Evacuate

We were looking forward to a quiet Monday evening. My work schedule allows for an extra day off every other week and I had been off September 10, 2018. The errands for the day had included my wife and I applying for passport, just so we would have them in case there is an unexpected trip in our future later I was to learn just how ironic this was.

After dinner we settled into our matching recliners to enjoy a favorite TV show when the alerts came over our phones. We had been aware of the anticipated arrival of hurricane Florence but were a bit surprised at the text message. The alert told us that the Governor of Virginia had issued a mandatory evacuation order for our area beginning the next morning at 8:00am. 

I work as a training coordinator for a extension of a Federal Government office and I was responsible for a contracted training class that was beginning on Tuesday. I knew that the instructor had already arrived in town so my decision was to go into work and make sure that issues related to the class were properly addressed. I was also curious to see how my employer would react to the Governor’s evacuation order. 

On Tuesday September 11th, as issues with the class were being addressed, I received travel orders from the Federal Government in support of the State Governor’s previously issued evacuation order. The directions were to evacuate to a location between 75 and 400 miles away. I began communicating with my wife and we decided on a city that was far enough away but required less than a four hour car trip. 

After a review of the projected models and seeing that Florence was headed straight for us. My wife and I chose a city and made hotel reservations. 

Because of work responsibilities, I decided to work the rest of the day Monday and evacuate Tuesday afternoon. Even though the track of Florence now showed that the hurricane had turned away from the immediate area, since orders were already in place, preparations took place Tuesday evening and were continued by my wife Wednesday morning.  

On Wednesday September 12th, when the contracted training class finished I left work for home so we could load the car and evacuate. I felt bad that I had waited a full day and a half after the order but I could concentrate on the evacuation better knowing that my immediate work responsibility had been taken care of. Waiting to leave town made it more difficult to fill the gas tank but we were well behind most of the traffic. 

Many of my colleagues at work live in areas not covered by the evacuation order, I can only imagine that a few of them might have evacuated anyway. Some who live in areas that received the order to evacuate and chose not to, later saw the hurricane turn and were glad that they had made their decision. We also have many close neighbors, some who chose to leave, many who chose to stay and some that had no choice because of work requirements. 

In our case, I made my evacuation decisions based on responsibilities. First a responsibility to my wife and her safety, second a responsibility to my employer. I am fortunate that I was able to address both at the same time.