Your bucket of excuses doesn't hold water.

[obxhead]

I just got off of the phone with a friend who is in the path of Irene. She lives in a low lying area on the coast that requires bridge access. She and her family are staying put for the storm.

The first excuse was "where would I go?"

She doesn't get along with the in-laws that live inland. I offer her several shelter locations in her area. She just won't be "comfortable" there.

The second excuse was that "I don't have the means to leave."

So I ask about what she plans to do during the 'cane. They bought some new board games and books. Have lots of dry goods for food and got a backup propane tank for the grill. Guess she had $150 for that stuff, but not $50 to fill the tank and drive 20 miles inland.

The third excuse was "what if something happens to the house?"

This was said not 30 seconds after she tells me they can't afford to board up the windows. I ask her how she's going to repair the roof in 100 mph winds with no supplies available.

The fourth excuse was "I have to work Saturday anyway."

No you don't. Work will be closed.


I'm absolutely infuriated. Not a single excuse holds up under the slightest scrutiny when told to evacuate. She is putting her 13 and 4 year old children at risk for no reason other than "I won't be comfortable."

I hope she and her family are safe. I'll brace myself for the worst.

If you're told to evacuate GET THE FUCK OUT AND STOP MAKING BULLSHIT EXCUSES!!!

[RC]

1. She plan on voting for GWBush in the next election?

[obxhead]

5. This isn't about their political stance.

The answer to that question however would be no

[indurancevile]

2. is it that they're never been through a disaster so in some sense don't believe it's possible?

[obxhead]

4. No, they lived in FL for several years

including the summer of endless hurricanes a few years ago. Granted that was inland, not on the coast, but they know what to expect overall.

[Auggie]

3. I've never even been near a hurricane before,

but I know enough to get out of the path of one no matter what.

[undeterred]

6. I'm trying to picture people playing a board game as the water is rising.

Most of them don't hold up that well. What if the pieces start to float away? :sarcasm:

[Auggie]

16. No worries if they're playing "Battleship"

:)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. good lord. those poor kids.

[cwydro]

8. What state does she live in?

Does she live in a solid dwelling? Has she ridden hurricanes out before?

I lived in the Keys for 23 years and never evacuated...I lost a car and I lost a house. But I was there to begin the cleanup as soon as the water went down and the winds subsided - and not at the mercy of emergency officials who will not let people come back to their homes.

I didn't have children, so that is a different thing.

But that is a decision for people to make individually.

[MerryBlooms]

20. I was in the lower Keys for Dennis and Wilma

Dennis wasn't so bad, but Wilma was a nightmare. We had 4' of water in the house, along with scorpions. I know very few who didn't lose at least one vehicle during Wilma - that backdoor surge really did a number on us.

[cwydro]

24. Yeah...my house was pretty much history

after Wilma.

I lost a car in Georges.

[arcane1]

9. What if something happens to the house?????

I can't wrap my head around that one. Why would someone WANT TO BE IN THE HOUSE if something is happening to it??

:crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy:

[valerief]

13. It's TEH STOOPID. When you don't use your brain, it atrophies. nt

[SheilaT]

22. Yep. Exactly what I thought.

Staying put can almost guarantee losing a vehicle, so getting far enough away to save your car/truck/SUV/whatever, makes eminent sense.

[jtrockville]

10. PLEASE tell her about the "MAGIC MARKER RULE"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1817701&mesg_id=1819137

If nothing else, it might make her re-consider.

[valerief]

14. Excellent! And on her kids' arms, too, since they'll be dead at her hand. nt

[obxhead]

15. I did.

I also told her to call her estranged family and say her goodbyes now just in case. Once the lines go down they'll be screwed out of even that.

[jtrockville]

25. You gave her enough food for thought. Hope all goes well.

[Peacetrain]

11. Its all about the kids..Some people you just cannot reason with.. you can try and try

they have made up their minds and that is it.. But the safety of her children is beyond her own personal preference.

Is there anyone who could take the kids? that is the most important consideration..

God Bless you for trying to reason with her

[EFerrari]

12. Is she phobic or something?

[undeterred]

17. It sounds like shes in denial.

[EFerrari]

18. Phobic people sometimes make up strings of excuses like that

to avoid an activity, which is why I asked. There's something like denial mixed into it, imo.

[dtexdem]

19. How "comfortable" will she be slamming into trees once her house blows away?

How comfortable will she be under many feet of water?

If she and her kids survive, will she be comfortable with having the kids taken away because of her negligent, if not abusive, treatment of keeping them where they live?

[kick-ass-bob]

21. she's not on OBX is she?

If so, that is dumb, definitely. Other places, I can see it if the situations are favorable - but with single bridge access, if anyone gets hurt semi-seriously, it could turn ugly.

[Honeycombe8]

23. Same excuses and quotes we heard from Katrina victims before it hit. nt

[On the Road]

26. My Parents are Staying Put

in Chesapeake, VA, one town over from Virginia Beach. They are, however, preparing extensively, including being aware of the nearby shelter. Not much to do about it.

So's my ex-father-law in Wilmington, NC. Just hope they're all OK.

[JoeyT]

27. Emergency responders hate people that refuse to evacuate.

There's nothing better than having to go out in the middle of a hurricane and run a chainsaw for an hour to get to the house of a person that's having chest pains.

You might want to remind her that should one of her children fall dangerously ill or even trip and break something, the responders aren't going to fuck with a bridge that could go. It's going to take a helicopter to get him/her off that island, and those helicopters are going to be awfully tied up with everyone else that refused to go. It may take days to get to them. Days during which the illness would progress or the break would swell, hurt, and heal incorrectly, or even work its way out through the skin. Even a minor problem can quickly progress into a life threatening one given a bit of time.

[obxhead]

28. Believe me, I did that and more.

My final warning was.... (my second call tonight)

Please don't bother 911. You're only going to tie up the lines for the people that can actually receive assistance.

[a la izquierda]

29. Ugh...

some people are either stupid or selfish. Sometimes both.
I called my sister the other day and told her she needed to go to our mom's for the weekend. She's pregnant and my niece is 3. She asked if I'd be evacuating if I lived back home and I told her heck yeah...and I enjoy storms and have lived in tornado country for 7 years.

[TBF]

30. I have two words for her: Boliver Peninsula

Hurricane Ike, 120 mph winds/storm surge (Cat 2):

BOLIVAR PENINSULA, Tex. — Jerrith Baird last spoke to his grandmother by telephone the night Hurricane Ike swept away most of the houses on this narrow spit of land.

The grandmother, Jennifer McLemore, 58, who worked at a local hospital, had holed up with her dog in a newly built beach house on stilts. She giggled with nervous fear, as she described to her grandson how three neighboring houses were being carried away in a flood, along with a trailer home she owned.

Then her cellphone went dead. The next day Jerrith, 17, kayaked from High Island, where he lives, over to the town of Gilchrist, then waded through debris to where Ms. McLemore’s house had been. Nothing was left but a couple of pilings sticking up from a concrete slab. Her car was half underwater in the bay. No one has heard from her since.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/us/05missing.html?ref=hurricaneike

[Raschel]

31. I saw a lady on TV yesterday with her grandchildren at her side. She said if it's her time to go,

then it's her time. I just hope the children were leaving.

Wouldn't you take caution if not for the sake of your children?