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It seems strange to me that someone from FL would chance a flight out of the path of a Cat 5 hurricane within some 24 hours of landfall. Didn't they learn or hear a thing about Homestead FL and it's experience with Andrew? I would have thought they would have been gone much earlier, but then I wasn't in their shoes and making the decision.

I am not trying to stick up for these people, because I don't even know them.

That said ... here in Florida (where these folks are from), we are inundated (yes, inundated) with hurricane warnings from about May until November. The local newspeople are ALWAYS completely freaking out, assuring us that THIS one is REALLY the big one.

It just (almost) never works out that way. For goodness sakes, just last year, people on the west coast of Florida were advised to evacuate (RIGHT NOW!!!) and were told that there were plenty of hotel rooms in Orlando and Daytona. Well, not only was the west coast not even bothered by that hurricane - the sucker tore right through Orlando and Daytona! Had those people just stayed put, they would have been fine, but they went where the authorities TOLD THEM TO GO, and they got smacked. Hard.

I cannot cast too much blame on these people. They did the best that they could under the circumstances.

It's very true that many many hurricanes "headed straight for N.O." somehow conveniently take a "turn" at the last minute. I blame the media for this. They use the N.O. threat to keep viewers watching. And for that i understand why many residents didn't believe it. They've been cried wolf too many times.

Compounding that, the city was preparing for Southern Decadence next week which i believe is one of the city's biggest events of the year. So that too could be why some stayed. Didn't want to lose time on those preparations.

I cannot cast too much blame on these people. They did the best that they could under the circumstances.

I agree about not casting blame per se as I wasn't there and don't know the details of their decision making process. I just think I may have made a different decision under the circumstances,