Hurricane coming: evacuate or stay and work?

Nurses General Nursing

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Since I can't do polls, I just wondered: Imagine you live in the area where a major hurricane is predicted to hit soon. Do you evacuate, or stay and work? I know this is NOT hypothetical for some of you right now with Gustav, and my prayers are with you all! But I just wondered what the general consensus would be.

Me: I run. I am NOT leaving my children in that kind of danger after seeing what happened with Katrina, and I don't care if they fire me. You?

Specializes in Geriatrics, ICU, OR, PACU.
This will be my first post ..I am a fourth gen. Florida native. I have been through dozens of 'hurricuns' including Donna as a child, and then

Andrew (where we were sent down to help out) and then a few years ago, three 'eyes' passed right over our house.

For Andrew, we were initially asked to bring two gallons of water to the hospital where I worked (for the commode..not for drinking) and told that we may not be able to leave, once we started our shift.

It turns out that Andrew spared us, so we went down to help out.

Charles, Frances and Jeanne were more rainstorms than anything, although downed trees and power outages were common..

Really my opinion about these storms is to stay put, until you are asked to evacuate- or assist in recovery efforts by officials.

Katrina was NOT a serious storm..nothing like Andrew or Donna or the big ones that come along from time to time, but since the infamous ninth ward and many other areas in New Orleans were and are STILL below sea level, it seems it is inviting destruction, being built on the Gulf coast.

The entire area was built during the many storms that occurred before they even named them. The state of Louisiana should seriously consider enlisting the Feds help to change the levy structure or we will spend billions over and over to repair a situation that isn't going to change otherwise.

My point is that Hurricanes..or as they say in the South, 'hurricuns', are normal for this area, so we have to live with them, just like the spring floods along the Mississippi river.

I really hope that Gustav, or the one behind him..isn't a Donna, or an Andrew, because flooding and looting will not be the nightly news, it will be much worse.

The reason I have learned to stay put is, a friend of mine ran to Alabama when a storm was approaching Florida back in the seventies.

When the storm, Camille, missed Florida entirely, the friend had no idea he was headed directly into Camille's path. They lost everything they had taken with them...to their point of 'safety'.

Regards,

Katrina wasn't a serious storm? It was a Category 5. Just like Camille, which I lived through. I will never forget the devastation--my grandparents home was destroyed down to the slab. I've lived with hurricanes for most of my life, and they are all bad, in one way or another.

To say Katrina wasn't a big deal is saying that the 1500 lives that were lost wasn't a big deal.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

With the understanding that "devastation" is not limited to what is lost at the immediate point of impact of 120mph winds and 15-ft. storm surges ... I just want to extend my prayers to all who are in the path of this storm, particularly my fellow nurses, physicians and other health care providers, police, fire service, EMS and all other first responders.

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Specializes in Operating Room.
Sure didn't mean to rile anybody up...

My grandfather told me about the big one in '23 or it may have been '19, regardless, it was before the dike was built around Lake Okeechobee, and

tens of thousands of folks (they never really had a good count) in West Palm were instantly drowned when the lake was pushed into the city.

I am just trying to say that the southeast has been hammered by these things since the beginning of time, and it amazes me that folks just now seem to realize what they are...and those who are unfamiliar with them, seem to be at a loss as to when and what to do.

What I did, was fill up some more containers with water, fill up some gas containers, and test my generator. I already trimmed my trees at the start of the season, and made a few other preparations regarding insurance papers, car titles, personal documents (ss cards, birth certificates, etc)

I wasn't trying to downplay any area, or any storm ..other than to say that any reasonable person would want to measure what they are facing based on perceptions..

How many times I have seen folks run for the hills, then later they didn't because they had over-reacted previously, and suffered..

The most dangerous storms do look like Gustav...A CAT 4 or above will most certainly take the power and water, but they are not like the

instantaneous destruction of a plains twister.

I fear anything I say will be misconstrued, so I will stop.

It's frustrating..from my point of view, because I have yet to evacuate, ever for a hurricane, nor do I plan to.

I think the people in New Orleans have to look at this thing differently, especially considering Katrina. When Katrina hit, it was a Category 3 storm-they're thinking Gustav may escalate to a 5. They also live in an area that is below sea level. If the levees couldn't hold during a lesser storm, what do you think will happen when/if this thing hits?

I have seen hurricanes in my time and we had a huge one in 1938 that older relatives of mine remember to this day. Many people died. Because of this storm, they built flood barriers for the capital city. We are not in as bad a situation as New Orleans(as far as being below sea level) but we still take precautions. People near the coast evacuate.

