More than 20,000 people stayed on Galveston Island last year despite a mandatory evacuation order as Hurricane Ike approached the Texas coast. Allison Castle, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Pery, said there were 3,540 rescues in the region by state and local authorities, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
"They have that right to remain if they choose to,” said bill author Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas. “But they stay at their own peril, and they stay with the possibility that if recovery is necessary to preserve their lives, they’d pay the related cost. And that’s potentially a lot of money.”
The cost of a helicopter rescue is about $4,400 an hour.
The measure still needs approval from the House.
I think this is a great idea. When the experts say "GET OUT," you need to get you butt out of the area.
And please don't tell me about the "poor" who can't make it out - during Ike, there were MANY opportunities for those of lesser means to get out of harms way. Generally, the ones who stayed were the ones who valued their material things more than their lives.
It annoys me greatly for people to put other people's lives in jeopardy out of some juvenile sense of bravado. "Nah! I'm gonna ride it out!" Well ride it out by yourself buddy. Hopefully what happened during Ike will put a damper on that kind of thinking for a couple of decades. The only people in may need rescuing will be like some of the elderly folks on the Bolivar Peninsula who had rides not show up or tried to leave but couldn't. I do not mind paying for them to get out.
As for the others; if they stay and die, well I guess we will have a few less stupid people here in Texas to deal with.
"Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne
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