So the emergency managers were told on Monday that there could be "Life threatening storm surges"

[Maraya1969]

They waited until Tuesday to tell people to leave and the storm hit on Wednesday. That many people coming off of 3 islands in Lee County in one day is not enough! Sanibel is mostly a 2 lane road from one end to the other. Can you imagine the traffic jams? They said they thought Ian would go further north, which is what I thought BUT I saw pictures of Naples FL which is far south of here in Collier county and they flooded. I saw video of cars sinking into the sea in Naples. The managers should have known that even if the hurricane went up to Tampa before it turned into the state the people in coastal Lee County were in grave danger because of the size of this thing.

I remember getting warnings on my phone with that loud beep like an Amber alert but only on Wed. after the storm hit.

They are still finding bodies. I blame the high death toll on inept politicians. I remember Irma and how it seemed like we watched the TV for a couple days before deciding to evacuate. (btw - Lee county is bright red.)

The whole thing is reminding me of Covid and how tfg kept saying, "It will just go away"

Fuck all of them.



https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127501943/hurricane-ian-florida-delayed-evacuations-lee-county



Many are looking at a decision by officials in Lee County to delay ordering a mandatory evacuation until Tuesday, September 27, the day before the hurricane made landfall. That was more than a day after the National Hurricane Center warned a "life-threatening" storm surge up to 7 feet could hit the county. At a press conference, County manager Roger Desjarlais said, "We did consider calling for an evacuation yesterday. But given the uncertainty of the path, the timing just wasn't right."

Desjarlais says one of the things that convinced local officials to order people to leave was that the track of the storm projected by the National Hurricane Center had shifted south and east. It was just a day before the storm ultimately made landfall in their county.

----------------------


Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis backed them up, saying, "As that track started to shift south in the computer models the next morning, they called for the evacuation, they opened their shelters and they responded very quickly to the data." DeSantis also lashed out at the media for continuing to, in his words to–"cast aspersions" by asking questions about the timing of the evacuation.


The National Hurricane Center routinely warns officials and the public not to focus solely on the storm's track and cone because the graphic doesn't show the areas that will be impacted or the size of the storm. And Ian was huge, almost 500 miles wide.

[mcar]

1. The track had been shifting south and east for several days

Lee Cty knew they were going to get something dangerous, even if not a direct hit.

This is negligence, pure and simple.

[GusBob]

2. I remember Katrina

And the failure to use the buses

And putting people in the Superdome

You must learn to rely on your own self and be prepared whenever dealing with Mother Nature and politicians

[OMGWTF]

10. And Barbara Bush saying that the people huddled in the Superdome never had it so good.

Or words to that effect.

[Brother Buzz]

19. To be fair, they parked the old battle-ax in the green room, stocked with alcohol, for a long time

I'm just saying.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Such a typical Florida reaction.

Sometimes I feel that the people in local and State government intentionally delay responses to the public until they can contact the inner circle first. Imagine the advantage that these privileged people had to evacuate 24 hours before everyone had the info.

[yardwork]

4. I've been reading that a lot of meteorologists were upset by the delay.

These scientists work hard to run predictive models, and when there's a delay in reporting that information to the public, and a delay in evacuations that causes deaths, it must be heartbreaking for them.

[samsingh]

5. don't forget republicans are pro-death and they are likely thrilled by the dead bodies

[Botany]

6. DeSantis was told and did nothing until it was too late.

Crist should be hammering that home.

[vanlassie]

7. Do people stay put unless the officials tell them to go?

I mean they must know the Florida officials are corrupt and stupid, right?

[TigressDem]

8. My only problem is that evacuation for storms this large could put someone IN the worst path

Storms do weird things when they hit land and IAN was SO HUGE that sending people to what seems safe could actually put them in the path when the storm shifts upon making land.

Because as bad as it is to be in a house when the storm hits, being in a car stuck in traffic in the path of the storm.... That might have caused more fatalities because those evacuating are like sitting ducks.

500 miles wide. Yikes.

[Maraya1969]

13. When the hurricane is heading north east you head the other way - since you can't go west you go

south east.

Where were the damn planners who should have figured out how to get the people out.

[TigressDem]

15. It hit land and turned south.

But to be safe, islands should have just been evacuated well before it was close enough to be problematic.

Because waiting means everyone going at once and panic and routes being jammed.

There has to be a better way.

[Pepsidog]

9. We will never know the true death toll as Fla is firmly in the grip of Deathsantis and

just like Covid deaths he will order that local and county officials not reveal the real numbers. I'm so sick of RWNJs in Florida.

[Callmecrazy]

11. Sorry, but I gotta disagree with all of you...

The eye of the storm went directly over my neighborhood. The day after the storm, I drove from Fort Lauderdale to North Port on I-75 to see what happened to my house. As I'm driving, I noticed some utility trucks entering the highway. Then I saw that it was a 10 mile long CONVOY of bucket trucks, pole setting trucks, fuelers and tender vehicles for these trucks heading west to start repairs. Hundreds of trucks.
A little north of Naples, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had hundreds of ambulances, fanboats for deep water rescue, and Kayaks heading North in another convoy. I was told that utility trucks were arriving near Lake Okeechobee for 2 days before the storm hit.
When I got near home, my road was under three feet of water and it was four days before I could see my house.
A popular radio station went 24-7 storm news where you could call in and ask about emergency services or go on-air and report flooded areas or restored power. This radio station was often the only source of information for people due to spotty internet and phone service.
The Governor and the state's Disaster Response Services were ready to go. Everything was in place. Services mobilized as soon as the wind got below 40mph. We've done this sort of thing before. Hurricanes are a part of life here.
So for all of you haters out there saying the State wasn't prepared, I gotta say, my house was in the eye's path and I applaud Gov. DeSantis in his handling of this crisis.
If he's gotta take the blame for things, he should also get the credit when it is deserved.

[babylonsister]

12. So do tell why it took so long to call for

mandatory evacuation if their planning indicated someone knew it was going to hit further south? And why so many dead bodies if they did everything right?

Also, do you know if shelters had been set up for those having to evacuate?

PS Do you also applaud desantis for using this catastrophe as a political photo op?

[Maraya1969]

16. Thank you. There were shelters open I don't know if there were as many as for Irma

[Callmecrazy]

20. Evacuations were called for 2 days before the storm hit..

Shelters had been established.
People too stupid to listen to warnings died. Had they evacuated, they'd probably be alive today
Can't help it being a photo op.
You know, Desantis was a logistics officer in the military. His experience at moving men and supplies around helped out a lot.

Look, I hate De Santis' ideas on how to run a state. He did this right. It has been well rehearsed.

[Maraya1969]

14. No one is talknig about after the storm. The article and what I wrote was about getting people out

of harms way.

All those emergency vehicles are worth nothing to the dead.

[malaise]

18. THIS

That is all

[TigressDem]

17. He is being blamed for not evacuating people sooner. You left your home and lived.

He got money for disaster recovery, and he's spending it properly.

Yes, good for him on that, but people's lives are worth something too.

This post is mourning people who died because of the macho attitude that didn't tell people to get out of the way of a 500 mile wide storm so they could live to tell the tale.

You want to praise DeSatan, maybe you got on the wrong board. I think QAnon is over that way.