Galveston County just announced a mandatory evacuation starting tomorrow

[Oreo]

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=17e4003b27365233
The site is getting hammered so I will post the entire article.

County orders mandatory evacuations
By TJ Aulds
The Daily News

Published September 20, 2005 - Updated 0 minutes ago
Officials have called for mandatory evacuations ahead of Hurricane Rita. The order is for every one living in Galveston County.

People in medical centers and nursing homes to start at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Residential evacuations start at 6 p.m. The county's evacuation plan calls for the evacuation of residents in phases.

People in medical care and other facilities needing special help are scheduled to begin evacuations at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Zone A of the evacuation plan which includes the southern portions of the county including Galveston Island, Tiki Island and Bayou Vista begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Zone B of the plan which includes the central portions of the county's mainland as well as the bay front communities of Kemah, San Leon and Bacliff are to start evacuation at 2 a.m. Thursday.

Zone C which is the northern reaches of the county including League City and Friendswood will start evacuation at 12 p.m. Thursday.

Tropical force winds from Hurricane Rita are expected to hit the county by early Friday.

[ananda]

1. this also means that..

.. people inland should leave too. Some colleagues and I decided the cutoff should be I-45 and 610, meaning anyone south of there should go north.

[elehhhhna]

3. 45&610 North or South intersection?

[Oreo]

4. Where is that exactly?

I have an office in downtown Houston and the people are freaking out. Half of them live in Galveston County.

From the map it looks like you're talking about the entire southern half of Houston.

[Igel]

14. No, I think they mean the intersection over near Pasadena,

the SE side of Houston.

[jedicord]

9. Could you tell me your reasoning? Serious question.

We live north of Houston, on the "other side of the tracks" from The Woodlands, just south of Conroe. We have a contingency plan to go to my mom-in-law's in Center if it looks like it was going to be huge. I have heard that there was devastation 100 miles north of the coast with Katrina (can't verify - can anyone?).

My family is coming to stay with me, so I'll have a house full of people and a house full of animals - they are all welcome. My cats ain't gonna be happy.

My mom-in-law is so sweet, she's allowing my family and ALL the animals (4 big dogs, 5 cats, a bird) to come along too.

[David Zephyr]

20. The Woodlands flood all of the time.

Please be sure to get yourselves lots of supplies, bottled water and more if you decide to stay it out there in the Woodlands. I know that you are far from the Gulf, but it floods there so much that you might get trapped in your house for a while.

[WatchWhatISay]

29. What are you talking about?

I live in the Woodlands.

I have heard of a few houses flooding during major storms, even seen a few flooded streets, but nothing widespread. And I have lived here for 12 years. I used to sell real estate and very few homes were in the flood plain. I've never felt the need to consider getting flood insurance.

Now Timberloch, just south of the Woodlands has had serious flooding as well as the southern portions of Oak Ridge, on the other side of I-45. I've seen flooding in River Plantation. And FEMA welfare is a way of life for many east Montgomery County residents. (a very RED area by the way).

[jobycom]

26. Hurricane primer, and the types of damage they bring.

The worst by far in Katrina was the storm surge, which I still haven't seen definitive numbers for, but which was certainly over twenty-five feet, and maybe even thirty feet. That wiped out the Mississippi Gulf Coast (I mean total devastation), and it is what caused the levy breeches in New Orleans, and the destruction of Slidell.

The only places you have to worry about the storm surge, though, are low-lying areas affected by the tides. Bayous, bays, and of course, the Gulf. The wall of water from the Gulf in Katrina went inland maybe a mile in most places, and most of the destruction was on the Gulf and the bays where the surge hit unabated, for about half a mile inland.

After that, the storm surge caused damage, but less, except in one place behind Bay St. Louis and Waveland, where the area is riddled with harbors and bayous. There, the storm surge didn't hit like a tsunami, but the waters rose to the full height of the surge (in this case, that was over twenty-five feet, and I don't normally believe these numbers, but i saw a friend's house that had water to the ceiling, at least 25 feet off the ground.) and washed inland probably ten miles. I've seen many hurricanes, and I've never seen anything like that.

Keep in mind Katrina's surge was literally unprecedented.

Hurricanes also cause wind damage, flood damage from rain and rivers, tornadoes, and on rare occasions, lightning.

So if your area floods during big storms, a big hurricane might flood it worse. With Houston's record of flooding, a strong hurricane could be very, very bad in certain areas. The storm surge keeps the rivers from emptying into the gulf or bay, and the rain (if there is a lot) floods the rivers, and the water can back up very, very quickly, almost like a tidal storm surge. I'd be very woried if you live in an area that floods if this thing heads directly at you, especially if it heads into the bay. Keep in mind that the day after the hurricane can bring more flooding as the storm floods the rivers inland, which then wash down to the coast.

Remember the hurricane a few years ago that went inland around Brownsville and caused almost no damage, but then went inland and flooded all the rivers, causing a wall of water to come back down the Rio Grande and destroy a lot of property from behind. That's a real danger with Houston, because of the rivers and bad drainage.

Tornadoes are tornadoes. Katrina had a lot of them. Not all hurricanes do.

The constant is the wind, and the weather service will tell you the strength, but not the duration. Katrina had milder winds than some hurricanes, but it was so big that the wind was continuous for seven or more hours. That is also almost unheard of. So trees and buildings that survived strong winds from smaller hurricanes fell in Katrina because of the constant winds, combined with the long rain softening the ground around the roots.

