I have a coworker in Tampa who is riding it out. I flat out told him he was an idiot.
That advice is trotted out for every evac order all around the country. It’s intended as a sobering “scared straight” message: “We’re not going to rescue your ass; we’re going to be stacking your body like cordwood with all the others and we don’t have the manpower to waste time figuring out who’s who. You wanna be in a mass grave of unknowns? Skip the Sharpie.”
The reality-challenged idiots mostly don’t heed it.
Our data center is in Tampa. The office is still open, and people are working. But…
The data center is in a hardened structure specifically designed to withstand hurricanes, flooding, and power outages… and the employees are working remotely instead of actually being there.
He didn’t want to get stuck on the highway. Better on the highway which is inland than in his house, which is on a canal.
But probably not…
I’ve shared that on Facebook. I’ll let you know what my Trump Cultist, QAnon-believing friend says (if she comments).
Regarding riding it out…
(I know I just saw this somewhere a few days ago, hopefully it wasn’t here)
Partly because it seldom really gets to that point. Back during peak Covid I made the comment that many of the rejecters would not believe it was that bad until the piles bodies in their street physically blocked their driveway. Similarly here, and even when there is a recent example — Helene wiped out a whole bunch of towns on the beach and up in the mountains but “only” killed 230-something across 6 states, the vast majority of people made it alive. So the fools say the odds are with them.
Of course then there’s this troll…
…who stuck around too long to be able to flee apparently and is just saying, oh well, guess I’ll die, buy my merch (would not be surprised if she’s completely NOT there and just blowing smoke; or else trying to provoke someone into going in to get her).
Okay two things…
First, elsewhere on the board, I said after Helene blew through last week that it was likely to have minimum effect on Florida’s elections. I now want to say publicly that I’m going back on that statement. I wouldn’t care to predict exactly how this is going to affect everything. I’ve never seen anything like this. And it makes me very glad that I chose to leave the state five years ago. If I hadn’t I would be directly in the bath of Milton right now.
And two, “Big Trig”, is going to stick in my head.
Not as catchy as Big Gretch. I wonder if anyone’s still planning on going to Disneyworld. I bet the lines are really short.
Sounds like the employees would have been better off working on site, especially if they had a bring your family to work day.
Had some Big Gretch beer a while back:
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Great typo there. 
It’s closed as is Universal Studios.
Typo? Naw… I planned that. Yeah, that’s the ticket. 
I have family in the path of Milton. My uncle evacuated when they were told to and he said it was total Hell getting out of Florida, the traffic was insane, but he was able to do it.
My cousin is a nurse and can’t leave because she is needed to help people in the area. I hope she gets through it okay.
My father’s name was Milton, so this is all slightly surreal to me.
I had friends directly in the path, just heard from them a bit ago; they made it through with minimal damage, no cell service or power currently.