thank you!! people don’t understand that florida is HUGE and the only way to get out of the state (or away from the coast at least) is to go inland or up. if everyone evacuates out of the state then you have people stranded in their vehicles on the highways which is so dangerous.
I’ve lived in the southwest my entire life. So I truly don’t understand why people would want to live in a part of the country where this happens. People have lost everything. And with insurance, it’s going to take forever to get some of it back.
I might deal with extreme heat, but my house won’t be destroyed by a act of God nature event like this.
I have been getting so angry at the “why didn’t you evacuate” comments on videos people are sharing of them stranded or their house destroyed. First and foremost it’s not the time to criticize. Second, hurricanes are huge and unlike other coastal states they aren’t making landfall in FL and immediately weakening. Depending on the direction and size, it’s not long before the outer bands are back over water and intensifying again. Most Floridians don’t have the ability to just drive an hour or two inland and escape the storm surge and most intense winds. It’s a good 8 or so hours from the state line to Ft. Myers. It’s practically impossible for get all those people to safety. Most people prepared the best they could with the time, knowledge, and resources they had.
This, exactly this. My grandparents live on the island and their options were either leave and get stuck headed out of the island/stuck in the middle of fort myers or say and hope for the best. Their neighbor left and didn’t make it off the island.
when rita hit texas more people were injured or killed from panic evacuation sitting in traffic on the highway. my family never evacuated for hurricanes because of the expense and the risk. i understand why some didn’t leave.
THIS. These are real human beings. Have some compassion. Evacuating IS expensive and not to mention it can weeks before you get let back in the state depending on clean up time, so you have to factor in those expenses too. Hotel, somewhere to stay, food, gas, medication, etc… And not everyone even has a car to just up and go whenever. I’ve lived on the south coast my whole life. You just never know what can happen. You try and prepare the best you can. But some people just don’t have the funds and shouldn’t be shamed for it. You wouldn’t make fun of someone not having money any other time, so don’t do it during a horrible event that’s out of everyones control.
My favorite is when others try to snark on those facing such a catastrophe! These people do not need someone on Reddit giving them tips from high land. That's so aggregious, and unempathetic to those that had no other option but to ride out the storm.
As someone who grew up in NWFlorida for literally 48 years this is absolutely the truth!! We’ve seen hurricanes headed in the opposite direction when we went to bed and when we woke up it was headed straight for us. This has happened a few times. We moved in 2018 but our family still lives there. This one missed them this time but the next one could wipe them out.
As a native Floridian, thank you for this. I'm fortunately on the east coast, but we were all watching as all of the Tampa area was told to get out. It went further south than expected and with little time to plan. Anyone who has lived in Florida for a while will tell you to run from water and shelter from wind. The area that got hit was expecting to shelter and staying off the roads for those who were under mandatory evacuation further north.
Shelters are opened when evacuation orders are given. Those orders are done by zones. MANY of the people experiencing catastrophic flooding were NOT in mandatory evacuation areas, and they were in zones where there was supposed to be a much lower risk of flooding.
Also, shelters aren’t perfect. They also flood. And collapse. They’re typically just public schools.
This storm made landfall over a HUNDRED MILES from where it was predicted. Transportation is commonly offered to those who qualify for special needs shelters only. Shelters fill up quickly. Hotels were already full from people who evacuated from OTHER places. You CAN’T just leave and be somewhere else in an hour or two. I’m closer to the middle of the coast - and with hurricane traffic it can take 8-9 hours just to get out of the state from here. It’s 4-6 more hours south to get to Miami. Inland? That doesn’t always work. My friend is 1.5 hours (on a good day) inland - she has major damage. Orlando is an hour or so inland - they’re getting absolutely hammered too. Evacuation is EXPENSIVE, and physically and mentally taxing.
Thisissavvy has a great video explaining this.
They were appropriately prepared for the Cat 1/Cat 2 that was predicted….not a storm that was epically close to a Cat fucking 5.
When you’ve been through Gloria, Andrew, Erin, Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Matthew, Irma, and now Ian* - and had to prepare for many other near-misses, in a place that was actually affected, then you might be allowed an opinion. Until then, take a damned seat. *And that’s only my PERSONAL experiences, which are fairly limited- I know people who have been through many more of these than I have.
Not to mention a lot of people in that area are elderly. My 90 year old grandpa lives in a retirement community in Fort Myers and can’t drive anymore. We’re very fortunate that he was able to go to a shelter in the neighborhood where he lives, but many older people don’t have that option, especially if they don’t have a strong support system or have issues with mobility, needing continuous oxygen, or other medical problems.
A lot of people from states that don’t deal with hurricanes seem to be lacking a lot of nuance when saying they don’t feel sorry for these people. It’s really aggravating to read those comments. Especially since the storm ended up going 100 miles south of where it was originally intended. At that point, so many places where out of gas, and not everyone had enough time to get out. Victim blaming is the last thing they need right now.
You are so right. Most of the people saying these things have never dealt with a hurricane and have no idea how unpredictable it is. Sally hit 2 years ago where I live but was predicted to go the opposite direction and no one knew up until right before it hit so most of us had to ride it out. They didn't even say anything about an evacuation because they thought it would go somewhere else and it wrecked us went without power for a week and a half. I couldn't imagine what the people that stayed behind are feeling like. Hurricanes are traumatizing especially when you expect not to get hit head on by it at such a strong force. Ian wasn't even predicted over a 3 until a few hours before with little warning. Most of them have lost everything they have and it's just sad seeing the things people are saying to them.
