Sad Obstinance? Or Otherwise Understandable Skepticism?

From a CNN story last Monday (12:10 a.m.):

Jesse St. Amant, the emergency management chief for Louisiana's southernmost Plaquemines Parish, said nearly 95 percent of the parish's 27,000-plus residents had fled by Sunday afternoon. Those who remained were being told that they are "gambling with their own lives."

"I think they just don't believe something of this nature can ever happen in their lifespan, and I think they're going to be wrong," he said.

Link.

We woulda gotten out, no doubt about it. Still, how many times do governmental authorities exaggerate or make laughable warnings? In a society with a paternalistic government that seeks to warn and guard us from every possible danger, the government's legitimacy gets watered down (no pun intended). These people should have gotten out. We're not saying otherwise. But if they greeted the official warnings with skepticism, we can't entirely blame them.