Response to News Article

Max Brissett

Clara Biesel

WRIT 1301 University Writing

16 October 2018

Response to a News Article

Hurricane Michael’s powerful winds and rain swept across six states, killed more than a dozen people, caused flash flooding and left at least one million people without power. In the past few days rescue teams have been scavenging through ruins from Hurricane Michael to discover more deaths. The death toll rose to 16 and is expected to rise as emergency workers search through the rubble. Several people have drowned including a firefighter who was responding to an emergency call. An 11 year old girl was killed when a car part was torn away and went flying into a home. At least 1.5 million people were without electricity in states stretching from Florida to Virginia.  Government officials are racing to find a way to get food and water to the increasingly desperate people of the Florida Panhandle. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, it was becoming clear that many residents were not only left without a habitable home, but also without adequate supplies and food. The estimated damage of the storm is around 4.5 billion dollars. Throughout the past years, many devastating storms have hit the U.S. causing a lot of damage and deaths which raises many questions about how we can prevent all of these casualties and better protect the civilians in these storm areas.

When a storm as big as Hurricane Michael is headed towards the United States, it is the government's responsibility as well of the citizens living in the area to get out of there and prevent getting hurt from the storm. Many people do get out of the area and get out of harm's way but there are still too many people that do not get out in time and stay in the area of the storm. Some people just do not find the need to leave and that is when people get hurt. So how do we prevent people from getting hurt from the storm? Simple, you get them out of there. But how de we get them out of there? That is a bit more complicated. The government can’t just come in to people's homes and drag them out of there. If people want to stay in their homes and if they feel safe they will even though they shouldn’t because when a storm like Hurricane Michael is coming, they are not safe anywhere near it. In order to get people to leave before the storm comes, the government needs to make it very clear that the storm is coming as soon as they know and they need to make sure they can get the news out to everyone. When they do warn the citizens they need to help them get out of there by doing things such as implementing an escape plan by directing traffic in a way to make it move faster and getting people the transportation they need to get out of there if they do not have their own car. The government can’t control every citizen’s decision but they can give as much help as they can and encourage people to leave. One death from a storm like this is one too many, so the government needs to change something in the way they handle these natural disasters and they need to do it quick.