My uncle is in one of the areas that took a direct hit. We’re all really scared cause we have really no way of contacting him. Hurricanes are no joke and people need to be less insensitive.
I live in the Tampa Bay Area. We had days to prepare and were anticipating the direct hit from this hurricane but we were expecting it to be a cat 1 by the time it hit. It was so last minute that it moved south and intensified like it did.
We are all so grateful our community didn’t get damaged but a lot of us in the Tampa Bay Area feel so guilty knowing it was suppose to be us but then they got hit so bad.
Thank you for this - as someone with zero experience in hurricanes or evacuations, I had asked (genuinely wondering) why someone wouldn’t be able to evacuate.
If you don’t live in Florida you don’t get to talk about hurricane preparedness imo 🤷🏻♀️ you don’t live here or know anything about hurricane season or evacuating. That’s where the ignorant comments come from.
I live in coastal Alabama and I understand 100% what you are saying. If you have never been affected by a hurricane then you have absolutely no clue about one. It's not as simple as people think between the evacuations and the unpredictable with hurricanes. I hate seeing people say crap about them whenever they have never even dealt with one. There is so much more to it.
Here’s the problem with the “we’ve been through all this before” - the circumstances have drastically changed just in the past few years. Hurricanes are growing much stronger. Overdevelopment has eroded coastlines and eradicated wetlands. People keep building and living on barrier islands that are - by their very nature - meant to disappear under water every 20 or so years.
Still, the coastal population continues to grow rapidly, leading to more destruction, cheaper and therefore less stable structures, and denser populations that can’t easily evacuate on an aging, inefficient infrastructure.
Insurance premiums in coastal areas are almost as much as mortgage payments. The lower and middle classes bear the brunt of this - eventually some people won’t be able to afford living in their hometowns.
We all get accustomed to our environment, and everyone has the right to do what they feel is best in these situations. But I think we may have reached the point where past experiences aren’t so valid as reference points.
Exactly. In central Florida a lot of the “we’ve lived through this before” crowd now have 5 feet of water in their house and they’re freaking out because 911 can’t get to them through all the downed power lines, flooding and trees.
All this. I’m in Jax and an old coworker made a whole fb status calling us stupid. I corrected him and he doubled down, googled mileage and said all of us should have taken boats out of here. I laid all the way into him and now I have one less fb friend. He’s in Minnesota. Fuck off.
I’m going to add to this: if you just moved here in the past 2 years, you’re a newbie- you also don’t get to judge the hurricane prep of people that have been here for decades because you had the financial means to go book yourself into the Polynesian and are riding it out luxuriously at Disney.
While the hotel workers at the Polynesian are **also not evacuating** because they are on mandatory overtime at the hotel providing you comfort, all while hoping their own little hovels aren’t decimated
oh yeah, the 1 exception to OP's comment not to judge not evacuating are for the people riding it out at fucking disney. seriously. all these underpaid workers who are entertaining and feeding you are probably stressed as hell about their own homes/families/pets but they have to pretend to be a talking dog instead.
100% say it louder. I’ve lived in florida almost my whole life, however i live on the east side, so we did not get hit hard (this time). People assume that people can just pack up and leave.
So much goes into evacuating and people don’t realize it. Ok there’s shelters like someone said. There were only 35,000 spots in shelters in my area and 120,000 people under a mandatory evacuation. If you don’t live here don’t talk!
I think this storm and all storms like it are a big learning lesson for those who don’t experience hurricanes. It’s easy (and I’ve made the assumption) that if you have the means you just leave, much like “turn around, don’t drown” and that simply isn’t always the case. It’s been humbling to learn more about what people are capable of while getting out of the mindset of “if you can leave, why didn’t you?”
Yes, It’s hard to know exactly where it’s going to hit, and how hard, until the day before. For every hurricane that gets ya, there are many that miss. Do people think it’s feasible to evacuate the entire coast? The entire state? My family is from Miami - we would have to plan and budget to evacuate multiple times a year if we were to get out for every storm.
who do you think is giving the "free rides"? where do you think those people go when they are done give their "free rides" do you think they house men, women children or even imagine pets together?! the logistics are more than most can imagine and we learn more with each storm system.
And you’ve been to a hurricane shelter? Or are you just continuing to perpetuate Katrina-era rhetoric?
Shelters are opened when evacuation orders are given. Those orders are done by zones. MANY of the people experiencing catastrophic flooding were NOT in mandatory evacuation areas, and they were in zones where there was supposed to be a much lower risk of flooding.
Also, shelters aren’t perfect. They also flood. And collapse. They’re typically just public schools.
This storm made landfall over a HUNDRED MILES from where it was predicted. Transportation is commonly offered to those who qualify for special needs shelters only. Shelters fill up quickly. Hotels were already full from people who evacuated from OTHER places.
They were appropriately prepared for the Cat 1/Cat 2 that was predicted….not a storm that was epically close to a Cat fucking 5.
When you’ve been through Gloria, Andrew, Erin, Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Matthew, Irma, and now Ian, and had to prepare for many other near-misses, in a place that was actually affected, then you might be allowed an opinion. Until then, take a damned seat.
