Evacuating when told to by Government Officials

[rhoda_bruce]

I don't want to join that circus. Did it once and that was enough for Georges.
DH and I are both Civil Service employees and as a result have to remain until everything South of the flood gates are evacuated and all the boats are safely inside the safe harbors; therefore we would be at the tail end of the line of traffic. We don't buy the newest vehicles; in fact we drive our old ones into the grave. Therefore, we wouldn't want to chance a 500 mile trip in hazardous conditions.
Plus we have about 100+ small farm animals and no one to tend them. We have 6 children and really don't want to figure how to feed that crew on the road for a week, without a homebase. Then the dogs and the possibility of having our home broken in and robbed in our absence.
For Gustave our local government issued a mandatory evacuation, but we ignored it. The phone kept ringing with warnings that we were required to leave and were not supposed to still be home. So I got to fear that the police were using the phone to discover who was home, so I stopped answering it.
911 was turned off, but I know I'm on my own once the storm is here. My house is 8 feet up, so even if our levee fails, I should be fine. I have 2 generators one natural gas and one gasoline powered. They take turns either running my whole house or running the bare necessities. I keep a lot of dried goods, canned goods and frozen meats, milks, etc. So panic shopping isn't really necessary. I like to make sure all my propane bottles are filled, just in case the gas is turned off, so I can cook. I also fill a few days supply of water in the largest containers I have...that is never really necessary, but you never know. We keep an eye on the family homes and our immediate neighbor's house and they somehow extend favors to reimburse us for our troubles. We keep their food frozen, dogs fed, etc.
Now the storm is always really wild and your heart does skip a beat or 2. But I have lived through hurricanes all my life (45 years old) and my parents/grandparents before me.
The police made my grandparents leave for Gustave, so my whole family (except my household) went to my parents camp. My mom regreted it right away. First of all, too many relatives in a small space for too many hours can stink. Then, although the storm was @ home, the bands hit in the surrounding areas and they lost power, so she said, if she was home, she would be alone and have all her things and could use her generator.
I understand people thinking we should leave, but we either face the monster that is being tracked on radar or we face other possible monsters on our travels and return to rotten food, stolen goods, dead animals and naturally the mess of debris we know will be waiting.
My best friends left. They told us they paid over 1,200 dollars in expenses to go to TN for almost a week. I paid nothing that I wouldn't have had to pay any other day.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Fire is a definite danger for us. Much more so then earthquakes.
So that is one where we would evacuate for sure.
Our menagerie is small enough that we can fit all of them in the truck if need be.
Course the turkeys would likely be riding shotgun
We do have family on the other side of the mountains where we could put all of them up at.
I am working on bug out bags for all of us. Not as a post apop thing, but more for if the house were to burn down, we would have the important stuff.
I plan to actually keep them in a separate building away from the house, and will update them as often as needed.
I have this fear of the house burning down in the dead of winter, and not having a stitch to wear, and the baby being stuck in a nasty diaper.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Shortly after either Katrina and Rita (aka the Twisted Sisters) or Gustave, someone wrote a letter to the editor about Cajun Looters. They claimed that they and several of their neighbors were victims.
The letter claimed that they had evacuated for the storm and came home to discover that the trees and large branches which had fallen in their yard, had been vandalized with a chainsaw and cut into log size and neatly piled close to where they had fallen. Also there was evidence of a small, container fire which apparently disposed of most of the very small branches scattered about their yards. In addition, their house was broken into and extension cords were scattered from the refrigerators and freezers to their front doors, which apparently were plugged into the portable generator which the looters were taking house to house to keep everyone's food from thawing.
The letter suggests that perhaps there were other cases of Cajun looting in the area in other neighborhoods and that in their case, they suspected the culprit may have been a near relative. Spoke of bringing the culprit to justice for their crimes.

