I Told You So

Storm preparations are cancelled and the Police Department has returned to it's normal schedule. Suave! I am working tonight but not with the other shift that loves to gawp at the TV, a noisy intrusive distraction which is permitted in the communications center during storms for the "news." I am a happy camper because I like my own shift and now I can look forward to a serene and peaceful shift tonight. Hurricane Ike is projected to pass almost 200 miles west of Key West after it leaves Cuba and its the turn of the Gulf Coast to fret, and they have much to fret about unhappily. Last night, Highway One at Boca Chica, 'round midnight:I have been thinking for some time that the city and county should stop issuing evacuation orders. It would be tremendously controversial and it will never happen, but it seems to me we are about to go through an endless period of recrimination and second guessing and anxious political leaders can never defend themselves adequately by saying they did the best they could with the information they had at the time. People lose money in evacuations and naysayers gain credence about leaving the islands at all during a storm threat. I have to say here I figured this was what it was going to come to as the track kept moving west. I never was impressed by Ike's size as a threat to Key West. Read my earlier posts if you think I am using hindsight!Currently lots of people remember the misery of Wilma, and all the flooding, so in a knee jerk response they... take their garbage to the side of a deserted road hoping it will miraculously get washed away... before they got the hell out of Dodge! People! And indeed parts of my island are already comfortably under water from it just being normal rainy season. Imagine a storm surge on top of this:It seems to me the city and county should provide information about what services will likely be available and let everyone decide for themselves. That's more or less what happens now when a "mandatory" evacuation is ordered, but it just sounds draconian to a population that is not trained to listen carefully and pay attention.A mandatory evacuation just means rescue services won't come and help you until the storm dies down, it also means the hospital is closed and there are no support services of any kind. People think that's okay until things start to go wrong and then they tend to get a little het up and they call the police department and start demanding we do something. As it is people will fill the Citizen's Voice columns with second guessing and complaints about the ineffective bureaucrats instead of just being happy that this time we weren't slammed by a Category Four. I'm glad I'm so far down the totem pole I don't have to justify difficult decisions taken under impossible circumstances. Imagine the headlines if the city didn't order an evacuation and someone died in a storm...I went for a bike ride this morning (still getting my exercise dear, please note!) and was delighted to learn, when I got home we're back to normal so now I've got to go and do some homework. My fondest hope is that the college be open for classes Wednesday.