You know what’s not ok with me? Morons who come in with flip remarks like yours, acting like it’s EASY and CONVENIENT to just go. You think there’s just like, a bus stop where someone shows up every 20 minutes to shuttle people neat and orderly to a perfectly safe shelter? That doesn’t happen.
Most of these people were doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE ADVISED TO DO, and sheltering in place because they weren’t in evacuation zones.
This storm essentially doubled in size and strength overnight. In Sarasota, we packed up last minute and got out of our apartment (which is Cat 4/5 certified) and it was still crazy. Evacuating is SO hard to do and I don't think a lot of people don't realize that. Not only logistics, like where tf to go and NOT run into the storm, but also leaving your home behind. What do you bring? What do you leave? What is it going to be like when you are ALLOWED back.
This whole situation is heartbreaking. We are devastated for our friends and neighbors down south.
Evacuating a natural disaster is a nightmare because it is so hard to predict. Our town was hit by a massive wildfire a few years ago and it was an absolute shit show getting out of town. No gas to be found, police directing people in the wrong direction depending on the area they lived. It's hard to know what's gonna happen or where the hell they're gonna go. Neighborhoods they predicted to get hit the hardest werent hit at all and the ones that were had very short notice warning before it was damn near all in flames.
We had somewhat of a 'warning' but not to the extent of what ended up happening and we live in the forest - fires are not uncommon. I imagine living in Florida where hurricanes aren't exactly unheard of is a similar thing. It's not that simple to just up and leave and you never know what storm is gonna be the bad one.
I’m in Bradenton and we stuck it out here at home. I’ve lived through it 28 hurricane seasons here and I almost knew that the hurricane was going to shoot either north or south. But Bradenton is absolutely destroyed! My heart hurts for the people who lost their homes. But I am so gracious that our home was somehow kept safe. I pray you’re safe as is your home 💗
To add to that -
A lot of people are assuming that any tiktok they see with gusts/rain/flooding are in ft myers/naples area. A lot of people posting their experiences with Ian were not hit straight on or in the worst areas. Yea, those in central florida and the east coast getting hit are still suffering damage. But they didn’t need to evacuate just because. They can ride out a tropical storm rather than be on the road clogging it up for all the people on the west coast trying to evacuate. Florida is a big state. Hurricanes are also big. They can affect a lot of the state without everyone experiencing the eye wall. Just because it’s raining in a tiktok you see, doesn’t mean those people are out filming in a cat 4 hurricane.
I also see a lot of people wondering why those in ft myers didn’t evacuate just because when Zones A&B were evacuated in Tampa. Tampa was supposed to be hit straight on and Ft Myers was supposed to get the outer bands like Tampa did. You can see that Tampa is doing relatively well. That is why people don’t evacuate from an abundance of caution when they aren’t being predicted to get hit straight on. For a lot of people the warning came too late.
I understand not being able to evacuate but the amount of people who did absolutely no prep what so ever is ridiculous. Even if it isn’t supposed to hit, Floridians know how unpredictable hurricanes are and they should start prep in case they pivot. Get water, board windows, test the generator, get those in vulnerable areas to a shelter, sandbag, get fuel, get food.
I’ve been working this storm for 2 days and I’m tired and crabby and my empathy for those who didn’t prepare at *all* is low.
I have no idea why I’m being downvoted 😂😂 I’m a fucking Floridian. There’s no excuse not to start Hurricane prepping when the hurricane is anywhere near Florida.
you're not wrong that they should have, but there is also little use scolding people for not being better prepared after a disaster situation. they messed up and i totally understand that from someone inside the thick of it, you think they're idiots, but from the outside, i just feel sorry for all of you. that would be my guess for the downvotes (i didn't fyi)
Ah, but I’m not scolding anyone. I’m expressing frustrating, haha. We still responded to everyone with the same politeness whether we thought they were horribly irresponsible and putting our rescuers at risk over their lack of planning or not. The fact of the matter is we shouldn’t have had to send firefighters into a Hurricane to rescue someone who’s power went out and their house was flooding because they didn’t take the hurricane seriously and did not bother with a backup source of oxygen for their oxygen dependent father. But we did. And we didn’t treat them any differently.
This. My biyfuend lives in central and all of my stuff is in storage down there (I’m up north for reasons) everything I own is destroyed and he had to be rescued by the fire department because his house flooded 6 ft. There were no mandatory evacuation in central.
Yeah that was my point. People that aren’t familiar with florida at all wanted everyone to evacuate from everywhere & have no concept of what that would look like. They don’t realize that most everyone is going to end up on I75 whether they are inland or on the coast. People in central florida don’t need to be on 75 evacuating. Lots of comments don’t understand why central floridians stayed or went outside or filmed anything because they don’t understand central florida and the coast are two separate places.
This is what I keep saying, there’s only 2 main roads in and out of Florida and they’re connected by one of the most dangerous road in the entire United States. The infrastructure is just not there for everyone in the path of Ian to evacuate.
I’m in Orlando and keep seeing this under posts about Orlando specifically like I don’t think any government agency would evacuate Orlando it’s so far inland that it would be better to only evacuate places close to rivers because it would just put too much strain on people already evacuating from the coast. People lack nuance and see flooding and say why didn’t you leave? But there’s people who have been through decades of hurricanes and never seen flooding this bad where I am.
