Originally Posted By: hikermor
Question about accidents and fatalities suffered during the evacuation. I haven't seen any figures and my impression is that things went better than the infamous Houston evac. This is certainly good news, if true...Did we learn any lessons about conducting major evacuations?


No doubt the state government will be analyzing the evacuation efforts along with how stricter building codes since 1992's Andrew helped buildings withstand Irma.

Anecdotedly, I haven't seen any news reports throughout that the Florida evacuation bore any resemblance to the Houston-Rita fiasco of 2005. I recall that 100 people died during the 2005 Houston evac. Don't know if anyone died evacuating in Florida. The biggest wrinkle in the Florida evac seems to have been gasoline supplies, despite valiant efforts to keep service stations supplied. Those news reports of gas shortages were a deterrent to others evacuating after Irma shifted west.

As my brother was deliberating whether to evacuate, we both observed that Florida's population growth has exponentially outpaced the building of roads upon which they could be evacuated in emergencies. There are two north-south Interstates in Florida: I-75 and I-95. Both were in the original Interstate Highway plans developed in 1955. In 1960, when the first miles of I-75 and I-95 were being opened, Florida's population was less than 5 million people. Today, 21 million people live in Florida. Florida's infrastructure hasn't kept up with population growth. Probably hasn't in any of the fifty states.

Former Governor Jeb Bush noted during interviews before Irma hit that they had learned during his tenure that a full statewide evacuation simply is not possible. Even if you got them out, where is everyone going to go? So his administration stepped up emphasis on having adequate local shelter options. Obviously, more needs to be done on that front. Naples, for one, ran out of shelter space.

Where Governor Rick Scott's evacuation pleas probably made the most difference in lives saved is in the Florida Keys. They issued a mandatory evacuation of the Keys beginning 7:00a Wednesday for tourists and 7:00p Wednesday for residents. Irma made landfall Sunday morning.

The scary images of Hurricane Harvey's aftermath the previous week also no doubt had made an impression on people so that the Irma warnings were taken more seriously.

I was having a conversation about this with someone and they suggested that in the future the state should have tanker trucks distributing gas directly to motorists on evacuation routes -- going the direction they need to be evacuating in. Paid for, of course.

Seems to me a good idea.



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