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The last one to the scene of any natural disaster is the government. It doesn’t matter if we knew in advance about hurricanes like Dorian, Katrina or Puerto Rico, The current mode of thinking by too many is that our government will save us. Oh…wait. That’s not how this works. Our government will not save you from hurricanes or any other natural disaster.
That is a message that far too many people REFUSE to listen to. Hurricane Dorian is boiling at warp speed in the Atlantic with anticipated landfall somewhere between Florida and Georgia. Yet, far too many believe our gubbmint saviors will ride to the rescue!!
NO, our government will not save you BEFORE whichever natural disaster smacks you in the face. Instead, they will ride to the rescue AFTER the storm has passed.
Which is why paying attention to the news AND natural disaster prep is key.
There are a lot of folks who have their shorts in a knot regarding Long’s FEMA remarks.
We have plenty of money for massive military weaponry to be used on strangers around the world, but not enough to rescue our fellow Americans during a hurricane.
Priorities.
— Michael FBX (@MichaelFBX) September 1, 2019
Isn’t that cute? NO. Here’s the deal. Dorian has been everywhere 24/7 for the last few days. If people in the storm’s path have missed or ignored that they should be stepping up and preparing to deal with 180 mile per hour gale force winds, massive rains, flooding, loss of all power, and more, then quite honestly, they have only themselves to blame.
Starting noon tomorrow, individuals east of I-95 in Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Glynn, Liberty, and McIntosh Counties must evacuate due to Hurricane #Dorian. @GeorgiaEMA and @GADeptofTrans will start westerly contraflow on I-16 at 8 AM on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Stay vigilant and be safe. pic.twitter.com/njw2ffCoLT
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) September 2, 2019
Hundreds of flights have been canceled. As matter of fact, folks we talked to this weekend are from the Palm Beach area of Florida. Their Tuesday return flight has been canceled. They aren’t sure when they will get back home. Have they prepared and asked neighbors/friends to further batten down the hatches? Yes. But they also stated they have other neighbors who don’t see what the big deal is.
“Hurricane Dorian slammed into the Bahamas with unprecedented force on Sunday, a monstrous Category 5 cyclone that became the strongest storm ever to hit the island chain and the fiercest to traverse the Atlantic Ocean in nearly a century.
With sustained winds of 185 mph when it made landfall — and gusts well above 200 mph — it remained powerful and unpredictable. Forecasts call for Dorian to approach the South Florida coastline early Tuesday morning somewhere near here, but what happens after that is still uncertain. Should the storm make landfall in Florida, it could be catastrophic. Should it veer north and lumber along the coast, it might not make a U.S. landfall at all — but it could still bring extreme storm surge, massive rains and hurricane-force winds to much of the Eastern Seaboard throughout the week.”
People are going to read that last paragraph and think ..’Meh. I can deal with a storm surge and a big rainstorm.’ Uh huh. Sure you can.
All this and more can be found at our friend Beege’s excellent post detailing hurricane and natural disaster prep. READ IT. BOOKMARK IT. PRINT IT.
Here’s the deal. How many of our millennials know what to do when a Dorian, Katrina, wildfire, or tornado hits? Not near enough I’m afraid.
Instead, far too many do believe that FEMA – therefore our GUBBMINT! will save them from that which they could’ve saved themselves from.
This is where we, as a society as a whole, have fallen down on the job. A hurricane is brewing? Prepare. You live in tornado country? Prepare. Flood zone? Prepare.
The government will not save you. The government will ALWAYS arrive after the fact.
Be alert. Pay attention. Be prepared. And for goodness sakes, quit relying on the dad blasted government to save your hides when you are fully capable of doing so for yourself!
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Feature Photo Credit: Screen Shot via National Hurricane Center Twitter feed, cropped and modified
Kathy says: Disaster response should be:
Self preparedness before (as you say) and after disaster,
neighbors helping neighbors before and after,
local emergency support (often volunteer) sometimes before usually after,
state emergency support only for big disasters and always after,
FEMA only if the disaster is huge and always after.
Scott says: “And for goodness sakes, quit relying on the dad blasted government to save your hides when you are fully capable of doing so for yourself!”.. I’m thinking that’s what’s referred to as “assuming facts not in evidence”
You’re 100% correct that these idiots need to quit relying on govt. but that being said, I have seen nothing to convince me that they are capable of taking care of themselves…
GWB says: boiling at warp speed
*facepalm*
Now THAT’s a mixed metaphor!
anticipated landfall somewhere between Florida and Georgia
Let’s define “landfall”. The National Hurricane Center defines it thusly:
The intersection of the surface center of a tropical cyclone with a coastline.