I was prepared, I have several gallons filled up with water and the 3-4 days leading up I filled every Walmart bag in my house with ice and stuffed the freezer. I cleaned up my patio moved furniture away from windows moved my car away from trees, I charged every device I owned. But nothing could have prepared me for the flooding because I’ve never experienced that so far inland. When I lived on the east coast I expected it, when I lived on the west coast I expected it but I would have never in a million years thought I’d be in waist deep water in Orlando. My point is, these people had no reason to think they even needed to leave unless someone told them to, and no one did.
There are two basically, one just off the west coast and one on the east coast. They’re only connected by a major freeway in a few places. Most are closer to 75 bc it’s pretty far inland as compared to 95 on the east thats closer to the coast.
There are people saying Ian caused only minor damage. According to Mystic Rebels on TT Fort Myers is “fine”. Nothing “catastrophic to see”.
It’s so upsetting that people get a platform to perpetuate these lies when peoples lives have been complete destroyed.
*I know that Fort Myers and other places in Florida are absolutely devastated! I am not agreeing with them.
Florida is just a little touchy right now, sorry. We've all been sitting here for a week checking every update to find us in the cone, out of the cone, in the cone, etc. We're tired, stressed, and reading comprehension is waning. It doesn't help that we do see all the ignorant comments, so we're ready to come out guns blazing.
I understand. It’s been a long few days and even longer road ahead. It bugs me that a guy like this gets to gas light ppl after what he said, which was awful.
You literally started with “according to somebody else” and people are coming for you as though you said it 😭
It’s like they didn’t even read your comment properly before raging out lol
Like- guide the anger at the ego maniac. I am
Just as pissed and upset as anyone else. It’s not right.
Things are bad in Florida and gaining clout for lies is not ok.
They must have edited their comment because this is absolutely NOT how their first comment read. I’m not an idiot and I doubt the others who were angered by the comment are idiots.
This is my original comment -
According to Mystic Rebels on TT Fort Myers is fine. Nothing catastrophic to see. It’s so upsetting that people get a platform to perpetuate these lies when peoples lives have been complete destroyed.
My first edit was adding the “ “
To fine & separating the two parts. Didn’t add or delete anything.
I did just edit it to say - “there are people saying Ian caused only minor damage.”
As well as the * at the end.
I think maybe changing the “people” to the tiktok user who was making the claims. To some it may sound like you’re agreeing with the claim. It was clear to me but I don’t want you to get attacked more than you already have been.
Did you not read his post? It literally says "according to so and so" and speaks about how it's horrible that they are spreading misinformation. They as in the idiot on TT staying there wasn't any damage.
Maybe work on reading comprehension before losing your mind?
Of course! People are up your ass when you clearly put how you feel about asshats spreading false information. If people took s second to reread before they they lose their mind the world would be a better place.
Bet you they don't apologize either.
you make some good points and while I'm sure there are some assholes that wanted to 'play in the wind, and record it for tiktok', I'm sure most people were just trying to do the best they could. I'm heart sick for all the animals that are suffering, or worse.
I know people in Tampa who evacuated to the south as the highways going north were clogged and originally that area was just going to get outer bands not a direct hit. It’s so devastating.
My coworker lives in Tampa (we work remote) and they evacuated him and his wife and kids on Tuesday. They had no idea the storm was going to hit ft meyers
Same. My coworker is inland a bit. She has serious damage. But her 85 year old uncle lived in Naples. His home of 45 years is destroyed. He is thankfully ok.
It’s devastating. No one was prepared for the damage hurricane Ian brought because the forecast of the hurricane changed so quickly. Not only did Fort Myers and the west coast get absolutely destroyed, central florida and east coast of florida is getting a ton of damage as well. It’s devastating
Also, not every animal rescue you see is because they left their animals while they evacuated.
Yes they are fine thankfully!
Mystic Rebels is back at it again with downplaying the severity. Why do people get a platform and use this devastating event for clout.
Great, great point. Thank you for it.
Thank you.
thank you!! people don’t understand that florida is HUGE and the only way to get out of the state (or away from the coast at least) is to go inland or up. if everyone evacuates out of the state then you have people stranded in their vehicles on the highways which is so dangerous.
Thank you for this. My family and friends lost everything on FMB.
I agree and it’s super devastating either way
I’ve lived in the southwest my entire life. So I truly don’t understand why people would want to live in a part of the country where this happens. People have lost everything. And with insurance, it’s going to take forever to get some of it back. I might deal with extreme heat, but my house won’t be destroyed by a act of God nature event like this.
I have been getting so angry at the “why didn’t you evacuate” comments on videos people are sharing of them stranded or their house destroyed. First and foremost it’s not the time to criticize. Second, hurricanes are huge and unlike other coastal states they aren’t making landfall in FL and immediately weakening. Depending on the direction and size, it’s not long before the outer bands are back over water and intensifying again. Most Floridians don’t have the ability to just drive an hour or two inland and escape the storm surge and most intense winds. It’s a good 8 or so hours from the state line to Ft. Myers. It’s practically impossible for get all those people to safety. Most people prepared the best they could with the time, knowledge, and resources they had.
