Posted on 05/28/2009 6:07:24 PM PDT by Libloather
Poll: Most coastal residents unprepared for hurricanes
May 2009 hurricane awareness poll results
BY CURTIS MORGAN
Hurricanes may flood entire cities, rip off roofs and level trees every year, but when it comes to overcoming public apathy, they're stunningly powerless.
Two-thirds of residents in Florida and other coastal states feel no threat from storms. More than half would not evacuate in the face of a major storm unless ordered to do so. Nearly half don't even know whether their homeowner's insurance covers storm damage.
Those are some of the key findings from a new poll released Thursday at Florida International University in Miami.
The six-month hurricane season starts Monday, but the annual Mason-Dixon poll of residents from Maine to Texas found that many people remain unprepared, even unconcerned, about a strike from a major hurricane.
''It seems Americans need an urgent reminder every year about something that we ought to get by now,'' said Ron Sachs, a Tallahassee-based media consultant who is national coordinator for the National Hurricane Survival Initiative, which commissioned the poll. ``It's not called the mean season for nothing.''
The initiative, a coalition of government and relief organizations and corporations that promote hurricane awareness and safety planning, released the poll at FIU's International Hurricane Research Center.
It shows that while the number of hurricanes has increased over the past decade, public preparation has not followed course.
Despite five major hurricanes last year, for instance, the number of people who feel no threat from storms actually rose -- to 62 from 54 percent the previous year.
The poll also revealed a lot of confusion about homeowners' insurance. Nearly half the respondents weren't sure if they were covered for hurricane damage and the same number did not have coverage for flood damage. Nearly one in four was uncertain if they had enough insurance to rebuild.
Though the poll did not break out results by state, Sachs acknowledged that residents who have lived through multiple storms are generally better informed and prepared.
'Floridians `get it' a lot better than people in other coastal states,'' he said.
Some other findings:
• 83 percent of respondents have taken no steps to make their homes stronger.
• 55 percent have no family disaster plan;
• 13 percent said they would not evacuate even if ordered to do so.
• 17 percent would would wait until 12 to 24 hours before landfall to evacuate -- a choice likely to clog escape routes and leave them stuck in a car when a storm hits.
''Waiting until 24 hours before the storm hits is simply not enough time and puts residents at great risk,'' Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp said in a news release. He was scheduled to join weather forecasters and emergency managers, insurance executives and others at FIU to urge residents to prepare for hurricane season.
The poll surveyed 1,100 adults from 18 Gulf and Atlantic coast states who were interviewed May 6-11. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
Partners in the initiative include the National Hurricane Center, the Salvation Army, the National Emergency Management Agency and FIU's International Hurricane Research Center. Corporate sponsors include Travelers Insurance and Plylox.
Katrina, anyone?
Talk about a meaningless poll. Somebody at Florida International University must have a cousin in the polling business.
...or asteroid impacts, or tsunamis, or land shark attack, or.....
Well, if you’re not prepared for your local weather or everyday dangers no matter where you live, I guess all we can say to those along the coast is, “Sea ya!” ;)
I live in tornado and blizzard country. You can be darn sure we have a stash of supplies in case we’re stuck here with no power at -20 degrees, or the roof blows off the house.
Is anyone surprised?
This poll is as meaningless as the newspaper that reported it.
Kinda reminds me of the reporters standing in the middle of the storm and asking passerby’s ‘what are you doing out here???’ with an are you crazy look on their faces. The best reply I’ve seen was ‘what are you” doing out here?’ right back at them.
This doesn’t surprise me. The weather people/media make a huge event out of every cluster of thunderstorms during hurricane season. People are burned out on the ‘sky is falling’reports and no longer take every warning of oncoming death and destruction seriously.
Used to be the hype was reserved only for the serious hurricanes, now they are tracking them from birth off Africa and after 2 weeks of hearing about Hurricane Hepsibah or something people tune it out. They also sensationalize every storm too much. We didn’t panic for every tropical storm or minor hurricane when I was growing up- now people consider ANYTHING the NWS names a potential catastrophe. People simply can’t AFFORD to run from every tropical system.
