Evacuate 86 year old Mom or no?

No advice on whether or not to evacuate but as far as seniors and no power/air conditioning, my parents live out in the desert and I got them a generator. The power goes out intermittently when it’s real hot out. Maybe you get them a portable AC & a generator?

My dad is a bit older than your mom, and grew up near where you are. He grew up without A/C, and though he doesn’t have dementia, if a hurricane knocked out his power he’d view it as being like his first 20-30 years or so. He’d be much more comfortable and content with it than the rest of us! And he’d much prefer staying in his home, creature of habit likes his routine and his things! So unless the hurricane was a true monster, growing up in hurricane areas I know the hype vs the big ones, I’d opt to stay put. Hope for you this one turns out just to be a good rain!

Does she live alone? Does she have someone to help her? If so, can they stay with her during the storm?

As the weather forecasts get more refined, and if the local gov't says to evacuate, DO IT. Even if it's just going to be bad and probably lose power, probably evacuating to a safe place is in order.

Definitely get a generator.

How have you handled storms in the past and how much worse do they expect this to be. Being without power would be very difficult for Mum (and you). If meteorology are good in the area keep and ear on what they are saying and leave if you have to but if looks as though its going to keep away from you Personally I would go for the lamps and rations, and the difficulties of no power - but you know your Mum best.

The power may not bother her, however the real problem would be rising water. Better to go get her before the big rush - if there happens to be one. If you wait too long, you could be sitting in traffic for hours, if you can get there, which is much more stressful on the older folks.

If an evacuation is called, as people leave gas stations run out of gas. When these stations can no longer service people for ice or other needed items, the exits get closed. Then you are sitting in traffic and you can't even use the restroom. These things have very negative impact on seniors. Better to be safe than sorry. Texas learned these lessons the hard way.

I think every situation is different. If you have a good idea of a place you can evacuate to, and that your Mom would be willing to go to and comfortable in, that's a factor in favor of evacuation.

My mother was living alone in the Orlando area 3 years ago when Irma hit. I came and stayed with her during the storm and for several days afterwards. She really needed someone with her to field problems and needs as they arose. We didn't get flooding, but we lost power for 4-5 days. We had a battery-powered fan (highly recommend) and camping lantern which I gave to her to use. We had stocked up on water and batteries, and had plenty of candles and flashlights.

Since she had an electric stove, I set up a propane camping stove out in the shed to make coffee every morning. I also cooked all our meals there, using up perishables like eggs first and then cooking all the frozen food as it thawed from lack of power. I was able to barter ice cubes from a neighbor with a generator, in exchange for thermoses of hot coffee in the morning. It worked out fine, but it would not have worked out for her without someone there full-time. I don't know if any of this applies to your mother's situation, but take it for what it's worth.

I think I'd prepare to evacuate, with "go bags" at the ready, shelter location identified (that's something to start on now), follow the weather reports, and set an outside deadline by which you'll leave if Dorian heads your way.

The worst you'd have to do if Dorian didn't hit your area is unpack your car, but if it did head your way, you'd already be prepare, w/o the stress of hurrying to pack and escape.

Hi Foley,

We took the wind and 20.5 inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey. 2 hours north of us took the historic flooding...Houston.

Prepare for the worst, then hope for the best.

As a coastal resident you know how unpredictable these storms can be.

Please, Please heed the instructions from your local authorities regarding evacuation. Sometimes the storms zig and zag and the evacuations come last minute and there’s no time to run.

Do you have any understanding relatives in a safe zone? If you do and mandatory evacuations are ordered I would head there if I had an 86yr old in tow.

With all due respect, I grew up without A/C and I am in the heat everyday. But, the heat after a hurricane is hard to imagine. No one held up well. Not me at 56,not kids in their 30s, 3yr Old did okay...Oppressive heat, humidity higher than usual and NO breeze.

Most Elders like it toasty but not what I described above.

If you are going to take any wind at all you may have no power for weeks. We were lucky only out of power for 12 days. For us no power=no water.

We had 2 generators and lots of fuel but ran them sparingly because there was no fuel available for 4 days. No power = no fuel also.

If you choose to not evacuate, which I do not recommend, Double your supplies. You can always use them.

Baby wipes for bathing...yuk....

If you are ordered to evacuate, do the smart thing, evacuate.

As GA suggested. Pack the car, get organized, make lists, try to find a safe place. You may not need to evacuate but being prepared is wise.

You can call the business line of your local fire department, (not 911) and ask your question. At least, register with the authorities you have a vulnerable elder in the home, in case of emergency.

