Residents in Florida were given warning this week to make what some officials have referred to as a life or death decision: evacuate their home or ride out Hurricane Milton and potentially die.
The storm, which was still a strong Category 3 as of Wednesday evening, is expected to be one of the most destructive in the state’s history — developing at an unseen rate of rapidness just two weeks after Florida’s Gulf Coast was shaken by Hurricane Helene.
"Helene was a wake-up call. This is literally catastrophic. I can say without any dramatization whatsoever if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re gonna die," said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor earlier this week.
But for some who live in the mandatory evacuation zones, the decision to stay or leave may not always be that simple.
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Following the historical devastation of Hurricane Katrina, a professor at the University of Akron in Ohio and a Federal Emergency Management Agency expert researched the reasons why some people don’t obey mandatory evacuation orders.
Dr. Stacy Willett identified six main reasons why people decide to take their chances at home during a deadly storm, many of which are still relevant today – age, gender, previous experience, cost, pets and the influence of others.
Cost is one of the major factors in determining whether or not to evacuate, according to her research.
Floridians on social media have said it takes anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars to leave their homes for the safety of higher ground or a location completely out of the hurricane’s path.
County and city officials open shelters in safer regions and often provide free public transportation for this exact reason, but some say it’s not enough.
A lot of people consider their pets to be part of their family and, if a shelter or hotel isn’t pet-friendly or they don’t have room in their vehicles, many people would rather risk their own lives by staying home than leave behind their pets.
Some Florida residents on social media have noted that owning exotic pets makes it even harder to evacuate because other counties and states in safe zones have prohibited certain animals.
Overzealous evacuation orders in the past can lead a family to choose to wait out the storm rather than leave, according to Willet’s research. She also found that peer pressure and solidarity can sway a family to decide to stay or to go before a hurricane.
Lastly, age and gender play a role in the decision-making process for evacuating.
Willett’s research found that older residents are more likely to ignore evacuation orders because of stubbornness, medical or mobility restrictions and attachment to irreplaceable family heirlooms.
The research said men are more likely than women to ride out a storm, which Willett said was not surprising based on other research linking gender to risk aversion.
Women are not only more likely to leave during an evacuation order, but they’re also more likely to take their families with them. Willett said this is why public service announcements often target matriarchs to take the orders seriously.
Florida state law makes it illegal to stay in a mandatory evacuation zone, but that doesn’t mean law enforcement will be forcefully removing people from their homes if they choose to stay.
