Essays

May, 2004

I Will Not Leave

By John Guy

Under threat of a hurricane, west coast Floridians do not leave their homes.
In their psyches, property and pets are more important than human life.

My wife Chichi and I observed this attitude, close up, while cruising from
The Keys to Clearwater in early 2005. We asked people about Hurricane
Charley (August, 2004), and observed these various circumstances:

First, an 85-year-old lady, competent and alert, told us that she did not
leave Punta Gorda because she wanted "to protect her home." She also said that she never again would remain when a hurricane threatens.

Second, a married couple living near Punta Gorda, admitting that they had at least four hours warning, stated that they did not leave because "hurricane shelters would not accept our pets."

Thirdly, and more to the point, a retired couple living on a low-lying cay
described their plan: they will not leave home for recreational or family
travel any time during the hurricane season, but they are ready to move to a
secondary personal property, less than thirty minutes away, "when authorities tell us to evacuate."

Based on our experiences as cruisers, including conversations with a weather forecaster, the numerous printed stories about what happens to a small vessel during a hurricane, and direct observations of massive destruction in Punta Gorda, we find these actions and points of view bizarre.

If we were residents of west coast Florida, our plan would be straight
forward. On one hand, given opportunities for personal travel, we would
leave the area, believing that survival of our property is beyond control.
If we happened to be there at the wrong time, we would leave immediately on observing that the National Hurricane Center's envelope of projected risk
included our home.

We would not wait for "authorities to act," because an official evacuation
order can result only in traffic jams. Our goal would be to move at least
200 miles away, pets and all. Also, we would not acquire a secondary,
theoretically safer property, within a hundred miles, believing that a
single storm might damage or destroy two personal properties instead of one.

For us, a few nights in a distant motel are a small price to pay for
security, comfort, and for life itself.