I would not wait until the last minute, taking your elderly Mom out in a storm.
Go days in advance if you go at all. Be brave. Get help. Spare no expense.

This is coming from a person who believes in sheltering in place.

So far looks like Dorian will miss us (sorry sorry Fla.!!)

I have "go" bags already; they are set up mid-July for hurricane season. Gassed the car -- had half tank, but 1. Dorian and 2. A six-cents-a-gallon tax increase Sept. 1 here.

Have seven days food and bottled water in house,baby wipes and pet food. have about 15 days of her meds. Asked siblings to get used walkers in their homes so I don't have to fit that in car months ago. Have a "travel" wheelchair (thrift store find) in trunk already. She can walk but it is hard.

MY biggest concern is actually getting her out of the house and having her quiet when we return. That is the big worry. I can't take her to lunch or anywhere, even doctor appt. without an hour of, "This is not my house, I don't like it here and do those people know we are here. "

Foley, ah the joy of LA aka lower Alabama; so you actually on the coastline, like within 0 to 2000’ of mean high tide? Maybe like more Pt. Clear or have house directly facing water? If so your going to have pretty good surge & flood from that no matter was direction Dorian takes as it’s new moon this weekend so tides high due to that plus whatever extra Dorians rain pushes in. But if you’re like more in actual Fairhope / Daphne that’s pretty high & you can shelter in place probably without too much worry. You sound pretty prepared which is good as the stores are probably full tilt panic mode.

Suggest If you have 2 bathtubs, scrub one so it’s very very clean and fill it to the rim with water. This becomes your very own cistern. Also get freezer bags and fill with water & put them into the freezer ASAP. Even if power fails, you’ll have frozey water if not ice cubes till like next weekend. If you have stuff in freezer you can bake or eat this weekend, do that as well as makes more room for water bags.

Also if you have a old school land line, they work till forever unless it’s like Katrina Level Storm. If you know of others who have land lines, try to set up a phone chain to check in with each other. It’s also a good way to see if power has gone off in an area.

I too believe in sheltering in place unless you are directly on or within 2k’ water / shore if it’s a Cat 3 or above. Realize that if u were to get onto the road, you are there with thousands driving up from all over FL. Many who have no prior hurricane experience. That tunnel at Mobile only can do so many cars at a time. Flat no way around that unless it’s by watercraft.
If “contraflow” gets called - which it will - that means you are in a queue on Interstate or state Hwy # whatever and cannot just get off to stop at the McDonalds or Waffle House. Exits & entries are going be few & far between. If mom has dementia trying to make her understand that no she cannot get out of the car even tho it’s not moving may be a beyond a challenge. If u have a pet, they too get stir crazy.

Ask anyone who went thru Ivan or Jeanne, folks were in traffic for 8-14 hr stretches till finally out of contraflow traffic. Your mom can’t drive, it’s gonna be super stressful for you

Btw Fairhope & St Stan in Bay St Louis are the highest point on this stretch of the GOM till Kemah. Might get wind damage & wind driven rain in a bad storm but not flooding. We sail & kid did Optis, know most of YC & harbors in GOM. Fairhope / Daphne / Foley should be fine. Dauphin island, Pt. Clear, along Dog River, Perdido Bay and gulf shores will have serious surge even if Dorian pulls up thru central FL into GA (which is what most models are showing). If your inland on the Left of Dorians path you should be ok.

Also you may want to put WWL weather app on your phone. CBS affiliate out of NOLA, they are pros and not on the edge of hysteria. I do think WKRG is good too as is WeatherUnderground for solid info.
good luck!

If the no power (no AC) will be a health problem, it would be safer to evacuate, but that is certainly an inconvenience. You may not need to evacuate for Dorian, but it's a good thing to give thought to for future storms. If no one's health would be compromised, it sounds like you are well-prepared to stay in place.