The damage inland with Katrina was mostly wind, and some tornado. I drove through some of those regions, and a lot of buildings were torn apart from the wind (mostly tin roofs, and a lot of missing shingles, but I did see some rather respectable size houses completely destroyed.) But the worst damage inland was falling trees. Pine trees can slice a house in half if they are big enough. Plus, they fall on power lines and cars and roads, and that's what does the most harm. Some parts of Louisiana and Mississippi 100 miles inland are still without electricity, water, phone, supplies, and so far, government assistance. That's why Maddy McCall hasn't been posting, I suspect.

Anyway, that's the danger areas. Add to that the human dangers of looters (yes, white people in rural and suburban areas loot) if the damage is bad enough and law enforcement can't get there for a few days.

So you decide your danger zone. If you stay, stock up on a week of food and two weeks of water, and remember, the Red Cross and FEMA are stretched very thin right now.

Oh yeah, and the waters of the Gulf are very hot right now, after years of drought and above average temperatures (maybe global warming, who knows?). So this hurricane will strengthen, and be really mean, unless some front manages to destroy it. The weather service isn't predicting that to happen, though.

[SomeYoungGuy]

27. "devastation 100 miles north of the coast with Katrina"

I live in Atlanta and went to Hattiesburg, MS last weekend to help with the cleanup. I'm told it's 70 miles from Hattiesburg to the coast, and Hattiesburg endured Cat. 3 winds for 5 hours during Katrina. There was *much* damage to the city. There was quite a bit of damage as far north as Meridian, which is about 75 miles from Hattiesburg. It's not at all unreasonable to expect dangerous (tree-felling) damage 100 miles inland.

[elehhhhna]

2. If your employer threatens to fire you for evac'g, call the local DOL &

email the Houston Chron immediately.

[enid602]

5. Galveston

It doesn't say whether or not bus transportation will be provided for the poor, infirm, transportaion-dependant and people with special needs. Galveston is not as urban as New Orleans, but still, I hope they'll use available buses this time.

[Bridget Burke]

16. Galveston has buses for people without cars.

It was announced yesterday. And pets can come.

[Xipe Totec]

6. What about the North Shore of Clear Lake?

Nassau bay, Clear Lake? They're Harris county but just next door.

[BikeWriter]

8. Yep, they'll catch it as bad as we do.

[BikeWriter]

7. I'm in Zone B. If it hits Matagorda I may not go anywhere.

[Oreo]

11. The question is...

How tightly are they going to enforce them? They might not be so lenient after Katrina.

[BikeWriter]

15. I have one of the highest two story houses in the area...

I've sat out some pretty good ones here in the past. I won't try to be a hero, but I'm still watching.

[truthisfreedom]

10. from studying the most recent maps it looks like it's headed directly for

Bay City.

[AnneD]

12. Glad to see some common sense

I went for an interview at UTMB and was told I had to report in if there were a hurricane. I always thought that it was stupid and criminally neglegent NOT to evacuate hospitals.

[Bridget Burke]

18. Here's UTMB's plan...

They will reassess whether to discharge or evacuate patients later this week.

www.utmb.edu/alert/

Most nonessential activiites have been canceled.

UTMB is on the Gulf. Hospitals farther inland are better places to ride out a storm.

[illuminaughty]

30. Wasn't it a horrible situation for the hospitals in Houston in 2001

They flooded and had to evacuate? I think that's the year because my nephew was in the hospital there at the time.

[Bridget Burke]

31. It was a horrible situation for SOME hospitals.

Of the 5 major hospitals in the Medical Center, the floods closed one down completely for a couple of months. Two were "sort of" open on emergency power for a couple of months. Two had only minor damage--no interruption of patient care.

After the flood, much money was spent fitting out the badly damaged hospitals for the future. Let's see how well they do...

[Penndems]

13. JUST HEARD ON CNN RADIO NEWS: "Rita is a CAT 3"

Haven't seen confirmation from the National Weather Center on this yet. Will post when I do.

Judas Priest. Will it intensify to a CAT 4 over the Gulf? Two "Katrinas" in a month? We'll find out soon enough.

[lynne]

17. I just heard Rita is projected to be a 4 by tomorrow -

- heard this on TV while running through room doing laundry. Don't know what station it was on. CNN maybe.

[Penndems]

19. Just heard that, too, on CNN Radio News

I'm streaming the AAR affiliate here in D.C. Jackie Jarrett, the CNN Meteorologist, announced it a minute or so ago.

[David Zephyr]

21. A lot of nursing homes and stroke facilities are just north of Galveston

Clear Lake, Friendswood, Pasadena, LaPorte, Deer Park, etc.

I hope that this time there is attention being paid to these vulnerable people.

[David Zephyr]

22. Knowing Galveston well, I'm glad to hear this news.

Smart thinking on this evacuation.

[Purveyor]

23. Let us hope that Rita does a "Gilbert"...

and never makes the turn north.

Gilbert was a monster storm that scared the hell out of Houston/Galveston but never made the predicted turn north...

[Megahurtz]

24. Is that for Baytown too?

I like Baytown but the mosquitoes are nasty.:hurts:

[goforit]

25. A little early eh?

[tammywammy]

28. No, I don't think so

Rita is expected to make landfall late Friday/early Saturday and is also expected to be a Cat 4 tomorrow. I don't think evacuating an island in her path three days beforehand is too early at all. All my family in the south-east Texas area is leaving tomorrow too.

[Bridget Burke]

32. Most of the low-lying areas will be flooded....

Roads will become useless--there's no point in waiting until things start getting bad. By then, it will be too late.

And Galveston IS an island. Only one way out--via the Causeway.