Don Lemon tours neighborhood underwater. Hear why residents didn’t leave before storm

CNN's Don Lemon speaks with residents in a flooded Orlando neighborhood about why they decided to stay before Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida. #CNN #News

79 comments

    1. @mike mc if they were making it to their Trump and Desantis rallies they could afford to make it somewhere out of harms way. Priorities I guess

  1. If you are reading this there’s a reason……No matter how good or bad you have it,wake up each day thankful for your life.Someone else is desperately fighting for theirs ❤️🇧🇸🤞

    1. I live in Houston and we’ve had some pretty devastating hurricanes over the past years. I have the same situation when it comes to evacuating with my family. They refuse to leave, even if I beg them. I’ve just given up convincing them…. So, I just take off to safer cities before the hurricane hits and watch the news for updates. Meanwhile, I call home to check on my family and they’re all miserable in the dark with no means of getting around because the streets are flooded. I just don’t get it! 🤷🏽‍♀️

    2. @jasiel morales>> same goes for everyone in PR or Haiti or Cuba? They can’t leave the paths of storms and people still live there… love your way of thinking. Shows the cynical side.<< No. Obviously not the same for Puerto Rico, Haiti, or Cuba. Florida is not an island. There were plenty of options for at-risk Floridians to move to other attached land areas that were out of the path of the storm. Plus, Florida is part of a country with a robust national infrastructure for emergencies. Evacuation support was available to the affected areas, but that support was rejected by the fools who opted to stay in place.

    3. @T M Before you leave, check in with them to confirm their last wishes, where their Last Will and Testament is kept, and who the Executor is (if it’s not you). And ask if someone located in a safe place has the needed passwords for their various accounts. Auto-pay accounts (utilities, Netflix, internet, etc.) are going to keep charging their credit cards/bank accounts, even if your family members are no longer around to enjoy those services.

  2. its interesting to me. most people mention pets as a reason they didnt leave.
    wouls pet friendly shelters encorage more people to get out of danger zones?

    1. Yeah from what I saw, there’s at best 1-2 pet-friendly shelters per county. I’d guess it’s 10-15% of shelters, and I think that’s ridiculously low compared to the percentage of pet owners out there.
      Hot take: I also think people’s eyes glaze over at the concept of evacuating to their stuffy old elementary school. I know it’s not really possible, but if they got to evacuate to the mall or some place that more adults associate with enjoyment and security, they’d be quicker to see that it would be an improvement over their current situation.

    2. I live in Lee County, Florida. ALL of the shelters that are open, are pet friendly, and the news announced that continuously, for several days before the storm hit.

    3. There aren’t enough shelters for the population in many areas. Then some don’t accept pets. We wouldn’t leave without our fur babies.

  3. some people just dont have the money it takes to evacuate, cause like it or not it takes money to save yourself

    1. @Just A Nobody if you have to evacuate every year, don’t you think it might be time to move somewhere that isn’t flood-prone?

    2. @Ashleigh Elizabeth Everything that you stated is excuses. There were warnings for a week. There are shelters, organizations that help out, etc. There’s no good excuse.

    3. @Tvs someplace as affordable? For now that’s a no… other than Mississippi and its neighbors who also gets hit by hurricanes annually

  4. The toughest part about the decision to leave is not knowing how long it would be until you can actually make it back home. 😔

    1. @Dorian Shades of gray DAMN Never thought of that, true though. Even Neighbors know you have something then blame it on looters, that would be awful.

    2. Some of us still have never recovered from the hurricanes that hit back to back years ago and took everything out. People forget what happens when we haven’t had a storm this bad in ages

    3. But if your area is not hit, you can come back the next day. These people are saying, if the boats come back they may leave, they should not be putting those rescuers in the position to have to come back to their homes.

    1. @hard-truths better-than-sweet-lies
      That is a very ignorant comment. Not all rescuers are paid jobs. Some are volunteers. And most of the paid personnel don’t get paid good wages or hazard pay for the risk they’re taking to help people.

  5. I didn’t even think about the alligators… geez those rescue folks are brave as well as the journalist for getting this story out. 👏

  6. I live in Florida but IT BEING THEIR HOME won’t save their lives. That’s the part they don’t understand. Also thank you for helping these people. I didn’t think the storm would hit my area but I still evacuated just in case I refused to be the single helpless mother who put her 3 yr old in the path of a huge storm.

    1. Yeah, that “reasoning” really made my jaw drop. So, if they just stay behind as their house is pummeled by 125 mph winds and 16 foot walls of water, they alone will be able to combat that and save their homes….?!?! And putting children in danger like that is unforgivable. Unfortunately, these sorts of events underscore not only the science of climate change, but also show us Darwinism at work.

    2. @C W Nobody knows how devastating it will be if the storm would have moved south or north by 50 miles it would be a totally different situation

  7. I really hope these people will be safe. At some point if it gets worse the rescues will stop. I can only imagine how hard it would be to leave your home and everything you have behind. I know your life is more important but your home and apparently these pets are very important to them.

    1. @DisneyFan1955 her mom said something about being home felt safer than at a shelter… She mentioned she’d evacuate if the rescue team recommended to… The kid’s taken care of lol

  8. It’s been a crazy ride last night during the storm. The house and the studio rumbled and howled praying the windows held together. We made it though. Thank God. I want to say thank you to all the utility workers that have been coming into the state to assist on getting power restored. This was nothing like Hurricane Irma back in 2017. My prayers also go out to those that are more South of us.

    1. I’m praying for you folks over there. I can’t imagine how scary that was for you. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Stay safe-

  9. What a learning moment for me. I can’t imagine being stuck in my house because I have a pet. We all might drown. Water mold heat bring unhealthy circumstances. We would just have to be in the car while escaping.

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