Should I Stay or Should I Go?

In 2005, two weeks after my husband and I had moved to Key West, Hurricane Wilma hit.

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My husband had been hired as the Assistant CFO at Lower Keys Medical Center, and his duties included meeting with Chamber of Commerce members in the community. I distinctly remember one of these meetings taking place as Wilma loomed in the Gulf of Mexico, and the general sentiment of the native “Conchs,” as they’re called, was, “Yeah, they always say this is the big one, but it never is. We’re staying.”

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Growing up in Arkansas, I was unfamiliar with hurricanes, much less hurricane preparedness. In 2004, I lived in Celebration (Orlando) when Hurricane Charlie was touted as “The Big One” destined to take out Tampa, but it didn’t. Instead, it hit Orlando hard as my brother and I foolishly sat on my lanai, watching the royal palms bent over at a 45-degree angle. In Celebration, my condo was on the Disney power grid, and we never lost power.

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But living in Key West in 2005, something told me we wouldn’t be as lucky as we had been in Celebration. We debated over and over whether to leave and finally decided to evacuate. As we drove north through the Keys, we noticed that we seemed to be the only ones evacuating, and we even saw a UPS truck driving south as if it were a typical day. We sat out the storm in the JW Marriott in Orlando and heard that the storm surge at our home had reached 2’8”; luckily, our house was 3’ off the ground. Those who stayed still weren’t what I would consider lucky. Every car in Key West was destroyed by salt water, and my husband shuttled doctors and nurses from their homes to the hospital for the next two weeks. For weeks, we saw cars on fire on the sides of roads as their owners attempted to drive them.

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As I watch Hurricane Milton rumble through the Gulf, it could be the big one that destroys everything in its path. Or it could hop, skip, jump, and weaken like Hurricane Charlie. No one knows—not the best scientists or even Jim Cantore.

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I can’t claim to be a true Floridian, but I lived in the Sunshine State for several years. Below are a few thoughts for my non-Florida friends and family trying to make sense of why someone would stay and not evacuate:

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1.?They are FLORIDIANS. Floridians are tough and are accustomed to this every stinking year.

2.?Floridians have the mantra of “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” This isn’t their first rodeo.

3.?Floridians and those of us who frequent Florida know not to plan anything from mid-August through mid-October. These months have their own season: hurricane season.

4.?Meteorologists seem to live for hurricane coverage. While it’s great to have their predictions, they are just that – predictions.

5.?Those same meteorologists have numbed Floridians to their warnings when their predictions don’t become reality. Why leave next time?

6.?Evacuating from a hurricane is not like going on vacation. Mandatory evacuations mean miles and miles of traffic, oversold hotels, and decisions about what to take or leave behind. Plus, this all costs money, and not everyone has money for an impromptu trip, often hundreds of miles away.

7.?Looting is the biggest concern. If they leave, they can’t take everything, and if their homes are breached, there is a real fear that someone will take advantage and take the things they had to leave behind.

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With all this being said, I am not encouraging residents to stay. Like all decisions we have in life, to stay or evacuate is a personal decision. If it were me, I would have left days ago. But then again, I’m not a true Floridian. Sitting in sunny North Texas, I pray for our family and friends riding out the storm and respect their decisions. #FloridaStrong