I grew up in Florida. My father's family has lived there for 5 generations. I remember being quite humbled by him as a teenager when I commented that I couldn't understand how people could be so stupid as to wait out a hurricane in a trailer. He looked at me and said "It's because they are poor, Angie. " He worked with a lot of those people everyday and grew up in a poor rural county. It is amazing how quickly we can forget what it is like to have no economic means. (Generation to generation....) I don't know what it is like to live in that kind of poverty, but I'm sure that for many the idea of hopping a bus to nowhere was the same as staying for the flood. Either way, they lose everything. They aren't checking in to a Holiday Inn or staying with relatives out of town. I wonder what kind of shelters they had arranged for these people beforehand anyway. They certainly don't have enough space for them now that it is over; where were they supposed to go before?
That said, I also am familiar with the bravado associated with weathering a hurricane. My brother was one of those guys that went surfing during a storm because the waves were great. I've never been in a cat 4 or 5 myself, but I know from others that the strength is exponentially worse. I know one family that left Miami after Andrew and never went back. My mother moved from the shore after riding out the last round of hurricanes in FL. I could see how someone who has experienced a cat 2 or 3 would figure a hurricane was no big deal. Also, in NO I think flooding is common - although not to this extent. Given that, I could see how some folks just thought this would be a bad storm ---- not a disaster. I also think a basic distrust of the government and police might have made the warnings less effective in the needy parishes.
That said, I also am familiar with the bravado associated with weathering a hurricane. My brother was one of those guys that went surfing during a storm because the waves were great. I've never been in a cat 4 or 5 myself, but I know from others that the strength is exponentially worse. I know one family that left Miami after Andrew and never went back. My mother moved from the shore after riding out the last round of hurricanes in FL. I could see how someone who has experienced a cat 2 or 3 would figure a hurricane was no big deal. Also, in NO I think flooding is common - although not to this extent. Given that, I could see how some folks just thought this would be a bad storm ---- not a disaster. I also think a basic distrust of the government and police might have made the warnings less effective in the needy parishes.
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