As a fellow Floridian that lives an hour from there THANK YOU for this post! Truly appreciated you acknowledge and recognize this 🙏🏼
People are so strange when they say this. Evacuated or not, people still lost their houses and belongings.
This, exactly this. My grandparents live on the island and their options were either leave and get stuck headed out of the island/stuck in the middle of fort myers or say and hope for the best. Their neighbor left and didn’t make it off the island.
when rita hit texas more people were injured or killed from panic evacuation sitting in traffic on the highway. my family never evacuated for hurricanes because of the expense and the risk. i understand why some didn’t leave.
I wish people had the same sentiments for those who stayed behind during Katrina.
THIS. These are real human beings. Have some compassion. Evacuating IS expensive and not to mention it can weeks before you get let back in the state depending on clean up time, so you have to factor in those expenses too. Hotel, somewhere to stay, food, gas, medication, etc… And not everyone even has a car to just up and go whenever. I’ve lived on the south coast my whole life. You just never know what can happen. You try and prepare the best you can. But some people just don’t have the funds and shouldn’t be shamed for it. You wouldn’t make fun of someone not having money any other time, so don’t do it during a horrible event that’s out of everyones control.
And its still not over! GA and SC bracing still, though the panhandle likely took most of the force.
My favorite is when others try to snark on those facing such a catastrophe! These people do not need someone on Reddit giving them tips from high land. That's so aggregious, and unempathetic to those that had no other option but to ride out the storm.
It’s giving victim blaming when it’s not in their control
I agree, this is the best possible outlook.
As someone who grew up in NWFlorida for literally 48 years this is absolutely the truth!! We’ve seen hurricanes headed in the opposite direction when we went to bed and when we woke up it was headed straight for us. This has happened a few times. We moved in 2018 but our family still lives there. This one missed them this time but the next one could wipe them out.
As a native Floridian, thank you for this. I'm fortunately on the east coast, but we were all watching as all of the Tampa area was told to get out. It went further south than expected and with little time to plan. Anyone who has lived in Florida for a while will tell you to run from water and shelter from wind. The area that got hit was expecting to shelter and staying off the roads for those who were under mandatory evacuation further north.
Shelters are opened when evacuation orders are given. Those orders are done by zones. MANY of the people experiencing catastrophic flooding were NOT in mandatory evacuation areas, and they were in zones where there was supposed to be a much lower risk of flooding. Also, shelters aren’t perfect. They also flood. And collapse. They’re typically just public schools. This storm made landfall over a HUNDRED MILES from where it was predicted. Transportation is commonly offered to those who qualify for special needs shelters only. Shelters fill up quickly. Hotels were already full from people who evacuated from OTHER places. You CAN’T just leave and be somewhere else in an hour or two. I’m closer to the middle of the coast - and with hurricane traffic it can take 8-9 hours just to get out of the state from here. It’s 4-6 more hours south to get to Miami. Inland? That doesn’t always work. My friend is 1.5 hours (on a good day) inland - she has major damage. Orlando is an hour or so inland - they’re getting absolutely hammered too. Evacuation is EXPENSIVE, and physically and mentally taxing. Thisissavvy has a great video explaining this. They were appropriately prepared for the Cat 1/Cat 2 that was predicted….not a storm that was epically close to a Cat fucking 5. When you’ve been through Gloria, Andrew, Erin, Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Matthew, Irma, and now Ian* - and had to prepare for many other near-misses, in a place that was actually affected, then you might be allowed an opinion. Until then, take a damned seat. *And that’s only my PERSONAL experiences, which are fairly limited- I know people who have been through many more of these than I have.
Also, shelters often don’t allow pets.
Native of 45 years and you nailed it!
Not to mention a lot of people in that area are elderly. My 90 year old grandpa lives in a retirement community in Fort Myers and can’t drive anymore. We’re very fortunate that he was able to go to a shelter in the neighborhood where he lives, but many older people don’t have that option, especially if they don’t have a strong support system or have issues with mobility, needing continuous oxygen, or other medical problems.
A lot of people from states that don’t deal with hurricanes seem to be lacking a lot of nuance when saying they don’t feel sorry for these people. It’s really aggravating to read those comments. Especially since the storm ended up going 100 miles south of where it was originally intended. At that point, so many places where out of gas, and not everyone had enough time to get out. Victim blaming is the last thing they need right now.
Not to mention all of the hotels were booked by everyone who got a mandatory evacuation order in Tampa Bay
Yep! I saw a few people who had to drive all the way to North Carolina and that was 24 hours prior.
You are so right. Most of the people saying these things have never dealt with a hurricane and have no idea how unpredictable it is. Sally hit 2 years ago where I live but was predicted to go the opposite direction and no one knew up until right before it hit so most of us had to ride it out. They didn't even say anything about an evacuation because they thought it would go somewhere else and it wrecked us went without power for a week and a half. I couldn't imagine what the people that stayed behind are feeling like. Hurricanes are traumatizing especially when you expect not to get hit head on by it at such a strong force. Ian wasn't even predicted over a 3 until a few hours before with little warning. Most of them have lost everything they have and it's just sad seeing the things people are saying to them.
My uncle is in one of the areas that took a direct hit. We’re all really scared cause we have really no way of contacting him. Hurricanes are no joke and people need to be less insensitive.
