To justify his recent proposal to add a third, outbound, lane to the "18-mile stretch" of U.S. 1 above Key Largo, Governor Jeb Bush cited familiar concerns about the inadequacy of the current road for hurricane evacuation. And while the Governor is right about the dangerous shortcomings of evacuation by road from the Keys, he is dead wrong if he thinks a third lane will make a significant difference.
Last year, Hurricane Floyd clearly defined the statewide hurricane evacuation problem for both state and local emergency management officials. In Key West, our survival depended upon the accuracy of the forecasts that a front would divert Hurricane Floyd from its direct path to the Keys at the eleventh hour. Fortunately, that forecast proved to be accurate— because if the storm hadn't turned to the north, it would have been too late to evacuate and we would have had nowhere to go, regardless.
Fleeing via U.S.1 wouldn't have gotten us far because the massive evacuations already underway on the mainland had brought traffic to a standstill.
Last month, we were reminded once again of the foolhardiness of relying upon evacuation by road. As Hurricane Debby bore down on us, and Keys residents began their hurricane preparations, a major accident on U.S. 1 north of the Keys blocked the highway to the mainland for many hours.
If such an accident occurs in the midst of a full-scale evacuation, residents could be stuck in their cars as a deadly hurricane hits— exactly the nightmarish scenario that prevents many people from evacuating, despite the dangers of remaining behind.
Other people refuse to evacuate because they cannot bring their pets to hurricane shelters, and to leave them behind would be like abandoning family members to face the storm alone. Others stay because they don't have a vehicle they trust to make it safely to the mainland, or because they have no car at all.
Clearly, Monroe County needs a better hurricane preparedness plan, one that takes into account the realities of our community and offers residents a choice between risking evacuation by road or staying behind in safe hurricane shelters. From now on, every public building constructed in the Keys should be built as a shelter able to withstand a force-5 hurricane. And some of these shelters should be designated as animal-friendly, so that residents don't have to put their lives at risk to stay with their pets.
Some official will balk at the cost of constructing every new government building to withstand powerful hurricanes. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is making funds available to help communities improve their hurricane preparedness.
Our state and local leaders should explore the possibility of using this funding to craft hurricane preparedness strategies that make sense for the Keys— plans that will allow residents to stay safely in our community instead of trapped on the highway in a killer storm.