The controversy of when the evacuation order was sent out is ridiculous to me. It is unnecessary drama at a time when the focus should be on the victims. I've lived most of my life in FL and been thru numerous hurricanes on both coasts. There are two types of people who don't evacuate.
There is and will always, be a certain percentage of people who will never evacuate. There are a number of reasons but typically, they're just in denial, stubborn, think someone is going to rob/loot their property, etc. You can see all kinds stories online now with these people calling themselves what they are: fools, stupid, denying it would be this bad, etc. Well, Mother Nature sent Hurricane Ian to give them a wake up call. It wouldn't matter if they had a weeks notice,
they ain't leavin'. The last article I read stated there were still 20 people on Sanibel island that won't evacuate. This is the type of people that are still there.
The other group is those that can't evacuate. These are people who are not physically able to. They have no resources like money or family to assist. They are not mobile, healthy, own a vehicle, no place to go or are mentally unable to comprehend what is going to happen. These are the people that suffer the most, the ones that die, they drown and their body floats away unaccounted for. Sadly, there is no system in place to help them in advance. They generally become the majority of those who need to be rescued.
Years ago, long before the internet, the local officials would go door to door, forcing people to evacuate. If someone refused, the standard response was
"please write your SSN on your arm so we can identify your body" and that scared people into evacuating.
It isn't the wind people, it's the water. Every. Single. Time.
JMO
www.wishtv.com
www.rawstory.com