Look, I’ve been through Betsy- tons in between- and Katrina, I accept the eventual erasure of S. La by a hurricane. Nature will win, we are geologically and meteorologically doomed. New Orleans is a unique problem- no one should reside here permanently during hurricane season-period. It’s not like other coastal areas that hurricanes hit.
I won’t be here when a big one comes- and those who are don’t get any sympathy from me.
But it also makes me CRAZY to hear people compare the threat of hurricanes on our coastlines to ‘weather’ elsewhere in the country. There is no comparison UNLESS and UNTIL mass evacuations are called for tornadoes and blizzards. The psychological factor isn’t the same. Blizzards can be prepared for and survived with your home intact. You don’t see a million people fleeing in frantic panic before one. And tornadoes are too fast and isolated to have the same effect over a long period of time- as watching storm after storm during hurricane season.
Running- and preparing to run- from your home, over and over again, is no way to live. A tornado is horrific, but it can hit your neighbor and miss you. A hurricane like Katrina affects millions at once.
No comparison.
I’d gladly trade places with anyone in blizzard country- which is where I plan to be when N.O. is finally part of the Gulf of Mexico.
This ones my fave I was down there in St. Croix when the eye went over at Cat 5.
Hurricane Hugo 1989 Puerto Rico footage
(fast forward some)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lhj2QUFIyQ
Here in Jupiter, I fear the wind, not the water - even though I live a block from the beach.
I’ve been here 20+ years and have never worried about flooding, but the thought of something flying through a window and opening up the building to 150 mph winds is what frightens me into boarding up.
You’d sort of have to be a dummy to drown.
“There is no comparison UNLESS and UNTIL mass evacuations are called for tornadoes and blizzards.”
A mass evacuation doesn’t have to happen for people to be effected.
Tornadoes? It destroyed the next town over, three summers ago. Husband and I WATCHED it pass by our Back Forty on it’s way...that was close enough for me.
How about the tornado that wiped out an entire town in Oklahoma about five years back?
How about the fires that eat up the countryside in the West each season, burning homes and businesses and ruining lives?
Blizzards? Ice Storm of 1976. No power for weeks; we were all trapped in our homes. Dad broke out the BBQ grill in the middle of it all and started cooking up all the meat going to waste in everyone’s freezers. We lived like kings, LOL!
The smaller weather problems don’t get the coverage that the big ones do, but they still happen, and people still die...or live through them and carry on WITHOUT Government help or the MSM singing their praises for doing so.
I don’t mean to make light of the destruction and death caused by tornadoes( I was in OKC when a big one hit the Mustang area), it was terrifying-but my point is the fear of tornadoes does not last for weeks at a time with reports of approaching doom with every newscast. Tornadoes are fast and damage a relatively small area, they do not affect millions at a time WITHOUT actually hitting. And they can hit the next town with utter devastation leaving your area unhurt-hurricanes are simply bigger, slower moving tornadoes.
My point is that it does something to the psyche to have an evacuation plan every year, have essentials packed for a quick escape on short notice, and have to be ready to do it multiple times every year. Last year we evacuated for Gustav, then a week after we returned Ike threatened. Luckily it passed us, but we HAD evacuees instead of being evacuees. And it could have been a multiple storm season!
When people in tornado and blizzard territory have to seriously consider leaving their homes with the knowledge that they may have little or nothing to return to- and live with that mindset for 6 months of every year- and pack kids and pets and all that is important to you to run away from weather ,then I’ll see a comparison.
I’m not saying other weather isn’t destructive and deadly-just that facing hurricanes yearly presents an extra
mental pressure that affects how people react to repeated threats- as the original article noted.
24 hours is plenty of time to get everyone out.
The problem with moving sooner is that the forecasts are so uncertain the storm is likely to turn and hit a different spot.
Evacuating the right area is important.
The problem with Katrina was that so many people chose NOT to go. They chose to ride it out.
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