemplate the amount of rainfall that occurs. Frances is a perfect example. It was a massive storm that packed so-so winds but hovered over Central Florida (sometimes being stationary) for 36-48 hours straight dumping feet of rain.

Hurricane Charley was the rare anomaly. It went from hitting the panhandle to making an abrupt turn towards Punta Gorda and eventually Orlando. Charley was so fast, tiny, yet super powerful. It hit the state a very strong Category 4 yet still managed to hold together as a Category 1 as it exited Daytona Beach. I find that phenomenal. Charley hit Orlando as a solid Category 3 and caused a ridiculous amount of damage. All I lost was a ****ty wooden fence and some shingles thankfully. Had no power for about 2 weeks. It didn't bother me, but there were countless people suffering through some extra hot, humid August temperatures following Charley.

Even if you're confident in your home's sturdy exterior and concrete foundation, you have to factor in the potential vulnerability of your neighbors' homes falling apart around you. You have to worry about trees, flooding, electric cables.

[miamihurricane555]

To be honest most of the times that an evacuation is called for, it's not necessary as a result people get tired of the boy who cried wolf. as for me personally because i don't live in an evacuation zone I will NEVER evacuate I live in a solid concrete house that went through Hurricane Andrew although we didn't get the worst of it we still got category 3 conditions. Now as for the people who live on Miami Beach if I were them I wouldn't evacuate until there is a small sized cat 3,a medium sized category 2 or a large in diameter cat 1 coming and that's if I live on the first floor. the reality is is that unless there is a major hurricane coming or a sandy sized cat 1 or 2 you don't need to evacuate( i'm using my personal knowledge of the South Florida coastline and historical hurricane surges in the area my criteria most likely won't work along another more surge prone coast in the gulf)