We are in coastal GA right now, previously coastal south FL. Neither state’s electric companies will take priority listing requests for people with electric powered oxygen, home dialysis, CPAs, etc. Due to numerous health conditions, I can tell you that while many seniors like their homes very warm, heat can be deadly for elderly, much more so for elderly with health issues. Especially elderly on certain medications, diuretics being one of them. If you have a safe place to go, please consider taking her there, earlier rather than later. Since I’m on oxygen, we had to install a whole house generator. We are neither one able to tote gas cans and fill a gas powered generator regularly. Our local disaster agency will not permit me to bring pets to the special needs shelter. They advised, in response to my email inquiry, there are really no procedures in place for evacuating people who don’t have any oxygen tanks left in a power outage. Medicare minimum backup oxygen is three days worth. The DME providers won’t be delivering replacement oxygen tanks, even if power outage is weeks or months, until roads are cleared of trees and downed wires. It’s a joke. Therefore, we disabled are on our own. The last time I had to pack up two sick elderly people, plus four pets, to evacuate, it damn near killed me, as I had acute diverticulitis, had been sick for weeks. I really don’t know how I managed to pack us all up and run. Lived to tell the tale, somehow.
Please note-disaster planners do their best with the dollars they have. That said, some areas, like the lower FL Keys, have disaster shelters with elevations lower than the expected storm surge height. Do not ever go to one of those! I literally held a sick man’s hand, remotely, via cell phone, talking him through his panic, while he sheltered in a south FL emergency shelter. His tanks had run out of oxygen, storm surge broke through the shelter doors, and surged into the special medical needs shelter. Talked him through pursed lips breathing to try to maximize the room oxygen he was by then breathing, provided whatever reassurance I could, by text, as we were also sheltering in GA, without power ourselves. My cell phone battery gave out. I hope he survived. I didn’t have power to run my own oxygen. The authorities aren’t going to be helping most people. Trust me.

If the storm is as dangerous as it is predicted, anything can happen and I assure you that no one will be able to help those in need. I don't see you have a choice. You can try to explain but I doubt it will help. So just prepare and prepare some more and just take her, willingly or not, on a little vacation - don't pay attention to her demands to stay. It is just too dangerous and unsafe. You must remove her if you care what could happen to her. If the house was on fire, would you leave her to burn or would you remove her? Same idea. Be safe and just do it. She will go back to normal afterwards - deal with it in the meantime.

Please stay in touch with us as this unfolds, and after.
As the strength of the storm is reported to be increasing (Saturday),
I am praying for you and everyone in it's path.

This thread has been helpful for me. I'm not in the path of Dorian, but you have to be on constant alert if you live anywhere on the Florida coast, as I do. If I were a few years younger I might consider staying for a Category 1 or 2 hurricane just to experience it. Reading your posts and thinking logically about power loss, I realized that was nuts. I'm 76. If anything at all comes by way I'm going to get the h**l out of Dodge. Now I have to figure out where to go --- both of my kids live over 600 miles away.

This very thing happened to me and my mother with Hurricane Michael. My 86 yr old mother has early onset dementia, we live in land 50 minutes from Panama City. She to is house bound and does not like to leave her home! Our area did not evacuate and we were only expecting a bad storm, of which we have many. Mom and I went through a category 3 hurricane with out a hitch. We too were left without electricity that lasted almost two weeks. I tried to convince my mother to go with me to a hotel to no avail. So I made the best of a bad situation. I hooked up a generator to the down stairs dryer plug in. I was able to generate enough electricity for both refrigerators a small window air conditioner for her room, (both she and I and our two dogs slept there) as well as running water. I cooked our food on an outdoor grill, we had hot meals twice a day. I won't say it was easy for me, but I did it. Our house is a round Deltex home built by my parents and can with stand a category 5 hurricane. The bottom half of the house is built into the side of a hill and is a shelter. My advice is to stock up on caned goods and bread, batteries, bottled water, gather up and pack clothes and all medicines for both of you, in case you have to move to a shelter. Find a shelter near you, that can handle handicap persons like your mother. Gather a portable radio, flash lights, Ice, fill up all tubs sinks with water and fill all gas cans for the generator, if you don't have one buy one now. Contact your neighbors to let them know that you are there with your mom. Be prepared to move or stay. I don't move my mother unless I absolutely have to! Try and keep her calm and safe. My mom is a reader so I made sure her Kindle had plenty of books, so bring things that keep your mother busy and occupied if you have to go to a shelter. It's all about being prepared!!! I would call her doctor and ask their opinion on moving her or staying. I wanted to add, you will probably have to explain about 99 times why you had to move her, I am speaking from experience, just keep repeating the same thing in a calm firm manner no matter how many times she asks. You got this Girl! Good luck to you and yours, I wish you the very best, keep us informed on your situation.

Florence was projected to slam into Wilmington last September. The memory care facility where my 93 y/o MIL with advanced dementia lived was prepared to hunker down in their newly-roofed, one story brick building, but was told by corporate they were sending a bus to evacuate residents and some staff the next morning to a sister facility in Wake Forest. We followed her up there to see how she settled in. I was amazed by the quality care all the residents were given (including the residents already up there, who had to adjust to all the newcomers).
We tried to help in small ways, visiting with other residents we'd gotten to know as well, but the activities directors, aids, and nursing staff worked together to keep the mood bright despite their concerns about their own families and homes back in Wilmington!
Your mom will handle whatever comes better if you are with her and you are reasonably calm. If you have to use a generator, please follow the CO2 (carbon monoxide) warnings!

