As a native Iowan, I never really had to worry about hurricanes, but I did once have a tornado roll right by my apartment complex during college. I was too drunk to really care about it, so it didn't greatly scare me, but considering that we experienced 155 MPH winds, I'm at least prepared for the winds of a hurricane. Tornadoes are far less stressful, and not just because their size is nowhere near a hurricane; it's mostly that a tornado pops up, runs through your area in the next couple hours, and then it's over. A hurricane is the slowest natural disaster imaginable, as we have known about Irma coming for a full week. It is just so damn slow
With that (lack of) speed, things have had so much time to change. It was going to get slowed down in the Caribbean when it hit Cuba and Puerto Rico. Then it was going to just rise up the east coast where we'd be on the outer range. Then it was going straight up the middle, and finally, in worst case scenario, it is now coming up the west coast. That's bad for me, but the whole leadup led to an awkward situation. By wishing for it to not hit me, it meant that I was wishing other people harm. Would I have preferred that it went somewhere else? Of course, that would have been a preferable outcome for me, but even in less than ideal outcome, I'm likely going to be fine.
This leads to the next question: Should I have evacuated? Even knowing what I know now, I still feel good about my decision to stay during the storm. My plan was always to stay unless I received a mandatory evacuation notice. Although Zones A&B did receive the mandatory evacuations, I'm in Zone C, which means that I am good to stay. Would it have been safer for me to go? Yeah, getting out of the way of a hurricane is safer than staying in the way, but I am tucked away in a neighborhood so I should be fairly blocked off from debris, and I'm in the best possible area to avoid flooding. I'm prepared if our house ends up sustaining some damage, and I'm prepared to lose power for a few days if it ends up coming to that, but physically, I feel as if I'm about as safe as taking a flight. Sure, something incredibly weird could happen, but the risk is so slight that I am in no way putting my life in danger.
Overall, I haven't been too worried throughout the process. When I took my lunch to pickup some bottled water last Tuesday, and there was nothing to be found at Sam's Club or Publix, I didn't really worry, I just picked up some Gatorade and figured I'd be good. When I heard that gas stations all across the state were running out of gas, I wasn't too concerned, because I didn't think I'd have to evacuate. When they started announcing evacuations in my area, I didn't really concern myself, because those were coastal areas, and of course they were going to need to evacuate. Even driving through town Saturday and realizing that everything was closed, I wasn't really worried, it just meant that I could go 100 on the highway, because what cop would pull somebody over for speeding when there is a hurricane coming (Also, there was a brewery open over in Tampa, so grabbing a beer with the wife and dog seemed like a good way to celebrate Iowa's victory).
I would say the most concerned I got was when my friends texted me in a group chat to tell me that I should evacuate. My friends are not concerned people; they're idiots, and that's why we get along so well, so it was a tad unnerving that these guys were actually worried about my safety.
But when I balanced everything out, it made sense for me to stay. The most likely outcome is still that everything will be totally fine, maybe lose power for a while. I could sustain some house damage, and I could be without power for days, but I'm prepared for either situation. We've got a safe spot tucked away in the middle of the house where physically, we'll be fine, although the dog may be freaking out a bit. She's always a spaz, so I think we can handle that.
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