Some people's hurricane evacuation plan is not to leave, 6 reasons why people stay home.

  I have a hard time understanding why some people do not evacuate an area that is being threatened

Fill-er-up and get in line, it will be alright soon. 

by a major storm. I am thinking about Hurricane Harvey, Irma and following them Jose. As most of us are seeing unfolding before our eyes is the total destruction of some of the barrier islands on the west side of the state of Florida. Most of the people on the islands could not evacuate, transportation out was difficult to obtain. It's not fair of us to pre-judge those that do decide to stay versus leaving, Let's take a look at some of the reasons according to Cara Cuite a Rutgers psychologist as told to Vox news:
  1)  Disabled people are reluctant to leave, either there is no one to help them or they cannot get out of their homes. Some disabled citizens are more likely to not evacuate because they are secure in their homes as far as medical needs are concerned, they decide to take the chance.
  2) Some people just don't hear the warnings, even though communication amongst us has never been easier with cell phones, TV, and even door to door notifications, still some do not get the message.
  3) Some cannot stand the thought of leaving their pets behind, most evacuation centers don't allow pets, although Congress in 2011 passed the Pets act mandating our disaster preparedness plans include planning for taking care of companion animals. Few states have adopted the law.
  4) Wealthy people as well refuse to leave, some feel they need to stay to guard their homes against vandalism and looting. They feel their homes are substantially built and they will survive.
  5) There are some, this reason makes sense to me, it's the little boy calling wolf. They have been through other storms that did not live up to the predictions of local agencies dealing with disasters. They may have left for earlier storms, upon returning they find no damage at all, except by looters or vandals.

A typical evacuation center, safe and dry. 

  6) Some people cannot leave due to finances, homelessness and other states of poverty. To be fair Florida is transporting people to evacuation centers, would it be a financial disaster to move everyone hundreds of miles then put them up in shelters? That is a decision our elected officials must make.
  All of the reasons cited above make a certain amount of sense, I have asked my self if I would evacuate, I don't know the answer to that. As some of the people on news cast (CNN, and the Weather channel) stated they would wait to see how strong the storm is when it makes land fall. I don't live in a hurricane threatened state so my perspective of a hurricane is most likely skewed by my lack of knowledge, I was in a few and they scared me. Still, my knowledge is limited.
  The mayor of Corpus Christi declared a "voluntary" evacuation, the local elected officials normally have a fairly good idea of what will transpire. Could the decision could be an automatic declaration? I don't think so, we all prefer to be directed or advised by a fellow human rather than an automatically initiated announcement. The decision has to be made by the highest ranking "elected official", they are the ones we voted for to make these types of decisions, they are the ones we want to make them.
  A "mandatory" evacuation declaration results in an increase of 6% higher rates of people leaving, where by a voluntary order results in 4%. (data is from Hurricane Ivan, 2004). I believe we then go back to "we've heard this before", some will never evacuate.
  I stated this morning as I was watching this powerful storm barreling towards Florida, "man I would have been gone the minute it was predicted to landfall as a Catagory 5." I'm not there, but as I said in an earlier blog stating some people decide to evacuate in the middle of the storm, (it happens in every storm) placing themselves and loved ones in peril. Stupidity? No, I don't think so, their decisions were made after examining the information they had available, their plan just simply did not work out, tragically. You see there is a real offset in how these storms are seen, me being in California sees them differently than the people experiencing it. I worked with a man from Florida in California, he was deathly afraid of his first earthquake, he was like I am observing from afar. We had an earthquake, I believe it was about a 4 on the Richter scale, the epicenter hundreds of miles distant. His reaction? "Hey, that was nothing." Earthquakes normally are non-events, we have small ones all the time, he however related them to some that occurred in Chile and Mexico City.
  It was found that people that were not financially secure enough were practicing "proactive measures" to prepare. Active in their communities, they know everyone in their vicinity, and they care about and for one another. Most of these people saw leaving as a selfish move, they had to stay to make sure everyone else is OK, that's humanity for you. All of the volunteers during Harvey did not surprise me one bit, many others feel as I do as well, we are a compassionate species.
  We hear officials telling people to write their social security numbers on their arms with indelible ink, fill out a "next of kin" form, telling people there will be no help available and do not call 911, no one is home. Are they just scare tactics or are they things that must be declared so people know what they are faced with? Would less of a declaration make it a voluntary evacuation? Do people need to be told what the best roads out are and where to go to find help? Tough questions, we saw many answered by the people attempting to control the out of control Oroville Dam evacuation, the debate of how the decision was made is just coming out. To perform research on why or why not people evacuate is almost an impossible task. If I were to be a member of a research poll and was asked how I might respond to a mandatory or voluntary evacuation, I don't know how I would answer that, do you? Predicting what people do during a disaster is impossible, I do know one thing, more people run toward a problem than away from one, not everyone has that trait but a large number do. Evacuations are very difficult to get right, after the event there are always Monday morning quarterbacks, most officials don't think of that while deciding what to do, but it raises its head almost immediately following the directives.
  After the decision to order an evacuation, making it mandatory, if the forecast changes, if the storm weakens, dissipates or heads in another direction the next evacuation order will most likely not go too well. People remember some things and believing they were misled by public officials is right at the top of the list, It's easy to understand that thinking. The New York Times outlined some strategies when communicating to people about hurricanes with one of them being not to compare this disaster with the last one, it gives people a false sense of security, so they stay. Warnings must be as specific as they can possibly be, with a set deadline to leave, hence the warning to write your SS number on your arm.

