> it would be really annoying to have my stuff washed away when folks knew it was a possibility and didn't even offer me the chance to move it first.
They were more concerned about getting the evacuees out of the way before they were worried about getting the evacuees' stuff out of the way. Houses, furniture, and belongings can be replaced after a disaster. A bunch of people twiddling their thumbs in anxiety over a potential failure while not ordering evacuations to minimize or prevent loss of life is potentially criminal.
Also, people tend to panic. Telling them that there is a probable problem, and ordering a mandatory evacuation long before danger is imminent so that, if the worst case scenario occurs, the evacuees will live gives people hope that officials are just being overly cautious. Telling people that they have 5 hours to evacuate before it is guaranteed that all of their belongings, and their lives, will be lost forever will cause panic and potentially loss of life in the chaos alone.
I agree with you. The interesting question in the discussion was how you weigh panic, economic cost, and human cost. I hope that we'll get to see the decision tree they used at some point.
They were more concerned about getting the evacuees out of the way before they were worried about getting the evacuees' stuff out of the way. Houses, furniture, and belongings can be replaced after a disaster. A bunch of people twiddling their thumbs in anxiety over a potential failure while not ordering evacuations to minimize or prevent loss of life is potentially criminal.
Also, people tend to panic. Telling them that there is a probable problem, and ordering a mandatory evacuation long before danger is imminent so that, if the worst case scenario occurs, the evacuees will live gives people hope that officials are just being overly cautious. Telling people that they have 5 hours to evacuate before it is guaranteed that all of their belongings, and their lives, will be lost forever will cause panic and potentially loss of life in the chaos alone.