Not everybody has credit cards, we only have debit cards - no money in bank, no ability to purchase it.
I will admit to a hold out stash of cash - enough to pay copay on crucial medications if I absolutely need to get meds somewhere other than the military base. Evacuate? Not hardly, I am currently in chemo for stage 3 cancer - my oncologist is twitcy enough that he kept his PA in the office half an hour overtime a few cycles ago because my fatigue had me sleep through my appointment earlier that day and I needed the appointment the next morning for my chemo to go through. I have the whole immunocompromised, and being physically handicapped I would not be safe in some of the evac centers I have read about. Though at 300 feet elevation and on the away from the ocean side of some rolling terraine, I don’t really worry about anything except losing power from trees being knocked down, and shingle loss and water damage from rain [and Eastern CT is known for losing power at the drop of a hat, longest period was something like 3 weeks for our farm. We showered and did laundry on base and have a generator to charge things up and keep the freezer chilled down, and run the well pump for water.]
I have made plans for evacuation for my roomies 4 cats and 6 birds based on using the mom van, and containerizing the cats each in their own dog crate with litter pan, ferret hammock and chow/water, and the birds [5 keets and one love bird , keets and Baby have separate cages because the love bird is bitey] stacked and packed into the back, because unless it is absolutely roasting or freezing, they will be relatively safe while being driven. She has experience camping with pets, and would be stacking them in the end of her tent once she got somewhere safe, whether a friends house or safeish wilderness camping area. This was back before I got dx with cancer and included me in the RV with more supplies, but the plan is still reasonable. We have friends all over the country [thanks to the SCA and 30+ years making connections] that have barn/house/camping space available in all 4 seasons so we could potentially evac to anywhere from Maine to Florida, Maine to California, pretty much any CONUS state. Though we do know some lovely people in ALaska, I don’t think Canada would like us driving the menagerie through +)
One woman interviewed on NPR was staying behind based on her previous experiences with hurricanes and their aftermath.
She said she was not allowed to return to her home when she and her family felt it was safe, and considered the police/national guard/whoever was keeping them out too slow in getting their “all clear” orders. They didn’t want to repeat the experience.
That’s another reason- someone may have enough resources to evacuate for a few days, but not for a week and a half. So they’re going to be judicious about evacuating.
One thing we might want to clarify is whether or not we’re talking about people sticking around during mandatory evacuations, or just people who don’t clear out when there’s a storm bearing down on them? There’s a world of difference between the two. The first is stupid, the second is a lot more than poor risk assessment.