Immediate search and rescue in mandatory evacuation zones?

[HurryKane]

It has been explained to us folks here that when a mandatory evac is called, it means that you are strongly urged to leave the area. No emergency services will be available during the event, and if you stay, you need to understand that you are on your own for the duration of the event. Makes sense even to those of us who "hang out in the swamp"

T-man, the swamp thing was a jab at myself. I got stuck in a NOLA swamp and dhweather had to come get me and my dummy friends.

[T-man]

No worries, HK- I hang out in the swamp, and that's a fact. I admit that maybe I thought you were referring to me, but it's all good-my coonass skin is thick

[dhweather]

A good discussion, but aren't we skirting the core issue? The words "mandatory evacuation". As it stands now, it isn't! Now what part of those words doesn't a society understand? And when dealing with mother nature why is anyone allowed to have any option in this! Civil liberties, forget it when a hurricane is coming. 100% have to go, no questions, no delays. Take a clue from countries who are adept at dealing with approaching storms and realize the status quo is not working. How much proof do we need?

BINGO!

Fidel Castro makes his folks leave, he gets them to safe shelter.
He's furious if one person dies. Mandatory is mandatory there.

But here, you can refuse mandatory and expect the gubbamint to come
bail you out.

I'm outraged with the poeple that DROVE to the superdome, parked,
and waited to ride Katrina out. You have a car and STAYED?

[dhweather]

Nice discussion folks.

I still think we need some form of accountability for people that are ABLE
to evacuate but REFUSE to evacuate.

Just from a business case, the US has invested a fortune in training
first responders. Why should they go out immediately after a hurricane
for folks that refused to leave? Let them sit a day or two, it won't kill
them. Hell, people sat on their roof in New Orleans for 4-6 days.

Again, hurrcanes are like terrorist attacks in one aspect - you only
have to be wrong once and you may very well die. Fortunately, we
have MUCH better intelligence for hurricanes, plenty of time to prepare,
and know the consequences.

Ouch. I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one, bud. How are you going to determine which ones refused to leave, and which ones couldn't? Maybe they didn't know about it (it's plausible), maybe they aren't familiar with the danger that a hurricane of a certain strength brings because they are new to the area/don't watch the weather/etc. How do you know that the ones who stayed aren't without life-saving dialysis, medications, oxygen, what have you, and that those two days could mean the difference between life and death?

I would never be able to sit back and watch someone suffer when the means to help them is there, just because they made a mistake. You'd move heaven and earth to help Pootus no matter what she does, and all people deserve the same benefit of the doubt and help that you feel those close to you do.

Except you know, dummies who hang out in swamps.

In many cases, there were door to door evacuation notices by law
enforcement and other agencies. Make 'em sign a "I refused to
evacuate" order. Keep a list.

The bottom line is we must do a MUCH better job of evacuating, and
getting people to understand the risks. We must push responsibility down
to the individual level so they evacuate and not expect the government
to come bail them out "if it gets bad".

You are looking at what, $100 to evacuate? Yeah, that's a good chunk of
change. But look at the thousands of dollars per hour that search and
resuce costs, and compare.


I still applaud the residents of Galveston for their timely evacuation for
Rita. That's the way it should be done - textbook. I'd much rather
evacuate for no reason than be stuck on my roof for a week.

[Downdraft]

Look folks I'm in the fire department and I can definitely state 75% of the calls we run are totally stupid. Does that mean we should junk the millions of dollars of fire/rescue equipment we have? We are not going into homes and drag people out of them to evacuate. That's not what this country is about and thank God for that. I'm sure the same remark was heard in the cockpit of every Coast Guard/Navy/Army/Marine helicopter flying over New Orleans ...."look there's another idiot to pick up." Then they went and picked them up. Often with personal risk to themselves. Nothing is ever going to change because people don't like to think about bad things. So, they ignore them till it's to late. It's just human nature regretfully.
There was a sheriff down in south Texas years ago that went around telling people to evacuate for a hurricane. When someone said they wouldn't leave he handed them a toe tag and told them to fill it out and attached it to their big toe. He said it would make it easier to identify them after they had been floating around in the Gulf of Mexico for a few days. Most got the message loud and clear.