Poverty. The answer is always poverty. Evacuation is not free and never has been.
Currently sitting in the Tampa Bay area while a category 5+ hurricane comes barreling at me. I’m in flood zone D next to E so I shouldn’t have any issues there. In a building that is solid brick/cinderblock construction, built like a bunker. Don’t worry about me. I got water, food, and enough fat to get me through the winter as they say.
The one thing I don’t have is the hundreds or thousands of dollars it would take to drive 2+ states away and get a hotel for a week. I simply don’t have it. Then you have all these people in places like Missouri or Montana posting this question about why people would not evacuate. We don’t have the goddamn money. It’s not hubris. We SHOULD evacuate. I don’t see any of the people saying this offering up a spot on their couch. We should always evacuate… somewhere other than the house of the person who thinks we should, apparently.
While there are free shelters, those tend to fill up pretty quickly. There’s also a guilt associated with calling them for help if you have a secure place to stay, since homeless people and those with vulnerable mobile homes/trailers/RVs are among those that need them the most.
Most people would absolutely need to bust out the credit card and go into debt to evacuate, and go even further into debt if they want a place where their car doesn’t risk getting flooded. While it’s illegal to jack up prices for water and gas during a hurricane, as far as I’ve seen hotels are usually free game, especially as we’re getting closer to the holiday season. If anyone even bothers to report them later, they can just say they were planning on raising prices for Halloween events anyway. Add in the fact that many people don’t get paid time off, so that’s an extra couple of days of lost wages. Yesterday would have been the day to say fuck it and whip out your card, as I imagine today that the cheapest and safest Airbnb/hotels are all booked up. Surely many of them were already half booked with tourists, since many tourism guides say you can avoid hurricanes as long as you visit in the fall. (Hurricane season actually ends Nov 30th, a fact that might become much more relevant in the next few years.) Canceling toll charges is obviously pennies compared to the rest of the cost, anyone that acts like that’s enough is a deeply unserious individual.
The roads will probably be pretty clogged if you travel north today. I do feel a little bad for saying not to travel south yesterday, as some people on here have gone that route. They probably won’t deal with as much traffic as they would have been otherwise. My anxiety insists that you’re cornering yourself traveling south, but honestly as long as you’re mainland and not next door to a swamp, you’re probably safe. Good luck with gas if you’re out on the road today. Being stuck in your car during a hurricane is a nightmare that I hope no one here experiences.
If there’s one silver lining of the storm, it’s that the heat is actually pretty manageable. Heat stroke should be way down compared to a normal Aug/Sept hurricane. It might even cause repairs and the power to come back quicker if workers are just a little less exhausted working 12 hour days outside. Prep extra ice for your fridge and fill your bathtubs with water tomorrow. Good luck out there.
All true. One thing to note, all the hotels and airbnbs were booked up 3 days ago. Not just the cheapest ones. ALL of them and pretty much every one of them were 2x or more the price.
We’ll ride it out. We’ll get through. I’m in a safe place from surge and winds.