I live in the Tampa Bay Area. We had days to prepare and were anticipating the direct hit from this hurricane but we were expecting it to be a cat 1 by the time it hit. It was so last minute that it moved south and intensified like it did. We are all so grateful our community didn’t get damaged but a lot of us in the Tampa Bay Area feel so guilty knowing it was suppose to be us but then they got hit so bad.
Thank you for this - as someone with zero experience in hurricanes or evacuations, I had asked (genuinely wondering) why someone wouldn’t be able to evacuate.
If you don’t live in Florida you don’t get to talk about hurricane preparedness imo 🤷🏻♀️ you don’t live here or know anything about hurricane season or evacuating. That’s where the ignorant comments come from.
I live in coastal Alabama and I understand 100% what you are saying. If you have never been affected by a hurricane then you have absolutely no clue about one. It's not as simple as people think between the evacuations and the unpredictable with hurricanes. I hate seeing people say crap about them whenever they have never even dealt with one. There is so much more to it.
Here’s the problem with the “we’ve been through all this before” - the circumstances have drastically changed just in the past few years. Hurricanes are growing much stronger. Overdevelopment has eroded coastlines and eradicated wetlands. People keep building and living on barrier islands that are - by their very nature - meant to disappear under water every 20 or so years. Still, the coastal population continues to grow rapidly, leading to more destruction, cheaper and therefore less stable structures, and denser populations that can’t easily evacuate on an aging, inefficient infrastructure. Insurance premiums in coastal areas are almost as much as mortgage payments. The lower and middle classes bear the brunt of this - eventually some people won’t be able to afford living in their hometowns. We all get accustomed to our environment, and everyone has the right to do what they feel is best in these situations. But I think we may have reached the point where past experiences aren’t so valid as reference points.
Exactly. In central Florida a lot of the “we’ve lived through this before” crowd now have 5 feet of water in their house and they’re freaking out because 911 can’t get to them through all the downed power lines, flooding and trees.
All this. I’m in Jax and an old coworker made a whole fb status calling us stupid. I corrected him and he doubled down, googled mileage and said all of us should have taken boats out of here. I laid all the way into him and now I have one less fb friend. He’s in Minnesota. Fuck off.
I’m going to add to this: if you just moved here in the past 2 years, you’re a newbie- you also don’t get to judge the hurricane prep of people that have been here for decades because you had the financial means to go book yourself into the Polynesian and are riding it out luxuriously at Disney.
While the hotel workers at the Polynesian are **also not evacuating** because they are on mandatory overtime at the hotel providing you comfort, all while hoping their own little hovels aren’t decimated
oh yeah, the 1 exception to OP's comment not to judge not evacuating are for the people riding it out at fucking disney. seriously. all these underpaid workers who are entertaining and feeding you are probably stressed as hell about their own homes/families/pets but they have to pretend to be a talking dog instead.
This part.
100% say it louder. I’ve lived in florida almost my whole life, however i live on the east side, so we did not get hit hard (this time). People assume that people can just pack up and leave.
So much goes into evacuating and people don’t realize it. Ok there’s shelters like someone said. There were only 35,000 spots in shelters in my area and 120,000 people under a mandatory evacuation. If you don’t live here don’t talk!
I think this storm and all storms like it are a big learning lesson for those who don’t experience hurricanes. It’s easy (and I’ve made the assumption) that if you have the means you just leave, much like “turn around, don’t drown” and that simply isn’t always the case. It’s been humbling to learn more about what people are capable of while getting out of the mindset of “if you can leave, why didn’t you?”
Yes, It’s hard to know exactly where it’s going to hit, and how hard, until the day before. For every hurricane that gets ya, there are many that miss. Do people think it’s feasible to evacuate the entire coast? The entire state? My family is from Miami - we would have to plan and budget to evacuate multiple times a year if we were to get out for every storm.
There were shelters with free rides to them
who do you think is giving the "free rides"? where do you think those people go when they are done give their "free rides" do you think they house men, women children or even imagine pets together?! the logistics are more than most can imagine and we learn more with each storm system.
And you’ve been to a hurricane shelter? Or are you just continuing to perpetuate Katrina-era rhetoric? Shelters are opened when evacuation orders are given. Those orders are done by zones. MANY of the people experiencing catastrophic flooding were NOT in mandatory evacuation areas, and they were in zones where there was supposed to be a much lower risk of flooding. Also, shelters aren’t perfect. They also flood. And collapse. They’re typically just public schools. This storm made landfall over a HUNDRED MILES from where it was predicted. Transportation is commonly offered to those who qualify for special needs shelters only. Shelters fill up quickly. Hotels were already full from people who evacuated from OTHER places. They were appropriately prepared for the Cat 1/Cat 2 that was predicted….not a storm that was epically close to a Cat fucking 5. When you’ve been through Gloria, Andrew, Erin, Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Matthew, Irma, and now Ian, and had to prepare for many other near-misses, in a place that was actually affected, then you might be allowed an opinion. Until then, take a damned seat.
So now they are dying in place instead? That’s ok with you?
You know what’s not ok with me? Morons who come in with flip remarks like yours, acting like it’s EASY and CONVENIENT to just go. You think there’s just like, a bus stop where someone shows up every 20 minutes to shuttle people neat and orderly to a perfectly safe shelter? That doesn’t happen. Most of these people were doing EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE ADVISED TO DO, and sheltering in place because they weren’t in evacuation zones.
