AlteredEgo
Mythical Member
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We do not have a hurricane every year. I have no idea what you are talking about. 2004 and 2005 were very active years. Before that, was Opal in 1995, and Andrew in 1992! I may have only moved down here a little over two years ago, but I have had family all over central Florida and the Gulf coast my whole life, so I have always watched weather alerts about major storms for Florida.
When I lived in NY, I distinctly remember a hurricane giving me a day off school one day late in September, but almost ruining my best friend's birthday slumber party. That Hurricane shared a name with my cousin Gloria. Many hurricanes and tropical storms end up having some affect on New Yorkers, frequently causing massive flooding, power outages, and deaths, just like anywhere else.
I have witnessed pure stupidity here in Florida. How is it that a native New Yorker like me knows that in case of emergency one should have (for example) one gallon of water per day per adult, while people from Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Florida have asked me if I thought 4-6 gallons of water was good enough storm prep for their entire household? How is it that having only been here long enough to see the weakest tropical storm ever, my first aid kit is far more thoughtful than those kits of people I have questioned?
My sister in law has been down here for seven years, and for five years before that in Puerto Rico. How did she prepare for the storm? She lives on the first floor, in evacuation zone one. She put gasoline in her car, bought a dozen cans of non-perishables, a propane tank (after I asked her to grab one for me) and 4 gallons of water. When questioned, she had no first aid supplies beyond cotton swabs, cotton pads (the kind you use to remove make up or apply toner) and band-aids. She did not get her prescriptions refilled, nor did she take out extra cash in case of power failure (which renders ATMs useless).
My husband lived in PR for only two years (maybe less) because he was in university in CO when his family returned to PR. We had been living in the Boston Metro Area for three years before coming down to Miami. We had three 5-gallon containers to fill with water, a first-aid kit with extra prescription medicine in case of long-term emergency, pain killers, anti-histamines, different kins of bandages and compresses, splints, an eyewash, an eye patch, sun screen and much more stuff (the first aid kit is almost an embarrassment of riches). We have camping gear ready and packed in case we have to evacuate, including a tent, sleeping bags, air pads, wet-start matches and a firestone, a hatchet an machete, a compass, you know, other camping stuff (lots!) and clothes that dry quickly. We had plenty of food, two bags of ice, extra pet food, a full tank of gas and a full gas can (also in case of emergency evac). We didn't buy any of this stuff this week either. It is storm season. We were prepared months ago. The only thing we did last-minute was take out a life insurance policy on my husband's sister. Her planning was piss poor, and in the event of her premature death, her parents would become liable for her student loans. We insured her to offset that for them. We may be a mid-westerner and a New Yorker, but we like to think we're practical.
My observation is that people in general, everywhere, fail to prepare adequately for storms. People who experience them frequently are either stupid or complacent; people who experience them infrequently are either stupid or ignorant. New Yorkers and New Englanders are not any more at a loss for what to do for a storm than people anywhere else. If you watch the local news there, you see images of people out in Queens and Long Island boarding up their windows. You see those same images, only the people are wearing heavy coats, when a nor'easter is expected. A storm is a storm.
