It's probably far too early to take lessons from the hurricane, but I am SO struck by how many people stayed put while the monster bore down on them. And how many of them paid with their lives.
I myself was renting a house in the Berkeley Hills when the firestorm came through 15 years ago. I was working that Sunday in downtown Berkeley (that was before my brains came in!). I saw the plume go over, and watched out the window as the fire inched down the hill toward my place, but while my housemate and many others went TOWARD the fire to rescue belongings I was never even tempted to try that. I was renting, which makes a HUGE difference, but still, everything I owned in the world was in that house.
How does this relate to this forum, you may ask? For me it raises the question of what I'd do, today, to protect the property I've spent years working for. Would I "git while the gittin's good" if threatened? Or would I try to protect my place against the storm / looters / etc.? Most of the stay-behinds seem like poor people with few resources and no way out, but many others seem to have stayed voluntarily.
I remember Harry Truman staying in his place on Mt. St. Helens 25 years ago while the mountain rumbled. He's still there under a couple of hundred feet of ash and mud...
This is NOT a "blame-the-victim" message by any means -- when I think about coming home to my beloved little house and seeing it erased from its location, I can't imagine it. I just wonder how many of us would risk our lives to save our property? Or more accurately -- to avoid having to start all over again? And should a decision like that be left to the last emotion-laden minute -- or do people on this forum already have evacuation plans / philosophies in place today?
Anyone else faced that choice? What did you do? What WOULD you do if the unthinkable happened?
Caroline
I myself was renting a house in the Berkeley Hills when the firestorm came through 15 years ago. I was working that Sunday in downtown Berkeley (that was before my brains came in!). I saw the plume go over, and watched out the window as the fire inched down the hill toward my place, but while my housemate and many others went TOWARD the fire to rescue belongings I was never even tempted to try that. I was renting, which makes a HUGE difference, but still, everything I owned in the world was in that house.
How does this relate to this forum, you may ask? For me it raises the question of what I'd do, today, to protect the property I've spent years working for. Would I "git while the gittin's good" if threatened? Or would I try to protect my place against the storm / looters / etc.? Most of the stay-behinds seem like poor people with few resources and no way out, but many others seem to have stayed voluntarily.
I remember Harry Truman staying in his place on Mt. St. Helens 25 years ago while the mountain rumbled. He's still there under a couple of hundred feet of ash and mud...
This is NOT a "blame-the-victim" message by any means -- when I think about coming home to my beloved little house and seeing it erased from its location, I can't imagine it. I just wonder how many of us would risk our lives to save our property? Or more accurately -- to avoid having to start all over again? And should a decision like that be left to the last emotion-laden minute -- or do people on this forum already have evacuation plans / philosophies in place today?
Anyone else faced that choice? What did you do? What WOULD you do if the unthinkable happened?
Caroline