Ok as you all know by now, Dorian is going to miss the Gulf and visit my relatives in the Carolinas. 😥 There are seniors there as well.
WHILE I am equipped to shelter here for seven days, I am going to investigate a generator. If I can run refrigerator, one light and fan we might be ok. Whole house a/c might be pushing it.
I am also.putting a call in to her doctor Tuesday (labor day here)to see what can be done re the "not our house" delusion. Might not be able to fix, but thinking increase in generic Xanax or something just for the trip might help.
Don't want to use chemical restraints, but the Xanax stopped the hitting so wonder if something like that might help.

All-

I hope this discussion thread has been helpful to those weighing whether to evacuate the elderly or stay, You are truly the most caring, supportive people! And your love for your older family members is so inspiring!

As we are living in the coastal GA area, we could get kissed by Dorian. Or a smack down. Hard to know how it will shake down. But short of a miracle, we are going to get hit. The proximity to the coast, or a direct landfall, will determine how bad it will be.

We aren’t planning on evacuation here, just hunkering down. We aren’t on the barrier islands, and reasonably high enough above sea level, not on a marsh or tidal creek. Not too concerned about surge in our location, but there are no guarantees in life.

I hope all of us and our families will come through with minimal damage, other than the frayed nerves many are feeling. Check in please!

Read the weather forecast as the path of Dorian has changed as of the time I arose today (3:00 P. M.).

Praying for those of you who are in the path of the hurricane. Please stay safe!

Prating for all those in harm's way of Hurricane Dorian.

Call 2-1-1 to get their advice, too. If there is imminent threat to life... evacuate no matter what.

I sure wouldn't leave an animal behind to face this danger.  I would think that a parent would be important to be concerned about.  I hate it when I lose power and have to sweat it out, and I don't live on a seaboard area.  I am land bound.  And it gets hot and humid where I live.  Also, it's more than just power.  There are safety issues at hand such as no water, the need for assistance in case there is flooding.  The need for someone to KNOW that a person is okay rather than relying on the neighbor to check in on them.  Are we really having this conversation?  YES--TAKE CARE OF YOUR MOTHER!  Doesn't matter "IF" nothing happens!

Foleydaughter-
We recently had a whole house generator installed, into our natural gas line. It has had to power up for two power outages in the last month, works seamlessly. Love it! Today I scrubbed the water containers, and filled. So we have lots of water for backup, should the city water system be disrupted. Also have a lot of body wash towelettes I laid in for three upcoming surgeries. We could supply the neighborhood, lol. So, we are good. Setting up cots for the night Dorian comes through, in the Hall, away from windows, with maximum support should a tree come down. Not a lot else to do. I’ve been quite ill after the cystoscopy, I think it was the strong antibiotic. I was unable to do the final shopping trip, nor gas up my car. We will get by.

YES EVACUATE UNLESS MOM IS A GOOD SWIMMER

EVACUATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Foleydaughter,
So glad the hurricane (Dorian) has missed you.
I understand there was some confusion over listing Alabama as one of the states that might be affected.
I read this:
"Spann, a veteran Alabama forecaster who is widely respected for his coverage of tornado outbreaks, responded to Trump at 11:31 a.m. and said, "Alabama will not be impacted by Dorian in any way."

Be safe.

As an aside on the generator issue, we stayed for Katrina in hubs house in the sliver by the river area of New Orleans and we had a generator. Now that sounds all lovely as it could run a frig, fans and charge up phones & laptops.

BUT they are noisy, in addition to having to have fuel.

Katrina was on a Monday, by Tuesday nite those running gennies were getting home invasions. Sound of the gennies made your home a target as did having lights on. Not only did you have a generator but that meant you had fuel as well. Genny sound muffled the break in too. Nice.

Gas lines went out Wed morning as they were flooded off. So anyone using gas lines, that stopped as well.

We left Thursday.

For those that fault us for staying..... Remember, storm models did not have NOLA as the path. Katrina did not hit NOLA (it hit MS Gulf coast & Plaquemine & edge of St Bernard Parish in Louisiana, with Pearlington, MS kinda ground zero); NOLA was on the west or the “clean” side of the system. The issue for NOLA was federal US Corps of Engineers built levee’s that failed throughout the New Orleans area & the collapse/funneling from the federal MR GO system. Had levees & MR GO held, Katrina would have been a non-event for NOLA.