Recently, Hurricane Milton devastated many areas on Florida’s western coast. While most residents in danger zones evacuated their homes before the storm made landfall, others decided to stay and ride out the storm, through a variety of different methods.
Most of us have seen the pictures: Congested traffic on the I-95 before the storm, shelves of grocery stores picked clean by evacuators, and even gut-wrenching scenes of household pets being left to their own devices by fleeing owners. Many counties in West Florida were strongly advised or even mandated to evacuate by the state, and it seemed to be the smartest decision to make leading up to the storm. Milton was projected to make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane; many meteorologists even stated it was pushing the mathematical limits of wind speed. Reasonably, a good amount of people decided to leave their residences and seek shelter elsewhere, hoping their homes would be unaffected by winds or storm surges.
However, other groups of Floridians decided to ride out the storms inside their homes. Whether it be for financial reasons, family-related, or simply due to stubbornness and evacuation fatigue, these individuals decided to take extra precautions so they could remain in their houses during the storm. A good amount of these residents have lived in Florida for a decent amount of time, and have experienced many tropical storms. Thus, they considered Milton to be another bump in the road that they could easily overcome and ride out, like past storms. Houses were secured by boarding up windows and sealing gaps, and people bought extra food and water rations in hopes that they would be fulfilled for as long as necessary.
After examining the aftermath of this storm, it is quite clear that the damage caused was much more severe than other recent storms in Florida, and that overlooking the power of any given impending natural disaster may not be the wisest choice. Interestingly, it seems that people who ride out storms and risk their lives are praised by Floridians in the media, and become local heroes in some fashion. It is dangerous to glamorize this choice, and if the state urges you to evacuate in any situation (and you can do so), please do it!
