I have a friend on the Gulf of Mexico side of the peninsula. They
have 500 mies to drive to be safe from Irma.

Quite a job on a bike, as I'm sure you will agree.

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I doubt the intelligence of people who *choose* to live in an area
where hurricanes are a regular occurrence.

What, the WHOLE of the sub-tropical area around the Gulf of Mexico
and the Carribean?

It should be unpopulated wilderness, should it?

I said those who "choose" to.

The whole of the population of the Caribbean, Mexico and the Central
American states, plus Texas, Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
Georgia and the Carolinas?

What, ALL of them?

Can you not understand the word "choose"?
Are you silly enough to want to move to a well known hurricane area to
live? Perhaps you would prefer to choose a home on a flood plain for
your home?
There are many that choose to live in these volatile areas for tax
avoidance reasons, ie..greed, in which case I find it hard to drum up
any sympathy for them. The same applies to the thousands who *choose*
to go on holiday in the hurricane seasons. Fools, that's what they are.


You have the weirdest of ideas about the people who live around the
Gulf. And their reasons for living there.

Oh dear, you have a comprehension problem. Let me try to simplify the
word *choose*; *choose* means you have a *choice* where to live.
This discludes people who cannot *choose*, meaning that they do *not*
have a *choice*.
People who *choose* to live in an area where they have seasonal
hurricanes are either stupid or ignorant of the dangers.