Should I evacuate?
Why evacuate? What does an evacuation order mean? Who should evacuate? How far should you go?
An evacuation is ordered because life threatening conditions are present, or will be present, in the area designated as a "mandatory evacuation zone". For a tropical cyclone event, we should "Run from Water and Hide from Wind". If you are threatened by the storm's surge you should go to a safe location before the threat arrives.
If a mandatory evacuation order is given, in addition to communicating where lives are threatened, government is also communicating where emergency services (police, fire and emergency medical) will cease until the threat no longer exists.
If you are in a mandatory evacuation zone, officials may go door-to-door advising you of an evacuation order, but they will not force you out of your house. They may ask for your next-of-kin information, so, please cooperate. Remember, your decision to remain in a mandatory evacuation zone is "YOURS".
In any case, we'd like you to make an informed decision. You need to know your threat, e.g., wind &/or water, and your vulnerability, e.g., rising Gulf waters threatening the house.
Regarding the wind threat, most newly constructed homes will generally protect you up to a Category 2 hurricane. You can still take steps to make yourself safer by picking up and storing the objects that might become projectiles that could damage your home in a severe storm. You can also install hurricane window/door protection devices.
To assess your vulnerability to the water threat you need to look at the "abbreviated surge map" for evacuation planning. Another item to consider when considering evacuation is that the closer you are to the coastline, the more vulnerable you might be to the "wave action" on top of the storm surge. The surge map is a planning tool because one storm will not affect the entire 50-mile coastline of Collier County in the same way. The Board of County Commissioners, armed with the recommendations offered by their Emergency Operations Center staff will determine the mandatory evacuation zone based on the characteristics of each storm. It's then up to you to implement your plan.
How far should you go if your plan dictates you need to evacuate? Again, we evacuate to get out of harm's way - the water threat. Therefore, for most of our tropical events, you only needed to go inland (to the inland side of I-75) within Collier County. Naturally, you can go further away, but remember for every 24 hours ahead of the storm, the storm may deviate 75 miles from the projected track. So, if you choose to go outside the county, don't consider going to another coastline vulnerable to storm surge should the storm's track change.
If you'd like to make a detailed personal disaster plan, follow this link.