And it looks like the epicenter will not hit land at all (except for perhaps brushing Myrtle Beach/Southport), while outer bands are already over Florida. IF it holds true to the center of the NOAA predicted track over the next few days. But those winds and the rain are what matter – and a Cat5 is pretty devastating even at a remove.
they will ride to the rescue AFTER
Even then, “rescue” is more on a getting-people-out-of-stranded-cars level than an eliminate-the-pain-and-heartache-of-losing-your-house-and-car-and-pets level.
enough meds (I’d say two weeks at least these days)
That could be an issue if they’re pain-killers nowadays, with the “opioid epidemic” worries going on.
Nina Bookout says: GWB – had fun mixing boiling at warp speed! 😉
As for the meds – have experience working with good pharmacist who advocates for instances like this regarding our daughter whether upcoming storms/evacuations or allowing for issues to arise when traveling overseas for 2 weeks as we did earlier this year. It can be done.
Nina: “The last one to the scene of any natural disaster is the government. It doesn’t matter if we knew in advance about hurricanes like Dorian, Katrina or Puerto Rico, The current mode of thinking by too many is that our government will save us. Oh…wait. That’s not how this works. Our government will not save you from hurricanes or any other natural disaster.”
That stupid Nina, really stupid. The first at the scene of every hurricane is our federal government. The U.S.A.F Hurricane Hunters fly well offshore and brave those 150 MPH winds. The only reason we know anything about Dorian is because of our government. And the predictions our federal agencies make before a major storm hits shore allow private agencies such as power companies to prepare. The feds are not only not the “last one,” they are the first ones. I can explain that to a fourth grader. I fail to understand why it is beyond your comprehension.
There’s also this remark, “Our government will not save you from hurricanes or any other natural disaster.” First no human agency can guarantee our safety, only God. Sneering at the government for what no one else can do is grossly unfair. Second, if you’re in ship battered by a storm, your life will depend on the USCG coming to your rescue. Our federal government does save many of us from disasters. It does that all the time thanks to some very capable and dedicated people.
I get tired of this, really tired. Both the left and the right have people who’ve apparently written their entire political philosophy on a 3×5 card. Next to a dim-witted liberal who thinks the government can do everything stands and equally dim-witted conservative who thinks it can do nothing. Both have a tenuous grasp on reality. Both have what George Orwell called “smelly orthodoxies” and that I refer to as “little dogma minds.”
Get real Nina. Put down that little 3×5 card and look around at reality.
Scott says: Not that Nina needs help in this regard, but I think you need to read some of her other stuff here Michael, and then reread this post for comprehension. When she talks about the Federal Govt being the last there, she was talking response as far as “disaster response” not the storm chaser aircraft, predictions, etc Also, she was “sneering” as you put it at people who expect the govt to do things it couldn’t possibly do (you’re right on this point, that’s the realm of God), she was NOT sneering at the govt response. If you’d bothered to read previous posts of hers, you’d see the great respect she has for first responders. to oopt your statement, “even a 4th grader could understand that”..
GWB says: equally dim-witted conservative who thinks it can do nothing
It can do nothing well*. Even its disaster response is not on a par with folks like the “Cajun Navy”. Mostly what FEMA does bring is gov’t money (aka taxes) to bear (along with its bureaucracy). And, since gov’t is inherently wasteful, that big money could probably come through other pipelines and get more done than FEMA can.
(* It does war pretty well. But that involves killing people and breaking things. It handles war personnel and materiel poorly during peacetime, normally.)
Nina Bookout says: Hi Michael!
Well, the last few hurricanes have shown us that there are many people capable of preparing for and also following instructions to evacuate. Do they? No, they do not. They wait for USCG and National Guard to arrive and haul their butts out of the sling of their own making. Meanwhile the elderly and infirm who aren’t as capable and who may not have the family/friends resources to help them are left waiting …to their detriment at times.
Prepping for a Dorian or other natural disasters when the warnings sound, or even in advance of the warnings, is good policy that we should all adopt. I stand by my assertion that those who are capable should prepare and heed warnings rather than relying upon any government entity to ride to the rescue.
Thanks for reading!
My point was simply that there are MANY folks out there who are fully capable of paying attention and doing for themselves in regards to hurricane prep. But they don’t and instead wait upon some government entity to arrive and help them out of their jam.
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