Hurricane Dorian: Shifted track brings relief to Palm Beachers; not everyone had made plans to evacuate

Yet she acknowledged Friday that many residents had chosen not to evacuate in previous storms.

They have given many reasons for not doing so. Some have waited too long to secure a place to go or couldn't book a flight out of town or a reservation at a hotel room on the mainland. Some are caring for medically fragile or elderly relatives at home and don't want to move them.

Others don't want to leave their pets, fearing that post-storm security measures would prevent their prompt return to the island to check on and feed the animals.

And some say they feel safe in older homes that have survived other hurricanes, either because of the strength of their original construction or because they have been retrofitted with, say, impact-resistant windows and doors. Newer homes have been built to more stringent building codes that evolved after Hurricane Andrew devastated parts of Miami-Dade County in 1992.

Longtime Palm Beach resident and real estate broker Linda Olsson, who owns a 1926 home on Pendleton Avenue, said Saturday she always planned to weather the storm in place with Valentine, her Shih Tzu. But she said she had spent much of Friday preparing her home for the storm by performing tasks such as sealing windows and moving patio furniture inside. And she also had been helping several of her clients do the same at their homes.

She said she never makes the decision to stay during a storm lightly -- and Dorian's apparent shift to the north and east came as welcome news Friday evening.

"One must take every precaution. One must be prepared for the worst and hope for the best," she said. "We are on a barrier island, and there's always a risk of water and storm surge. But I've been lucky in life with weather and parking spaces."

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