There is a lot of power in that wind in excess of 100 mph. 

  Evacuations are ultimately how the residents see the danger in the disaster, it all gets rendered down to perception, scare tactics, logically listing the dangers, and the strength of the catastrophe all come into play. A hurricane most often is preceded by warnings a few days in advance making them much different than a tornado or earthquake. Maybe that fact makes people hesitant to leave as well when earthquakes occur we have no idea what's going on, even as it is happening. (It's true, I've been in them just to look up at bewildered faces, finally realizing we're having an earthquake.) I've been in tornadoes, watching the clouds for the tell tale pointed tip of the cyclone dropping out of the clouds, then I headed for cover. My grandfather found his father died in a horse trough after a tornado tore through his home as a child in Minnesota.
  Experience, current information and perception of the event all factor into the decision whether to stay or leave, every one must decide for themselves, I just hope everyone ends up OK. The decision I am having a hard time with is the people who decide to "ride out the storm" in their boats. My experience is from an 80 mile an hour wind that occurred on our island about 5 years ago. There was a 50-foot house boat tied to our dock, they are like bill boards or a rigid huge sail. The wind caught the boat pushing it against the dock breaking the 12" diameter treated wood pylons at the mud line on the bottom of the river. The boat and dock were free to do whatever the wind dictated, there is a wood constructed walking bridge 200 yards down the wind from us. I was able to secure the boat, our home owners insurance covered the damage. (However, they dropped us shortly after that.) A little advice, home owners does not cover damage caused by water, it covers wind damage. When reporting to the insurance company it must be all wind caused, do not mention water at all or it is covered by flood insurance. That's how that works. The people intending to ride the storm out in their boats are placing themselves in a very precarious position, being a boat person I would not do that. A boat is a hollow piece of fiberglass, very light having a large wind resistant area, a wind of 150 miles per hour is more than capable of lifting a large boat out of the water causing whatever happens next after it gets done flying through the air. I truly hope and pray it all works out for them, but then again it is their decision and they may very well know something I don't... A little marine safety can be read about by clicking here.
  Thanks for reading, I'd like to hear your comments, this is a tougher subject than it appears at the surface, one thing we all assume is that after the storm leaves its destructive path, more decisions must be made.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com