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Some coastal residents say they won't evacuate for next hurricane

GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — Thousands of people lined up to get back to their homes Tuesday at the Georgia coast.

Several people on St. Simons Island told Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt they're upset that officials kept them from their homes days after Hurricane Matthew passed. %

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Some said with the way things went, they will not evacuate the next time a hurricane approaches.

"I actually left because I wanted to do what authorities asked and I don't think I'd do it again,” resident Charlie Ewing said.

Several people told Cavitt they believe the re-entry process came late and was poorly organized, and they should have been able to get to their homes sooner.

"About everyone I've talked to that lives on the island said exactly that,” Gary Wester said.

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As Ewing and Wester waited in the line that stretched for upward of 3 miles to get back on the island, both said the inability to quickly get back to their homes frustrated them to the point they'll never evacuate again.

"If we’re living down here and a hurricane hits, we're going to hunker down too. Unless it's a Category 10 or something like that, I'm not leaving the island,” Wester said.

Police were only allowing residents on the island, but the process was slow and for some painful.

"I'm frustrated they didn't let us on the island earlier, when they let people on Jekyll yesterday. It doesn't let us get to our homes to see what repairs need to be made,” Ewing said.

Rector Alan Akridge and a Salvation Army crew from Oklahoma and Arkansas set up a portable food stand to help calm nerves of those waiting.

Mel Myer, who just returned from Atlanta to get back to her island home, says she thinks people should just chill.

“We don't go through that every day. This is new for all of us. I think we need to be positive and patient and just ride it out,” she said.