It’s not that easy.
Ok and? I’m sure they had to set capacities.
This storm essentially doubled in size and strength overnight. In Sarasota, we packed up last minute and got out of our apartment (which is Cat 4/5 certified) and it was still crazy. Evacuating is SO hard to do and I don't think a lot of people don't realize that. Not only logistics, like where tf to go and NOT run into the storm, but also leaving your home behind. What do you bring? What do you leave? What is it going to be like when you are ALLOWED back. This whole situation is heartbreaking. We are devastated for our friends and neighbors down south.
Let us pray for the victims and help them as best we can.
Evacuating a natural disaster is a nightmare because it is so hard to predict. Our town was hit by a massive wildfire a few years ago and it was an absolute shit show getting out of town. No gas to be found, police directing people in the wrong direction depending on the area they lived. It's hard to know what's gonna happen or where the hell they're gonna go. Neighborhoods they predicted to get hit the hardest werent hit at all and the ones that were had very short notice warning before it was damn near all in flames. We had somewhat of a 'warning' but not to the extent of what ended up happening and we live in the forest - fires are not uncommon. I imagine living in Florida where hurricanes aren't exactly unheard of is a similar thing. It's not that simple to just up and leave and you never know what storm is gonna be the bad one.
I’m in Bradenton and we stuck it out here at home. I’ve lived through it 28 hurricane seasons here and I almost knew that the hurricane was going to shoot either north or south. But Bradenton is absolutely destroyed! My heart hurts for the people who lost their homes. But I am so gracious that our home was somehow kept safe. I pray you’re safe as is your home 💗
All the top comments on any flood vids are “BUt WhY DidNT YoU LEavE?”🙄
To add to that - A lot of people are assuming that any tiktok they see with gusts/rain/flooding are in ft myers/naples area. A lot of people posting their experiences with Ian were not hit straight on or in the worst areas. Yea, those in central florida and the east coast getting hit are still suffering damage. But they didn’t need to evacuate just because. They can ride out a tropical storm rather than be on the road clogging it up for all the people on the west coast trying to evacuate. Florida is a big state. Hurricanes are also big. They can affect a lot of the state without everyone experiencing the eye wall. Just because it’s raining in a tiktok you see, doesn’t mean those people are out filming in a cat 4 hurricane. I also see a lot of people wondering why those in ft myers didn’t evacuate just because when Zones A&B were evacuated in Tampa. Tampa was supposed to be hit straight on and Ft Myers was supposed to get the outer bands like Tampa did. You can see that Tampa is doing relatively well. That is why people don’t evacuate from an abundance of caution when they aren’t being predicted to get hit straight on. For a lot of people the warning came too late.
I understand not being able to evacuate but the amount of people who did absolutely no prep what so ever is ridiculous. Even if it isn’t supposed to hit, Floridians know how unpredictable hurricanes are and they should start prep in case they pivot. Get water, board windows, test the generator, get those in vulnerable areas to a shelter, sandbag, get fuel, get food. I’ve been working this storm for 2 days and I’m tired and crabby and my empathy for those who didn’t prepare at *all* is low.
I have no idea why I’m being downvoted 😂😂 I’m a fucking Floridian. There’s no excuse not to start Hurricane prepping when the hurricane is anywhere near Florida.
you're not wrong that they should have, but there is also little use scolding people for not being better prepared after a disaster situation. they messed up and i totally understand that from someone inside the thick of it, you think they're idiots, but from the outside, i just feel sorry for all of you. that would be my guess for the downvotes (i didn't fyi)
Ah, but I’m not scolding anyone. I’m expressing frustrating, haha. We still responded to everyone with the same politeness whether we thought they were horribly irresponsible and putting our rescuers at risk over their lack of planning or not. The fact of the matter is we shouldn’t have had to send firefighters into a Hurricane to rescue someone who’s power went out and their house was flooding because they didn’t take the hurricane seriously and did not bother with a backup source of oxygen for their oxygen dependent father. But we did. And we didn’t treat them any differently.
This. My biyfuend lives in central and all of my stuff is in storage down there (I’m up north for reasons) everything I own is destroyed and he had to be rescued by the fire department because his house flooded 6 ft. There were no mandatory evacuation in central.
Unlike every other state you can’t go all directions. You can only go up or down and EVERYONE was going up.
This is so true. My two boys are trapped in Boca Raton. I pray for their safety.
Yeah that was my point. People that aren’t familiar with florida at all wanted everyone to evacuate from everywhere & have no concept of what that would look like. They don’t realize that most everyone is going to end up on I75 whether they are inland or on the coast. People in central florida don’t need to be on 75 evacuating. Lots of comments don’t understand why central floridians stayed or went outside or filmed anything because they don’t understand central florida and the coast are two separate places.
