“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.