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I just watched the news and saw where there is still some people who decided to stay in New Orleans and ride out the hurricane. Why on earth would anybody deliberately stay and experience a hurricane and risk dying? It is just not worth it, especially when the whole city of New Orleans is basically shut down as most people were smart and evacuated.
DWF, I was glad to see that you started a thread on this and that others feel the same way that I do. I also watched a news story on WGN~Chicago news that had the same thing. They interviewed a shop owner and he said he was selling more sandwiches then normal and his business was booming so much he had no intention of leaving. I thought~WHAT? Making that extra money is worth losing your life? And what are all his patrons still doing there? It's just ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. They might luck out, but it could be a very dangerous situation.
Location: from houstoner to bostoner to new yorker to new jerseyite ;)
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Some people interviewed by the news channels may not want to admit it, but often they don't have money or any place to go or reliable transportation to get them there. Evacuating can be expensive. Sometimes it may be that an elder family member doesn't want to leave, or it would be a ***** to move them, and tough decisions have to be made. Southerners are very close to their families. There might not be enough cars for everyone to leave, so a collective decision is made to stay and ride it out, or for one or two family members to stay behind. Something similar happened to a friend of mine. Her family decided since she was the youngest and single with no family (she was a college student) she should stay behind with their mother while they got out of Dodge. There wasn't enough room for everyone in the various cars and her mother was old and sick and didn't want to leave. I've known a couple families with that issue actually. Some people are very attached to their homes and businesses and would rather stay behind and try to protect them. I don't understand that one myself, but these people usually seem to think if it's your time, it's your time. Others may have had bad previous experiences evacuating, such as a woman I know whose dog of I don't know how many years died in the backseat while they were idling on the freeway in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the 90+ degree heat without gas. These are just some of the scenarios I'm personally familiar with that influence people to stay behind and ride it out.
Nomadicus and houstoner - great points. (As I'm typing this from Beaumont, Texas)
I stayed behind because I have elderly aunts who refused to leave. In a case like this one has to have enough food, water, a generator, full tank and extra gallons of gas and a strong brick home.
I could stay with cousins in Dallas like I did during Rita or with my step-sister in Houston. Someone had to stay to take care of those stubborn women.
Hey... you just work with what you have.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DFW8
I just watched the news and saw where there is still some people who decided to stay in New Orleans and ride out the hurricane. Why on earth would anybody deliberately stay and experience a hurricane and risk dying? It is just not worth it, especially when the whole city of New Orleans is basically shut down as most people were smart and evacuated.
The same kind of people who would move into a home that is 10 feet below the sea and depend on the government to protect them.
Nomadicus and houstoner - great points. (As I'm typing this from Beaumont, Texas)
I stayed behind because I have elderly aunts who refused to leave. In a case like this one has to have enough food, water, a generator, full tank and extra gallons of gas and a strong brick home.
I could stay with cousins in Dallas like I did during Rita or with my step-sister in Houston. Someone had to stay to take care of those stubborn women.
Hey... you just work with what you have.
How are the weather conditions in Beaumont? I have some friends there and I haven't been able to get in contact with them so I don't know if they evacuated or if they are still there.
Nomadicus and houstoner - great points. (As I'm typing this from Beaumont, Texas)
I stayed behind because I have elderly aunts who refused to leave. In a case like this one has to have enough food, water, a generator, full tank and extra gallons of gas and a strong brick home.
I could stay with cousins in Dallas like I did during Rita or with my step-sister in Houston. Someone had to stay to take care of those stubborn women.
Hey... you just work with what you have.
You are absolutely right about working with what you have. There are times win kindness mandates our destiny even when we think it it not the prudent thing to do. Wishing the best for you and your aunt. Please post as soon as you can to let us know you 2 are OK.
John, thank you for the enlightenment. I had actually never thought about some of those things. But some of the stories that are airing aren't people in that situation. I'm still upset about the people who are toughing it out on a boat and they have their children with them. I read about it on here last night and early this morning, DH told me the story cause he'd seen it on TWC.
Right now it appears that they have buses and a way for people to evacuate if they want to. The only thing I can think of is that there isn't sufficient transportation out. Guess we'll find out if that's the case. Thankfully after the Katrina incident, people realized that many of us would not desert our pets and that was the reason that some stayed behind. So if nothing else good came out of that storm, at least that policy was changed.
That is a sad story about your friend's dog. We watched the Houston area evacuate and saw the traffic jams and problems. I felt SO sorry for those people.
Just hoping that you and your Aunties are safe and I also hope you'll post when you're able to.
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Making that extra money is worth losing your life?
And what are all his patrons still doing there?
