Stupid People = Stupid Decisions

Like Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ike left behind devastation, death, and destruction. The effects of hurricanes are not anything new; so, why did some residents not evacuate?
In 1992, my family and I lived in South Florida. This was the year that, category five, Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida and the Bahamas. Similar to Ike, residents in Florida were encouraged to evacuate and we did. My mother told me that she could never chose her material things over the life of her children. All the things that she has accumulated and worked so hard for were just that, material things.
Despite Hurricane Ike preparations, nearly 100,000 people refused voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders in Texas and Louisiana last week, reported Yahoo News. "I'm going to stay as long as the Lord says so. If they come with a court order, then we'll leave. I hope it doesn't get to the point where we're forced out" said Patricia Kelly, an Ike holdout.
I just cannot seem to understand the lack of intelligence. Do these people secretly want to die? Are they so materialistic that they are willing to lose their lives before losing their stuff?
As a result of these so called holdouts, some of America’s best men and women are in these flooded and diseased areas to try to rescue these people. If these people cared about anything beside themselves and their possessions then than they would have evacuated when told to do so. Now, more lives are being risked to force them out. How inconsiderate. Yahoo News reported that from Orange County, Texas, to Cameron County, La., the US Coast Guard, National Guard units, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service conducted over 1,000 rescues, but were turned back as often by residents determined to hang on as the worst floodwaters since 1913 clung to the Cajun Prairie. Is it worth sending America’s finest in to save America’s selfish? No!