Make those who refuse mandatory evacuation sign a form that states they were warned of the danger, told they had to leave and are refusing. No one will be available and they accept all responsibility.signed
I don’t recall ever posting, let alone recommending a piece from the Washington Post. Maybe last century? But this is exceptional and I still don’t understand how it got past the editors!
There’s a thread on FR about it as well.
I understand that a Mayor (Houston?) has been criticized for not declaring a mandatory evacuation. What I have read is that there had been terrible problems with the last evacuation with people dying on the roads (flooding?). There are other dangerous things that people choose to do, and then many thousands of dollars are spent on rescue. I have wondered in the past why they don’t have a “danger, you might be on your own” form to sign.
I climbed Mt. Washington for my 18th birthday in July. The conditions were cold, and visibility above tree line was very poor and the marking cairns hard to see. My father walked as far toward where he believed he would find the next cairn and still see me and my 8 and 10 year old brothers. Then one of the children would join him. He would walk some more and stop, then my other
brother would walk to my first brother. Then one child would walk to my father, and stop while my father advanced some more. By that time he could see the next cairn and I would gather up the chain and meet at that next cairn. They were selling a book at the station describing over 150 people who had died on that mountain. Very informative on what not to do. Some had fallen off cliffs in the fog, others had tried to walk down through the forest which started as less than knee high but soon became waist and head high and impassible, and they froze or starved. Either they were traveling alone or were not as smart as my father. At the top of the mountain a camp troop came in and all the kids were in shorts with cherry red knees and shivering. Shame on the adult leader.