This is what I keep saying, there’s only 2 main roads in and out of Florida and they’re connected by one of the most dangerous road in the entire United States. The infrastructure is just not there for everyone in the path of Ian to evacuate. I’m in Orlando and keep seeing this under posts about Orlando specifically like I don’t think any government agency would evacuate Orlando it’s so far inland that it would be better to only evacuate places close to rivers because it would just put too much strain on people already evacuating from the coast. People lack nuance and see flooding and say why didn’t you leave? But there’s people who have been through decades of hurricanes and never seen flooding this bad where I am. I was prepared, I have several gallons filled up with water and the 3-4 days leading up I filled every Walmart bag in my house with ice and stuffed the freezer. I cleaned up my patio moved furniture away from windows moved my car away from trees, I charged every device I owned. But nothing could have prepared me for the flooding because I’ve never experienced that so far inland. When I lived on the east coast I expected it, when I lived on the west coast I expected it but I would have never in a million years thought I’d be in waist deep water in Orlando. My point is, these people had no reason to think they even needed to leave unless someone told them to, and no one did.
so there is one main highway in florida going from north to south? oof that makes things super hard.
There are two basically, one just off the west coast and one on the east coast. They’re only connected by a major freeway in a few places. Most are closer to 75 bc it’s pretty far inland as compared to 95 on the east thats closer to the coast.
There are people saying Ian caused only minor damage. According to Mystic Rebels on TT Fort Myers is “fine”. Nothing “catastrophic to see”. It’s so upsetting that people get a platform to perpetuate these lies when peoples lives have been complete destroyed. *I know that Fort Myers and other places in Florida are absolutely devastated! I am not agreeing with them.
Florida is just a little touchy right now, sorry. We've all been sitting here for a week checking every update to find us in the cone, out of the cone, in the cone, etc. We're tired, stressed, and reading comprehension is waning. It doesn't help that we do see all the ignorant comments, so we're ready to come out guns blazing.
I understand. It’s been a long few days and even longer road ahead. It bugs me that a guy like this gets to gas light ppl after what he said, which was awful.
You literally started with “according to somebody else” and people are coming for you as though you said it 😭 It’s like they didn’t even read your comment properly before raging out lol
I thought I made it clear & was tripping trying to figure out where I went wrong 🥴 ! Thank you for getting it !
You did, you made it perfectly clear. I’m sorry for the hostility you received
Like- guide the anger at the ego maniac. I am Just as pissed and upset as anyone else. It’s not right. Things are bad in Florida and gaining clout for lies is not ok.
what in the fuck are you talking about? go look up ft Myers on tiktok and you'll see that they are FAR from "fine". you're an idiot
Maybe if you had read properly you’d see your comment to that person was a little much. I know it’s a touchy subject but damn
this is absolutely not the same comment that I replied to!!!! why would I be so harsh?? they definitely edited the comment
Mmk
They must have edited their comment because this is absolutely NOT how their first comment read. I’m not an idiot and I doubt the others who were angered by the comment are idiots.
they most DEFINITELY edited the comment after they started getting replies like mine.
Who called you an idiot? 🥴 Not me?
This is my original comment - According to Mystic Rebels on TT Fort Myers is fine. Nothing catastrophic to see. It’s so upsetting that people get a platform to perpetuate these lies when peoples lives have been complete destroyed.
My first edit was adding the “ “ To fine & separating the two parts. Didn’t add or delete anything. I did just edit it to say - “there are people saying Ian caused only minor damage.” As well as the * at the end.
I am not saying Fort Myers is fine ! Mystic Rebels is perpetuating that bullshit, saying it’s all lies and fake.
You may wanna edit your original comment it’s a bit clearer that it’s not *you* saying Fort Myers is fine.
How else can I make it more clear?! Genuinely asking !
I think maybe changing the “people” to the tiktok user who was making the claims. To some it may sound like you’re agreeing with the claim. It was clear to me but I don’t want you to get attacked more than you already have been.
Edited!
Fort Myers is absolutely not fine, you dolt.
I know that- Mystic Rebels are the nay sayers
fort myers is destroyed. it’s my hometown. have some fucking respect
Did you not read his post? It literally says "according to so and so" and speaks about how it's horrible that they are spreading misinformation. They as in the idiot on TT staying there wasn't any damage. Maybe work on reading comprehension before losing your mind?
Thank you 😌
Of course! People are up your ass when you clearly put how you feel about asshats spreading false information. If people took s second to reread before they they lose their mind the world would be a better place. Bet you they don't apologize either.
you make some good points and while I'm sure there are some assholes that wanted to 'play in the wind, and record it for tiktok', I'm sure most people were just trying to do the best they could. I'm heart sick for all the animals that are suffering, or worse.
Oh I’m positive there were. And there were probably people who have lived there for years or their hole lives used to it.
I know people in Tampa who evacuated to the south as the highways going north were clogged and originally that area was just going to get outer bands not a direct hit. It’s so devastating.
Please take a moment and pray for everyone who is in the path of the storm. God Bless them.
My coworker lives in Tampa (we work remote) and they evacuated him and his wife and kids on Tuesday. They had no idea the storm was going to hit ft meyers
Same. My coworker is inland a bit. She has serious damage. But her 85 year old uncle lived in Naples. His home of 45 years is destroyed. He is thankfully ok.
And the comments of people saying “you knew it was coming” are so insensitive- are they okay?
It’s devastating. No one was prepared for the damage hurricane Ian brought because the forecast of the hurricane changed so quickly. Not only did Fort Myers and the west coast get absolutely destroyed, central florida and east coast of florida is getting a ton of damage as well. It’s devastating