A tale of rich and poor underlines the scramble to flee Irma in Florida

[inanna]

By Kelli Kennedy
Associated Press
Sat., Sept. 9, 2017

With no car to head north and no supplies other than water, options for many low-income Florida residents are limited.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—Hotel dishwasher Wilman Hernandez waited with this wife and young son at a Miami Beach bus stop, desperately looking for a way to get to a shelter where they could ride out Hurricane Irma.

Hernandez fears the storm will destroy their first-floor apartment. With no car to join the bumper-to-bumper traffic heading north and no supplies other than water, their options, like those of many low-income Florida residents, were limited.

“I have been calling 311 to get information about shelters that are available and no one answers the phone,” Hernandez said. “I need to take my family off the beach and to safety.”

The scramble to flee from the path of Irma has been a much different experience for those in different income brackets.

...

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/09/09/a-tale-of-rich-and-poor-underlines-the-scramble-to-flee-irma-in-florida.html

[clu]

1. rick scott provided a specific number on TV to use for these cases

but unless the subject was watching TV at the time or had internet access maybe he fell through a crack

[Doreen]

4. The problem is also people who do not

own televisions, computers, and cell phones. There are actually people who do not have those still.

[radical noodle]

2. This has been addressed

Anyone without resources can get transportation or whatever necessary to get to a shelter. They've been saying this for days.

[Snarkoleptic]

3. Sending positive thoughts for everyone who remains in the path of the storm.

Meanwhile, R's are poised to pull more money out of circulation thru tax cuts for the wealthy.

Those able to get to shelters, may return to their homes to find everything is wiped out and they'll struggle to come up with $400 (or less) to try and recover. (see below)
Homeowners may lack the funds needed to board-up or otherwise secure their property. Not to mention the supply/demand issues on generators, plywood, etc.
I fear that wage-slave status and income inequality will be major factors in determining who has the most difficult task in recovering from these storms.
Many will also burn through meager savings in short order if their workplace is damaged or destroyed.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fed-report-struggling-households-20160525-snap-story.html
May 2016 article-

Shedding light on the precarious economic state of many American families, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that nearly half of U.S. households reported they would have trouble meeting emergency expenses of just $400.

In addition, the Fed found that 22% of workers were juggling two or more jobs last year, higher than what government jobs data would suggest. And nearly one out of three Americans said that they have no retirement savings or pension.

These findings were part of the Fed's "Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. households in 2015." Overall, the survey-based study said the financial health of families continued to show mild improvement last year, with 69% of respondents saying they are "living comfortably" or "doing OK." That is up 4 percentage points from 2014 and up 6 points from 2013, when the survey began.