TRIGGER WARNING I can’t believe some people aren’t evacuating in Florida

[Newsenmum]

I really don’t mean to be insensitive. This hurricane Milton is terrifying but I’m really struggling to understand this. I know there are some awful situations where people can’t drive/are disabled or elderly and feel helpless but what I CAN’T understand is people not trying. Like they’re completely putting their head in the sand.

I’m part of a few mum Facebook groups that are mostly American. I kid you not, people are staying in zones with their little babies where there is mandatory evacuation. Some reasons why they aren’t leaving:

• my dog is aggressive and won’t be allowed in the shelter, so I’m staying put with him and going to hope and pray. Why is the dog worth more than a kid?
• i have too many animals which don’t fit in the car, I’m worried about the chickens (!!) again.. wtf? Basically suicide for their kids because they don’t want to leave chickens!
• im from flORIda so I’ll be fine! Hopefully it’s not as bad as they think. I don’t want to disrupt us. wtf??
• my babies have a block safe room and that’s ‘normally fine’

There are other Americans trying to send them money, urging them to go storm shelters or at least a bit more inland!

These are people in areas that have 15ft storm surge, there is so much debris already around that is going to be trashing their houses. If they want a certain death for themselves then fine but can’t get over them not saving their babies 😭😭😭 all because they won’t leave the bloody chickens that are going to drown either way!!

People gonna people

What's ids though is people not filling up with petrol days before just in case? No buses or trains running?

I would imagine there have been queues and empty petrol stations for days. Looks at what happens here at the hint of a shortage.

Buses and trains? Public transport in the US is dire.

uber are doing free journeys. There are still warnings going out to get as far away from the coast as possible.

There will be some who have no choice. I’m not talking about them.

There's live cameras that show different areas of the Florida coast and it's starting to hit.

Everything has a bloody trigger warning these days. Together with an exhortation to "be kind".

It's the worst storm in 100 years so very much is their first rodeo.

One of my favourite Tiktok creators is in Florida (not on the coast, but still in the path of the hurricane) and posted a video yesterday to explain why he and his family aren't evacuating. He looks exhausted and he sounds scared but his reasoning is solid. Not everyone has options.

I'm scared for the people on the coast who can't evacuate because they simply don't have the means. I have seen advice like "keep tools in the attic in case the flooding is so bad you have to cut through your roof to get out". Not to mention things I had never considered, like alligators and snakes in the flood water. It sounds terrifying.

Sadly with cases like that (not people who genuinely can't leave through immobility, social isolation and total lack of resources) it's the survival of the fittest thing.
It's deeply terrible for their children who don't have a choice and would choose to leave if they knew what was coming. It's just astonishing how stupid people can be about this kind of risk where it's plastered over the news and social media for days about the level of danger and needing to leave.
Is it lack of imagination? Is it arrogance?
Being so distracted from the importance of survival and protecting your kids that you prioritise an angry dog or chickens over them is completely baffling.

Don't judge people until you walk a mile in their shoes, or at least have weathered a few hurricanes, like most of the people in Florida have. They're in a better position than you to make decisions about their own circumstances.

My husband has lived through two wars in the middle east and the second one his family stayed home for. People are extremely rooted to their home/homelands and I do not blame people for wanting to stay.

People have different life experiences.

why does this need a trigger warning? the title says what it is. how is it triggering and of what? hurricanes? in florida?

Who decided animals lives were less than humans?

Wow. I hope you're not serious. Or a parent.

Everywhere like CNN and Fox are still calling it a Cat 4 hurricane. Where are you reading about the downgrade?

There is a lot of ignorance generally. There are some people who are talking about it being the fault of the democrats and a way to get rid of Trump voters (I’m deadly serious). A lot of these people genuinely have no idea what’s they’re doing.

People have different life experiences.

And some of them won't have a life if they willingly choose the wrong one.

Doesn't apply in every case, but this Guardian article goes through some reasons

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/09/hurricane-milton-evacuation-logisticsq

@CrumbleintheJungle that's an awful thing to say. Truly awful. Reported.

Some people can't leave. Maybe some of them are thinking up any possible reason to justify staying, because telling yourself you're there by choice is better than knowing you're trapped?

If I couldn’t take my dog I wouldn’t go. His life is as precious

You've GOT to be fucking kidding me

I wouldn’t leave my dogs there to die, if they weren’t allowed in a shelter I’d evacuate and find somewhere pet friendly or even sleep in a car or the streets rather than abandon them. But I’d still bloody evacuate. Still can’t believe the government has done nothing to evacuate those that are unable to evacuate themselves.

Even crazier that some brits flew out yesterday for their Disney holdiay and were excited their flight got moved from today. Posted it in a Disney group and I was speechless

Yes! I don't get this either. Maybe it's because it would worsen a severe bottleneck further up ..?

When New Orleans happened I remember saying surely it would make sense for them to be building a lot more and I mean a lot more train lines- you can get a lot of people out quickly by train - the other thing is an awful lot of people in the US really live on the edge paycheck to paycheck ( same as parts of the Uk) and don't have the money to just go and book them all into motels for goodness knows how long -

The theme parks are not an evacuation zone. They're open right now, closing in the next hour or so just for a day and a half.

Exactly.

He has had tons of offers to leave and be paid for- but he's being deliberately stubborn.
You can't fix stubborn.

He says God will look after him.