I would much rather feel a little foolish about "overreacting" and evacuating if told to than getting killed. Possessions and homes are replaceable, obviously, your life is not. But, unfortunately, there are always people who are not smart about these things. That sounds harsh but it's true. In my neck of the woods, we have dimwits that go to the beach and stand on the rocks to watch waves come in during a hurricane.:no:

To me, if you've been strongly urged to leave both by your local government and the national government, plus your city has experienced a catastrophe just 3 years ago, and you won't leave? (I didn't say can't, because that's a different story) IMO, that's not using your head. That says that you have a death wish. I also believe that you can't whine later that you were left to fend for yourself when things get ugly.

I'm done here too...I do sincerly hope that by some miracle this storm veers off somehow and peters out.

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Specializes in Transgender Medicine.

I live in Ocean Springs, MS, which is right on the beach next to Biloxi. We have hurricane teams down here. At the beginning of the season, you are told if you're on the team this year. If you're on the team, then when it is "activated," you are expected to be at work at a given time and everyone else goes home. I'm not on it this year, but I was scheduled to work Sunday night, so I had to hang around and wait for them to activate the team before I could leave just in case they didn't activate it and I ended up having to come in to work. They didn't activate it until Sunday morning at 10:30, so I didn't get to evacuate because the roads are already freakin' congested and going nowhere at 5mph. Whoop dee freakin' doo. Not happy right now, even though it will probably not do much here on my side of the coast except rain with bad winds. I would have rather just left to be safe. But I'm stuck here now, so y'all think good thoughts about me please.

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Specializes in Pediatric Intensive Care, Urgent Care.

Personally...i would leave. After the total lack of appreciation for those who chose to stay for Katrina by slapping them with criminal charges it just simply isnt worth it.

Mex

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Specializes in Pediatric Intensive Care, Urgent Care.
Katrina wasn't a serious storm? It was a Category 5. Just like Camille, which I lived through. I will never forget the devastation--my grandparents home was destroyed down to the slab. I've lived with hurricanes for most of my life, and they are all bad, in one way or another.

To say Katrina wasn't a big deal is saying that the 1500 lives that were lost wasn't a big deal.

From those who have been through several storms in Miami (Andrew)...Katrina was not a very strong storm compared to. It was not a Category 5 when it made landfall...it was a Cat 3. What made it worse was the way NO is set-up. Had it hit a place like south florida you would not have seen anything close to the destruction you saw in NO. I think that is what the poster was saying when they said is was not a serious storm...in itself. The circumstances in New Orleans COUPLED with the storm made it what it was...i still wonder to this day had Katrina maintained itself as a Cat 5...would NO still be there???

Mex

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

Hurricanes aren't a prob in Australia but we do have tropical cyclones and bushfires.

I wouldn't risk my life for my job. I would be heading for safety along with everyone else. Our hospital policy in case of a fire is that staff evacuate even if it means patients are left behind. Well as far as I'm concerned this reasoning applies in case of a natural disaster.

As far as I'm concerned I can get work anywhere and I'd rather be fired than dead. And if people did stay at my hospital and were killed, well they wouldn't exactly be a in position to fire me would they?.

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We aren't anywhere close to where a hurricaine could hit, but we do get our share of blizzards and tornadoes. I would probably ship my husband and kids off to somewhere safe and stick around. I am one of a very small number of paramedics in the area, so my services could prove to be pretty valuable. My family is pretty used to going without me for a few days when things come up. My husband is very capable of taking care of things and my daughters are independent and responsible, so I don't really worry about their well-being.

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Specializes in Peds,ER,FP,Med/surg/oncol, Hospice.

I'm gonna have to agree and say my car with my 4 babies, hubby and myself would be out of there. However, if I was single or had no ties I would stay but that is me. It depends on the person and where they are in their life. Oh and P.S. My dog and 3 fish would be in the car too.

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Specializes in Peds,ER,FP,Med/surg/oncol, Hospice.

I am thinking of all you down south and my prayers are with you that everything works out. My best friend of 25 years is down there. She was hit with Katrina and came with her 2 kids and lived with me for a month afterwards. I saw how it tore her up inside and my heart and prayers are with you all. Please be careful in whatever you decide is best.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Honestly, I would make sure my family safely evacuated, and I'd stay.

Thinking good thoughts for those in harm's way, and for their safety.

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Specializes in med/sug/onc/geri.

Interesting answers, mostly falling along the lines of those with kids would go, those without would stay (of course with exceptions). Just about what I thought it would be.

We spent summer '05 in Gulfport, weathering a tropical storm beachfront, but thankfully left just before Katrina hit and turned the whole town into a pile of toothpicks under a 30 ft wall of water. We still consider moving there, but I know that at the first sign of a 'big one' we would be headed to my family's house in northern LA or the ones in northern AL. I have more family in FL, but they live right in the middle of the state, so don't get the worst of the hurricanes there either, although it's still scary at times. Family in Houston too, so far they've been lucky....

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