Evacuation orders, safety, and Florida鈥檚 hurricane culture
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Noah Robertson Staff writer
| PINE ISLAND AND FORT MYERS BEACH, FLA.
Christina Morris is an island person. She鈥檚 lived in Florida since 1993, and in a two-story house on the south end of Pine Island 鈥� off the coast of Fort Myers 鈥� for the past 2 1/2 years.
And island people know their hurricanes, she says. She was on Fort Myers beach during Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm 18 years ago, and she saw 鈥淲izard of Oz stuff.鈥� At one point, a manatee washed ashore. People ran to the beach, carried it on a piece of driftwood like a stretcher, and brought it back to the ocean.聽
So ahead of Hurricane Ian, with her mother visiting, with her six rescue animals, and with a sturdy two-story house, Ms. Morris decided to stay. Then the storm hit.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onCould more have been done to save lives as Hurricane Ian struck Florida? The answer hinges partly on government evacuation orders, but also on individuals鈥� ability and willingness to heed those orders.
Ms. Morris spent hours sheltering in the upstairs bedroom with her mother, two dogs, and four cats. The window burst, and she had to shove her back against the door so it wouldn鈥檛 fly open. Charley, she says, was a 鈥渃akewalk compared to this.鈥澛�
But she doesn鈥檛 think this will change how her area approaches its next hurricane, whenever it comes. 鈥淧eople here are just who they are,鈥� says Ms. Morris. 鈥淲e just survived a Cat 5. Do you think we鈥檙e going anywhere?鈥�
Florida is one of the most hurricane-prone areas in the country, and hence has its own hurricane culture. People here stick 鈥淗urricane Life鈥� stickers to their windshields. Many have generators and storm-hardened homes and stores of essentials ahead of hurricane season. When an actual storm comes 鈥� even one as dangerous as Ian 鈥� some don鈥檛 evacuate.聽
Or they don鈥檛 know to leave in time. Lee County, which contains Pine Island and some of the hardest-hit areas, has already come under scrutiny for mandating evacuations just a day before the storm 鈥� after it abruptly shifted southward. But evacuating an area is a shared responsibility. Local government needs to communicate the risks. Only residents, though, can decide to leave.聽
Warming oceans and air are predicted to make storms more destructive and less predictable, so each responsibility is becoming more important.聽Governments can better assess how locals decide to stay or go, says Rebecca Morss, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Meanwhile, locals need to recalculate the danger of hurricanes in a warming world.
鈥淔lorida does experience hurricanes a lot of years,鈥� says Dr. Morss, who specializes in weather-related risk communication. 鈥淎nd so the challenge is understanding that every storm can be different.鈥�
A difficult place for evacuations
In the days before landfall, Hurricane Ian initially looked on track to hit the Tampa Bay area, one of the state鈥檚 population centers. The National Hurricane Center鈥檚 鈥渃one of uncertainty,鈥� of where the center of the storm could arrive, had most of Lee county on the outer edge by even Monday. A day later, after the storm shifted southward, the area issued mandatory evacuation orders for the areas most at risk.
The county鈥檚 coast includes a set of highly populated barrier islands, vulnerable to storm surge 鈥� the top cause of fatalities during a hurricane. The population and road system also make it 鈥渢he hardest place in the country to evacuate in a disaster,鈥�
More than 58 people so far are known to have died in Lee County due to the hurricane, more than half of the total deaths in the state.聽
Despite , the order didn鈥檛 necessarily arrive too late, says John Renne, director of the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University. 鈥淚t seems like the call they made was reasonable,鈥� he says.聽
Had Ian continued north toward Tampa, he says, having more cars on the road due to evacuations elsewhere could have clogged the highways. Regardless, local governments can only create evacuation plans, arrange shelters, and communicate risks to the public. They can鈥檛 force citizens to leave. That means people are ultimately responsible for their own safety, says Professor Renne, who researched evacuation decisions before Hurricane Katrina while working at the University of New Orleans.
鈥淧eople need to have a plan,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey shouldn鈥檛 necessarily rely on the government for help.鈥�
But an enormous number of variables affect a decision to stay or go, says Dr. Morss. Often people don鈥檛 have a plan equal to a hurricane鈥檚 risk. Pets, cars, personality types, homes, hotels, hurricane scale, forecasts, evacuation orders 鈥� these can all affect a household鈥檚 decision, she says. People鈥檚 past hurricane experiences also weigh into the choice, and in an area like Florida almost everyone has past hurricane experience.聽
Most people in the area evacuated to somewhere relatively safe during Ian. Still, some like Ms. Morris, standing outside her house with two dogs tying their leashes in knots, say surviving hurricanes is part of the local identity.聽
鈥淧eople here are just who they are,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e old school.鈥�
One couple鈥檚 decision to flee
In the past few weeks Fort Myers Beach, about 30 miles away from Pine Island, has come to look like a tourist landfill. Construction vehicles have piled up mounds of debris. The island reeks of seawater.
Michele Bruns and her husband, who have lived there for 10 years, came home for the first time in two weeks, Oct. 10 鈥� and spent the day gutting their beachfront condo, nine floors up, so the upholstery and remaining food didn鈥檛 start to mold.
They left the Tuesday before the storm, after following the weather forecasts and deciding their safety was more important than their stuff. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to be smart about it,鈥� she says. 鈥淥ur lives are the most important thing, and everything else can be replaced.鈥� Locals had enough time to evacuate, she says, but her husband understands why some 鈥� including a few acquaintances 鈥� didn鈥檛. Forecasts of deadly storm surge have been wrong so many times before, he says. Some people just stop listening.聽
And evacuating is difficult. Ms. Bruns and her husband couldn鈥檛 find a hotel anywhere between Fort Myers and Miami. Eventually they booked a room in Fort Lauderdale, two hours away. The beach didn鈥檛 reopen for two weeks. They鈥檙e now moving everything into a nearby apartment, which they鈥檝e rented for a year.
鈥淲e鈥檙e staying here, absolutely,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e love this place. The hurricane isn鈥檛 going to make us move.鈥澛�
A quarter mile down a sandy traffic jam on Estero Boulevard, Louis Monaco sits under a tent wearing a Chicago Cubs hat and gym shorts. He鈥檚 eating a free meal from the World Central Kitchen truck, which has been there for a number of days. Beside it is the mobile facility where he does his laundry and the trailer where he showers.聽
Mr. Monaco has lived in Fort Myers Beach almost since he graduated college 30 years ago. His wife left for their son鈥檚 home, a few miles inland, the day before the storm. For most people, be says, the smart thing was to leave. But unless Ian became a Category 5, says Mr. Monaco, he would stay.
鈥淭he captain don鈥檛 leave his ship,鈥� he says.聽
So he sheltered on the second floor of his mid-island home. Again and again, he went downstairs to stack things on top of his truck in order to keep them dry. Eventually, that too was underwater.聽
鈥淭o actually see structures and houses come floating down the street 鈥� it was a little nerve-wracking,鈥� he says. At times, he wondered whether he would make it. Looking back he doesn鈥檛 regret his decision. He鈥檚 thankful he saved pictures of his sons.聽
Mr. Monaco has spent the past few weeks ripping out wallboard on the bottom floor of his house and cleaning his yard 鈥� which the sheriff told him was the best looking now on the island. The town will take years to rebuild, and he鈥檚 starting now, praying it鈥檚 the last time.聽
鈥淚 think in my lifetime I鈥檓 not going to see something like this again 鈥� I hope,鈥� says Mr. Monaco.
