I don't know if this has been posted and I don't know what to think about this at all. I heard about this on the coverage the other day and went surfing for it and managed to find it.
I don't know what to think, excpet that maybe next time people will take a mandatory evacuation more seriously.
Survey: Many Won't Evacuate For A Category 3 Storm
July 22, 2005
Courtesy of The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- As many as 60 percent of the respondents to a poll of southeast Louisiana residents said they would stay in their homes if a Category 3 hurricane was approaching - a dangerous decision, according to emergency officials.
University of New Orleans political science professor Susan Howell, who directed the survey, said that although 60 percent of those asked at first said they would leave if public officials recommended an evacuation, on further questioning, only 34 percent of the residents of 12 coastal parishes would "definitely" leave.
She said the public doesn't realize that areas of southeast Louisiana are no longer protected by levees from a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane.
"It's been 40 years since the last catastrophic hurricane hit the city, Betsy, so we're asking them to believe the risk when they've never experienced anything like it."
The survey was released Thursday by the UNO Survey and Research Center and the Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Task Force.
In response, Jesse St. Amant, emergency preparedness director for Plaquemines Parish, said that the state's sinking coastline and levees no longer protect residents from a Category 3 storm, which can deliver winds of 130 mph and an 18-foot-high combination of storm surge and waves. He said last year's Hurricane Ivan, had it hit directly hit southeastern Louisiana, would have done great damage.
"The reality is that regardless of whether you lived through Betsy or remember Camille, though it hit somewhere else, if Ivan had happened here, we would probably not be standing here talking about it in this building," St. Amant said. "We would still be recovering."
In 2002, an official from the American Red Cross estimated that between 25,000 and 100,000 people would be killed if a major hurricane hit the New Orleans area.
If the new survey is accurate and significant numbers of people don't evacuate, St. Amant said, the number of casualties would be "beyond comprehension."
Howell said residents based their evacuation decisions on their perception of the risk they face in their location. And the two factors that weigh most heavily in that perception are past experiences with hurricanes and whether they feel their home is sturdily built.
And residents who lived more than 30 years in southeast Louisiana were least likely to evacuate, especially if their own home had never been damaged by a hurricane.
The survey also found that many people who evacuated during Hurricanes Georges in 1998, Lili in 2002 or Ivan last year might not have traveled far enough to escape danger.
At least 400 residents were interviewed in each of the 12 participating parishes. Not all results could be combined because of differences in evacuation problems or how far their populated areas are from the coast. The study began in the spring of 2004, and several parishes or parts of parishes weren't completed until after Ivan hit in September.
The problems experienced by evacuees during Ivan, including delays of 10 hours or more in reaching their evacuation destinations, don't seem to affect the willingness to evacuate, Howell said. An average of 86 percent of Ivan evacuees in four parishes said they would do the same thing under similar circumstances, about the same as those who evacuated for Georges and Lili.
The hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/newsrelated/Manywon'tevacuate.htm
I don't know what to think, excpet that maybe next time people will take a mandatory evacuation more seriously.
Survey: Many Won't Evacuate For A Category 3 Storm
July 22, 2005
Courtesy of The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- As many as 60 percent of the respondents to a poll of southeast Louisiana residents said they would stay in their homes if a Category 3 hurricane was approaching - a dangerous decision, according to emergency officials.
University of New Orleans political science professor Susan Howell, who directed the survey, said that although 60 percent of those asked at first said they would leave if public officials recommended an evacuation, on further questioning, only 34 percent of the residents of 12 coastal parishes would "definitely" leave.
She said the public doesn't realize that areas of southeast Louisiana are no longer protected by levees from a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane.
"It's been 40 years since the last catastrophic hurricane hit the city, Betsy, so we're asking them to believe the risk when they've never experienced anything like it."
The survey was released Thursday by the UNO Survey and Research Center and the Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Task Force.
In response, Jesse St. Amant, emergency preparedness director for Plaquemines Parish, said that the state's sinking coastline and levees no longer protect residents from a Category 3 storm, which can deliver winds of 130 mph and an 18-foot-high combination of storm surge and waves. He said last year's Hurricane Ivan, had it hit directly hit southeastern Louisiana, would have done great damage.
"The reality is that regardless of whether you lived through Betsy or remember Camille, though it hit somewhere else, if Ivan had happened here, we would probably not be standing here talking about it in this building," St. Amant said. "We would still be recovering."
In 2002, an official from the American Red Cross estimated that between 25,000 and 100,000 people would be killed if a major hurricane hit the New Orleans area.
If the new survey is accurate and significant numbers of people don't evacuate, St. Amant said, the number of casualties would be "beyond comprehension."
Howell said residents based their evacuation decisions on their perception of the risk they face in their location. And the two factors that weigh most heavily in that perception are past experiences with hurricanes and whether they feel their home is sturdily built.
And residents who lived more than 30 years in southeast Louisiana were least likely to evacuate, especially if their own home had never been damaged by a hurricane.
The survey also found that many people who evacuated during Hurricanes Georges in 1998, Lili in 2002 or Ivan last year might not have traveled far enough to escape danger.
At least 400 residents were interviewed in each of the 12 participating parishes. Not all results could be combined because of differences in evacuation problems or how far their populated areas are from the coast. The study began in the spring of 2004, and several parishes or parts of parishes weren't completed until after Ivan hit in September.
The problems experienced by evacuees during Ivan, including delays of 10 hours or more in reaching their evacuation destinations, don't seem to affect the willingness to evacuate, Howell said. An average of 86 percent of Ivan evacuees in four parishes said they would do the same thing under similar circumstances, about the same as those who evacuated for Georges and Lili.
The hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.
http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/newsrelated/Manywon'tevacuate.htm
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(I just read the "Holy Kanye! ... " thread too) 
