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Melanie Gentry, a retired member of the Air Force, was at the retirement home on Tuesday with her mother and father. She said that although her family was prepared to leave for Hurricane Irma, she was grateful that more time had passed that day.
During past storms, they only grabbed important documents and an inheritance or two and put everything else on top of the shelves, said Ms. Gentry.
"Now you have so much time that you have to stop because you can not take everything," she laughs.
For older people living alone, storms are also a challenge. Sometimes they also need a helping hand from a friend or family member to get out of harm's way.
PeggyAnn Cromartie, 72, left her home in Pahokee, in the state of Palm Beach, in Palm Beach County, after a friend in South Carolina encouraged her to develop a plan to avoid being stuck in case of emergency.
"I wanted to be safe because you never know what can happen," said Ms. Cromartie, who was evacuated Sunday at the West Boynton Park and Recreation Center in Lake Worth, Florida. "It's not really scary, but I thought about flooding or extinguishing the lights."
68-year-old Randy Carol Pollack of Boynton Beach, Fla., Said she feared her 30-year-old building would not be well-endowed in the event of a severe storm, but planned to stay if she could not find housing with his parakeet, Sweet Pea. This did not prove to be a problem: the pet shelter had a bird area.
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