On the afternoon of October 10, author and influencer Caroline Calloway texted me “I lived bitch.” She posted a screenshot of the same proof-of-life selfie and message on her Instagram story that morning after Hurricane Milton made landfall.
We’d spoken one day earlier about Calloway’s decision not to evacuate for the monster of a storm, as well as to post about that choice on social media, and at one point I asked if she thought she was going to die.
“Someday,” she told me, “We all are.”
Yes, she was aware of the massive storm surges Milton would bring in its wake that would likely wash away parts of the state. She knew it would inflict a wretched amount of emotional and monetary damage. For now, we don’t know Milton’s total devastation, but as it stands at least 14 people are dead and 3 million people are without power. Milton also spawned “dozens” of tornadoes across the state, according to the Associated Press.
“It was a really hard choice to stay or to go. And I didn’t make it lightly,” she told me, “But you know, if I can be of service in terms of entertainment on the internet? So be it.”
Calloway isn’t the only Floridian evacuation refuser who’s posting through it. On TikTok in particular, there are plenty. There’s the woman who told her followers that she was instructed to have enough food and water for three days and has decided that she will have “some kind of barbecue” (she posted that she was safe on Thursday evening). There’s a Floridian celebrity who goes by the name “Lt. Dan” who safely rode out the storm on his boat. And then there’s the woman who did not want to leave her gigantic concrete house because she wanted to “save” it and partly because her staying would, in her words, “piss” liberals off. (Her account now shows up as “banned” on TikTok.)
People defying evacuation orders isn’t a new phenomenon. But getting millions of views on TikTok for doing so is. So why are these people staying? And why are they posting?
The psychology behind staying and posting through a hurricane
One of the most important things to know about StormTok is that having the ability to leave and deciding to stay behind is a choice that most people who do not evacuate don’t have.
“The real story is that most people who don’t evacuate can’t evacuate. Evacuation is expensive,” Dave Call, a meteorologist and storm chaser based at Ball State University, tells me. Call explains scenarios in which people can’t take off from work, can’t afford hotels, don’t have reliable transportation, and can’t afford meals. Factors like not being able to speak English and being an undocumented immigrant also affect those contingency plans. Evacuation isn’t a feasible option for these people, and we rarely see their stories, Call stresses.