 

[baymule]

Shortly after either Katrina and Rita (aka the Twisted Sisters) or Gustave, someone wrote a letter to the editor about Cajun Looters. They claimed that they and several of their neighbors were victims.
The letter claimed that they had evacuated for the storm and came home to discover that the trees and large branches which had fallen in their yard, had been vandalized with a chainsaw and cut into log size and neatly piled close to where they had fallen. Also there was evidence of a small, container fire which apparently disposed of most of the very small branches scattered about their yards. In addition, their house was broken into and extension cords were scattered from the refrigerators and freezers to their front doors, which apparently were plugged into the portable generator which the looters were taking house to house to keep everyone's food from thawing.
The letter suggests that perhaps there were other cases of Cajun looting in the area in other neighborhoods and that in their case, they suspected the culprit may have been a near relative. Spoke of bringing the culprit to justice for their crimes.

 

[MsPony]

My biggest threat is fire. There are landslides (I'm more towards the ocean thankfully) and possible tsunami, but were pretty well protected by the islands. Oh and earthquake, whatever about that though. We had a earthquake drill in hs and on our way back we had a rolling earthquake lol, we kept walking.

Anyways, I can't tell you the sheer terror fire brings, no one knows until they have been through one. Nothing compares to it, except tornadoes. I remember one fire when I was 17, we evacuated the horses and went to grab the cat and birds. My mom and trainers husband sat on the porch watching the flames crest the canyon next to us. I sat up all night cuddling the cat as I wondered if her and her horses would have a home to go to back to.

Fires, I evacuate, always.

 

[ORChick]

My biggest threat is fire. There are landslides (I'm more towards the ocean thankfully) and possible tsunami, but were pretty well protected by the islands. Oh and earthquake, whatever about that though. We had a earthquake drill in hs and on our way back we had a rolling earthquake lol, we kept walking.

Anyways, I can't tell you the sheer terror fire brings, no one knows until they have been through one. Nothing compares to it, except tornadoes. I remember one fire when I was 17, we evacuated the horses and went to grab the cat and birds. My mom and trainers husband sat on the porch watching the flames crest the canyon next to us. I sat up all night cuddling the cat as I wondered if her and her horses would have a home to go to back to.

Fires, I evacuate, always.

I would too, especially in Santa Barbara. That canyon is like a funnel directing the flames right down to the town. Friends in Solvang described the big fire that you guys had there some years back, maybe the same one you are remembering. It was devastating; you must have been terrified.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I would think that most of us can live (and even tough out the problem) anywhere and remain even when the danger is coming provided we understand where we are, what might happen and have taken steps and built according to the dangers.
I admit that some dangers are severe....I mean, short of having underground homes, I'm not sure what to do about tornados and fires.
I guess I'm more afraid to take the road than to stay.

 

[garden pixy]

I just don't imagine being able to go anywhere, NJ is over populated and the roads are already parking lots. You need to cross a bridge to leave the state, so if flooding is a problem it's on all sides. I am far enough inland to avoid storm surge from a hurricane or nor'easter. Fires are unlikely because we are in an area with more pavement than trees. we would just need to hunker down and hope for the best, we can go a few weeks without utilities, and have plenty of food saved. If I ever did need to leave all our animals would be in carriers in the mini van, it will be crowded, but no one would need to be left behind.

 

[Denim Deb]

I just don't imagine being able to go anywhere, NJ is over populated and the roads are already parking lots. You need to cross a bridge to leave the state, so if flooding is a problem it's on all sides. I am far enough inland to avoid storm surge from a hurricane or nor'easter. Fires are unlikely because we are in an area with more pavement than trees. we would just need to hunker down and hope for the best, we can go a few weeks without utilities, and have plenty of food saved. If I ever did need to leave all our animals would be in carriers in the mini van, it will be crowded, but no one would need to be left behind.

You said basically what I said about leaving Jersey! And, you're farther north than I am. You could possibly head for the NY/NJ border. But, I'd be stuck here. The bridges to DE and PA would be packed!

 

[Veggie PAK]

I would suggest that everybody look around their area during normal rush hour traffic if you have that. Look at it. If the traffic is snarled on a weekday, imagine what it would be if EVERYBODY (or almost everybody) was trying to leave, even within a few hours of each other. People would die in their cars because they wouldn't be able to get out before they ran out of gasoline. How about vehicle breakdowns and accidents? Then there's Road Rage to consider in those instances. If you don't leave 3 or 4 days early, you better plan to hunker down where you are.