After Matthew, Some Second-Guess Decision to Evacuate

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

After Matthew, Some Second-Guess Decision to Evacuate

By CURT ANDERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS MIAMI — Oct 10, 2016, 1:01 PM ET

Maureen Miller, her family and dog were among the 2 million residents ordered to evacuate coastal areas in the Southeast ahead of Hurricane Matthew. They spent two nights in a hotel inland, and struggled through police roadblocks to return to their unscathed Brunswick, Georgia-area home on Saturday.

After all the hassle, they wish they hadn't left.

"I will never evacuate again," Miller said. "If we stayed, we'd be fine. I'm sure there are a lot of people who feel the same way."

Weather experts and government officials worry that people who quickly packed up and left but suffered little or no damage might be reluctant to evacuate next time, leading to deadly consequences.

"We are a culture that seems to get angry if the worst-case scenario doesn't happen and we prepare for it," said Marshall Shepard, director of the University of Georgia Atmospheric Sciences Program. "I am continually baffled at the people that seem to anger that there is not more loss of life and destruction. That is the point of evacuating."

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/matthew-guess-decision-evacuate-42704613

[Blue_Tires]

1. There's just no pleasing some people...

Clearly she wanted that self-congratulatory pat on the back for being oh-so-smart to leave when she did, and don't think for a second that she would have been waving that in everyone's face if true disaster did strike...

[cwydro]

2. I saw this when I lived in the Keys.

Even after the storms had passed, the authorities would not let the evacuees return immediately.

I never evacuated, and I cannot tell you how many phone calls I got from friends who could not get back in. They were furious.

[mercuryblues]

3. Would they have

been happier if their home was blown away?

Photos of the storm

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article107101192.html


http://www.thestate.com/news/local/a9t5zg/picture107101037/ALTERNATES/FREE_960/Battered

[Orrex]

4. I have known this type of person

They are convinced that the inconvenience that they faced during evacuation is greater than the trauma and loss suffered by those whose homes and lives were destroyed.

[GeorgeGist]

5. SOME is not MANY. EOM

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Same thing happened with Gustav.

We ended up in GA! What was normally a 8 hour drive took, 26 hours, and the return home was about 10 hours. We also had a bit of an issue getting back in, but it wasn't too bad. It falls into that "better safe, than sorry" category, because when it comes to hurricanes, they really can be unpredictable.

[EllieBC]

7. Not being a betting woman,

I would still prefer to evacuate and have the possible emergency turn into a dud than stay and lose my life or the lives of my kids.

[Ilsa]

8. Evacuating is expensive.

Gas, hotels, eating out, buying incidentals, etc, adds up. People want to get home and back to their normal lives. I can see why they are frustrated, but they need to be reminded of what could have happened to them if they hadn't left. Evacuation is like buying insurance -- you hope it won't be a necessity, but you do it anyway because you can't gamble with your and your family's lives.