hurricanetrack wrote:I think too that some people might have found a certain peace in dying with something so dear to them. It does not make it any less sad, but pets are as dear to some people as a human loved one. Who are we to know that some of these people were NOT at peace when those final moments came? Drowning or blunt force trauma is not pleasant- but being with those you love so dearly might have made their passing easier- in their minds.
Humans are curious animals too. Some people stayed to see what it would be like and HOPED it would not be too bad. I did that during Charley in my Tahoe SUV. I shoud have known better than to use GPS guided radar to position myself and my fellow crew member in the path of an intense hurricane. Yet my desire to see what it is like and to measure the forces over-ruled any logic. I was lucky- very lucky. Now I have the remote cameras to "see" for me during intense and deadly hurricanes. However, some people simply cannot fathom what it is like and are not motivated by even the most strongly worded messages from EM or the NWS or the NHC. I do not think that most people who died were stupid. Some probably did some stupid things- like became drunk the night before at a party, but I do not know anything about that for sure. My point is that Nature is always going to win in these situations. Hurricanes will kill people- and their pets. We as an intelligent society just need to make sure that the resources are available and publicized for people to take advantage of if they want to. The real tragedy comes when lessons are not learned and mistakes keep getting made over and over. Then we are made fools of- and that is not acceptable. Rita was a great example of people learning. Most fled Cameron Parish. I mean most if not all. Good for them. How many people died in the surge from Rita? I have no idea- not many. Yet Katrina killed hundreds- mostly because they did not believe it would happen. They probavbly felt safe- especially when the winds came down from 175. Now they know. We know. The key will be to put what we know to use the next time a hurricane of any strength threatens to make landfall. We shall see.
Well said Mark!
