Yes, it is very sad. Some people at that age just get overwhelmed with a situation like this, and just kinda freeze. I know a man in his early 80's who for all my life was self-reliant, very responsible, proactive, and extremely successful. But over the last 5 years he's completely changed. For the first time in his life he had major health problems and suddenly became dependent at times on his children. When the hurricane started to appear as a real threat, they had the hardest time convincing him to leave, to pick out important things to take with him, and even to allow them to board up the windows. Just froze in the face of a crisis, something unthinkable for him just 10 years ago.
As the synapses go, routine becomes more important, and if the routine is broken, the disorientation can be the final straw. My grandfather when his wife died, went absolutely nuts in a hurry into senile dementia. The symptoms under stress rapidly overtook him.