A loss of life in nature’s wrath is a shame but let’s be frank here, sometimes people are just too stupid to heed the warnings and Irene took advantage.
As I write this, 15 people in 5 states are dead as a result of the storm. I heard a talk show host last week mention that last-minute warnings of deadly weather on its way are actually more effective at getting people to react because the more time they have to prepare, the less likely they are to do it. I don’t know if that’s true but I do know that some people just don’t take it seriously. Like the couple off the coast of Virginia that had to be rescued in their sailboat – their SAILBOAT – during the hurricane. The boat started sinking (go figure) putting them and the rescue team at risk. Oh, and they had a cat on board too and it has been saved. Idiots.
Some who died in the hurricane were also, I’m sorry to say, fools. One death came as the result of a car accident when a massive power outage took out a signal light. What is anyone doing driving a car during a friggin’ hurricane? You just don’t. Another driver hit a tree. Two people were killed by falling trees as they were outside their homes; one putting up plywood over windows suffered a heart attack. These people were outside after the storm struck which seems to support the claim that early warnings don’t make some people react right away.
There was some outcry about the 12 minute warning ahead of the tornado that struck Goderich so Environment Canada gave us about 7 hours before last Wednesday night’s storm hit, spawning several twisters. People along the east coast of the US had several days’ warning that Irene was on its way and it was a potential killer. I have a hard time drumming up sympathy for someone who deliberately put themselves in harm’s way as the storm was bearing down. |There just isn’t an excuse. You reschedule everything else. And don’t get me started on reporters who stand in thigh-high flooding, clinging to trees to demonstrate the storm’s power. Choose life, people, choose life.