As Florence Makes Landfall, Poorest Once More Likely to Suffer Most From Storm's Destruction

September 17, 2020 Off By EveAim

As Hurricane Florence officially made landfall Friday, and forecasters warn of “life-threatening, catastrophic flash flooding,” some attention has turned to residents across mandatory evacuation zones in the Carolinas and Virginia who chose to stay or were unable to leave, and how the poorest often pay the highest price when faced with a natural disaster.

Responding to a New York Times report in which an Edenton, North Carolina man who cares for his father—a cancer patient with whom he shares a double-wide trailer—explained that his family doesn’t have the resources to leave, author and activist Naomi Klein tweeted Friday, “These disasters drag into the light exactly who is already being thrown away.”

“Poverty lies in the path of Hurricane Florence in eastern N.C.,” the Asheville Citizen Times declared Thursday. “Some people are getting out of town, but that’s not an option for me. I have no money, no job, no connections,” Tony Clower, a 39-year-old homeless man living in Kinston, told the newspaper. “I want to cry. All I can do is put my hands together and ask God to keep me safe.”

A Vox article outlining common reasons people don’t always abide by evacuations orders noted that “there are people who don’t leave due to disabilities—they simply can’t get out of their homes and don’t have anyone to help them.” Some don’t want to leave behind their pets, and can’t find a shelter or hotel that will allow animals.

Others may underestimate the threat or not receive timely storm updates—though Vox pointed out, “in an age when warnings can be blasted out via radio, TV, and smartphones, and through old-fashioned door-to-door notifications, this is becoming less likely.” And then there are those who fear their home will be looted, or those like Clower, who cannot afford to travel and stay somewhere safe.

Kathy Sexton, a 56-year-old resident of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, spoke with the Washington Post about the various reasons she is trying to ride out the storm in her two-story townhouse:

Emergency rescues already have begun for those who wouldn’t or couldn’t evacuate, after coastal communities were struck by the outer bands of the storm on Thursday. In New Bern, North Carolina, as of 2:27am local time, about 150 residents were still waiting on assistance from FEMA crews, according to the city’s Twitter account.

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