Weathering the storm

Earlier this year, we talked about a survey that found that more than half of Americans living on the coast don't feel vulnerable to hurricanes. "Well," we thought, "at least they'll evacuate if a big storm heads their way."

Uh, maybe not.

According to a Harvard University survey conducted earlier this month, nearly one in four people in Southern coastal states said they would stay put in the face of a major hurricane — but 25 percent of those said they didn't expect to be rescued after they stayed behind. The phone survey of 2,029 people who live within 50 miles of the coast from Texas around to North Carolina found that 67 percent of people said they would leave if a major hurricane was forecast to hit their area in the next few days. Of those, 91 percent said they would travel by car and 57 percent said they'd go 100 miles or more from home. Despite those ideas, and despite what the nation saw in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year, almost 60 percent of people surveyed said they're no more prepared for a hurricane this year than they were last year.

Some interesting figures about the 24 percent who said they would ride out a storm at home: They said they believe their homes are solid enough to withstand a major hurricane, and besides, evacuations are a mess — more than a third said they thought evacuating would be dangerous. (After seeing Houston run from Rita last year, we can't say that we blame them.) Perhaps most interesting is that, of the people who said they'd stay home, only 75 percent said they believe they would be rescued if the need arose.

The survey should be a wake-up call to local governments, Harvard health policy professor Robert Blendon, the survey's director, said. "Public officials have to realize a substantial group of people are going to remain and be very dependent on rescue efforts after a storm hits," Blendon told the AP. We'll see if they're ready for that.