The elderly refusing to leave

[jude]

Has anyone good ideas to share regarding older people who refuse to evacuate?

I listened to people calling in to that jamaican radio show the night Ivan hit there. So many elderly people refused to leave their homes. The DJ finally suggested the family simply pick up the old grandmother and carry her out...

It is a horrible position to be in- trying to be respectful, wanting to protect their lives.

[Guest]

They also said if they left their home looters would have took everything. Kinda tough situation.

[debbiet]

Yep...looks like they weren't wrong about that problem either...Jamaica seems to have been having terrible problems with looters. I'm sure we here in the US have had the same problems to some extent...but good grief! It would be so scarey to me to live someplace that even during a huge disaster people couldn't rally around and pull together versus having to worry seriously a bunch of thugs robbing everyone blind.

[baygirl_1]

I would suggest just telling them how concerned you are for them. Tell them how bad you really think it's going to be and that you do not want them in any kind of danger. I mean, be very frank about the dangers you think they will face. It worked for me! We're outta here tomorrow.

[Stormsfury]

There was looting during Hugo and Andrew going on as well (even during the eye of BOTH storms) ... In Hugo's case, the Charleston Police Chief Reuben Greenberg simply told his officers in regards to looters ... "Beat 'em, we have no place to put them ..." ...

Also of note, Chief Greenberg had asked for a lot of advice on what to do from Mobile, AL ... which went through Hurricanes Frederic in 1979, and Elena's double brush in 1985 ... and that advice paid dividends in the recovery effort ...

SF

[Aimless]

I tried (unsuccesfully) to convince my parents to leave Florida for Frances. They are both essentially homebound, on oxygen, and dialysis. I begged, pleaded, yelled...but they stood firm..sort of the "We've lived here all our lives and would rather stay and die here if we must." point of view. They would not consider a shelter ( "Our house is just as strong" ...."Our house is just as likely to blow down"..."Who will take care of the animals"... "We need to protect our property." ...ect...you name it, they used the argument.)

I suspect for many elderly, the fear of letting go of something that represents so very much of their lives is more frightening than the coming storm.


Thankfully we sustained little damage, but the aftermath without power was incredibly taxing, both on their health and on my nerves ( two trips a day for oxygen refils, 80 mile round trips to the only diaysis center with power ...with no gas available.)

NOW...they have agreed to leave with the next one.

If you are trying to convince someone to go and they won't listen to you.. .have them talk with someone in their same situation ( age/health) who has been through it. Perhaps they can get through to them.

[yzerfan]

Dark humor here is that there's likely to be fewer problems with looters in the Ft. Walton Beach area than many other places. Between the active duty folks at Hurlburt and the retirees, there's a huge population of people who are not only Air Force but have special forces training, and you've got to be very desperate or very stupid to go wandering through certain neighborhoods with evil intent in your heart since they have a 20-80% Air Commando population.

[debbiet]

During Isabel my father-in-law was determined to remain in their home despite the flooding potential (right on the Severn River). No amount of talking would make him go. Mother-in-law stayed with him because she didn't want him to stay alone. During the storm received a call that all they could see was water at every side coming in fast...at one point was about 1 inch from coming into the house...Thankfully it didn't rise any further and they came thru with only property damage. (Flooded truck, ruined insulatlion, heating/AC ductwork, flooded garage...junk and trees down in the yard...stuff like that). Rather than scaring them into leaving NEXT time, quite the contrary...both are glad they stayed because in the middle of the storm Pop was able to trudge out in the FLOOD WATER to retrieve the top to their pump house (saving something I guess!) so it couldn't float away...they felt that not being there would have made everything worse. So...whatcha gonna do??? NOTHING they don't WANT to do...that's for sure.

[Aimless]

Looting wasn't rampant....but ...it was happening. Even small, peaceful, little Lake Helen had a few breakins and a slew of generator thefts.

But...they are only things.

[anjou]

Show them something that will scare the h*** out of them... whatever it is - old hurricane footage or photographs, or... a GREAT place to start is a printout of the last several updates at http://www.caymannetnews.com and http://stormcarib.com/reports/2004/cayman.shtml

... lots of direct facts from people just off the cell phone with relatives who survived on top of their counters - barely, etc.

I have a theory that for most stubborn people the 'I'd rather die here than leave!' mentality ends at the point where there actually begins to be a perceivable threat to them... the first window panel popping for instance. They have NO CLUE what can happen at the present though - it may be just beyond their imagination. I know of no one who actually would be okay dying in such a violent manner as one does during a severe hurricane.

I don't know.. I don't want to suggest that anyone suggest that the stubborn person get in the bathtub, fill it up and see how long they can really hold their breath underwater before they start to panic, but sheesh.

>Thankfully we sustained little damage, but the aftermath without power was incredibly taxing, both on their health and on my nerves ( two trips a day for oxygen refils, 80 mile round trips to the only diaysis center with power ...with no gas available.) ...NOW...they have agreed to leave with the next one. <

One tactic might be to use (only after exhausting the DANGER WILL ROBINSON type warnings) the simpler, gentler warning: You know when those less strong hurricanes hit Florida - Charley and Frances - tons of people had no electricity for many days - a week. Can you imagine how much you'd dislike being in __________ if you didn't have your air conditioning, your lights, or even anything to do - you couldn't watch TV, you couldn't take a warm shower, uck!



Sad thing is, bet that last spiel would work best for many people. (I know it worked for me in prodding one person out of harm's way!) Another thing that helps is to demonstrate how easy it is to leave... the WOW, LOOK, $50 on _____ Airlines with no advance notice - you could get on a plane tomorrow morning and come see me for virtually nothing! (Literally look up the flight times and airlines and prices for them.)


I suppose one could resort to buying the ticket, and then at least TELLING them it's not refundable.

So... harp on dangers. If that doesn't work, harp on lack of comforts. And while you're doing both - particularly with Depression-Era folks - harp on how economical it would be to leave (and maybe even how expensive it could get staying, somehow).

Good luck! Not an easy task...

[sitcommom]

Tell your parents/grandparents you NEED them; and the reasons why. Nothing can replace them, their love, insights and experience. You and your children need them to be there now and in your memories of the every day and special events.
Offer to help "hurricane proof" the home and to help preserve pictures etc. that are deemed essential. Above all let them know that THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY AND TOATLLY BEYOND REPLACEMENT.

[millibar]

...wish I had a copy of a 911 call received by New Hanover county Emergency during Hurricane Fran. Seems a man refused to leave, and as the storm surge was battering his beach cottage (you could hear it as he talked), he gave his last will and testiment to the operator!

Wishing all you GOMers the best of luck...I LOVE NOLA and the PC Beach area!

Stay safe!!!

Millibar