Tonight in Texas, Perhaps Thousands Will Die, Where is Texas Leadership???

[RollWithIt]

Let me preface this by saying I live in South Florida. Since 2004 when 4 major hurricanes hit Florida the state has been very proactive in their evacuation route planning. I've been part of 2 major evacuations since then and both of them evacuated MILLIONS OF PEOPLE from storm centers. They literally shut down all interstate traffic headed southbound and create 8 lane highways all flowing north.

I keep hearing people in Texas talk about what a clusterfuck Rita was and how they didn't want to sit in traffic. Maybe it's an issue with not enough hotels to service the people trying to get out? I don't know. I do know I've been through enough hurricanes to know to get out when a Cat 2-3 as large as the entire gulf is headed my way. Particularly if I lived anywhere near the coast. By anywhere I'm talking 5-10 miles. Even 90 MPH winds can kill you easily with flying shrapnel.

Once again, I guess I just do not understand Texas.

[Oregone]

1. Can you ever expect to understand Texas

Correct me if Im wrong, but didn't they start that evacuation on the last hurricane way too late, causing all the jams and traffic problems?

I mean, Ive known about this one for days...they could of done it with 72 hours left at least.

[TTUBatfan2008]

2. The problem is the evacuation routes...

During Rita, my parents tried to go south because they knew the storm would make a turn to the right. But everything was blocked and it was total gridlock. So they gave up and went to my aunt's house in Pasadena (which is also where they went this time around). It's around 20 minutes further inland from Baytown, which is right at the mouth of Galveston Bay on the Houston Ship Channel.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Our hotels in San Antonio are full. Many have come here from Houston and Galveston.

[RollWithIt]

9. That is actually a good point, in south Florida if an evac is ordered we all go north....

There is no southern "out." Everyone from every southern Florida city either heads for I-95 or I-75. Period. It's a fairly smooth ride out at about 40mph average. Are there multiple highways to head west?

[TTUBatfan2008]

Highway 90...I-10...I-45 goes north to Dallas...

But the other issue here with Rita was the panic following Katrina. 5 fucking million people trying to evacuate at the same time. No offense to people further inland, but they screwed over people on the coast like my parents. All the asshats in Katy and other western suburbs of Houston clogged the freeways to the point that people who WERE in danger could not get out. If you are 75 miles inland like Katy, you have no need to leave.

[napi21]

10. Couldn't they have shut down the one side of 45 and made all the lanes

open toward Houston? There's all kind of hwys in and around Houston. I know that's what they do in Fl.

[TTUBatfan2008]

14. They DID make it contraflow during Rita...

and I'm sure they did it this time around too. However, 5 million people is a shitload of people. That was the biggest problem with Rita. So many idiots who were NOT in serious danger clogged the freeways and hurt the chances of coastal residents getting to safer ground.

[littlebit]

3. Being a native Texan all I can say is

we are all born crazy. Seriously though no matter how well officials plan some people will not leave.

[lib2DaBone]

5. Where is Smirk Boy at the Pig Farm..? Heck of a job....

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Sitting somewhere safe rubbing their hands together, salivating over how much $$$ they'll make. n/t

[Wiley50]

19. Right. It's been Delay-ed n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. Check this website. This hurricane is horrible....

http://www.stormpulse.com/

[Beausoir]

8. Time will tell. People have had ample time to get out...and the 311 lines have been staffed 24/7.

Please don't try and make this a political football.

[RollWithIt]

11. Not political... mostly a criticism of Texas.... keep in mind Florida is run by Republicans...

Smarter Bush and Christ have been pretty good at Hurricanes. I don't support them, but the state response has still been very good.

[Beausoir]

12. Fair enough. I have two loved ones in Houston and I am very frightened.

[AldebTX]

13. Many Are Not Taking It Seriously.

They are showing this flooding...this is happening without the major part of the storm surge.

I hope we don't awake to a major disaster in the morning.

[AldebTX]

15. How About Calling it a Criticism of Texas "Leaders"

Too often we paint with a broad brush.

There are a lot of decent people, DUers etc in Texas.

We aren't all Crazy.

[Ilsa]

16. Not enough hotels (closest with opening was in northern Oklahoma

during Rita). Also, there wasn't enough fuel available. The gridlock caused alot of people to run out of gas on the highways. Another thing is that they don't revise their list of safe areas to get back to, which could help free up roads and hotels. For example, for Rita, they thought it might go in to corpus christi. So CC was evacuated and hotels there threw out their guests. Then the hurricane turned NE, but the hotels in CC remained closed and it was impossible to take a highway in that direction.

My mother-in-law lives near a small town. There were NO shelters set up for them in that small town for the sick and elderly and disabled, or people who believed their homes might not survive. The town management just told everyone to leave. That was their solution.

[AldebTX]

17. I'm In Dallas

And a large number of the shelters here are full with people who have gotten out. There are some people who stayed that are just in denial.

Also its been a long time since Texas has been hit by a storm like this...I think a large number of people on the coast are just not taking it seriously.

[marshall]

18. People were evacuated by certain zip codes

There is order going on there--don't worry. My cousin was told to stay--she lives in high ground near downtown Houston. Other zip codes were told to evacuate. Friends in Sugarland and Missouri City were also told to stay put. Ya'll have to realize how big Houston is--and not all of it is in immediate danger. But those who are in areas of high danger have been evacuated.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. The Houston-Galveston metro area is huge.

The south side of Houston is 50 miles inland from galveston, but it still is low lying and floods.

Houston is about 40 miles from one side to the other.

I live on the west side of Houston near I-10, and it's almost 40 miles from my house down to Clear Lake City and NASA.

[Codeine]

21. Texans are a tough lot,

and independent-minded -- sometimes too much so. A lot of people think they can ride this one out; after Gustav fizzled out they probably thought the danger was overstated.

[Igel]

22. We'll see.

They've had evacuation orders since yesterday. The Rita evacuation was a disaster because they couldn't say in a useful way who *needed* to leave and who didn't. My apt. complex was a ghost town. We're 50+ feet above sealevel, 50 miles from the coast, away from any bayou and well outside even the 500-year flood plain map produced using Allison data. We're in new buildings.

The place was empty, all the people fled, even though we were at risk for pretty much nothing except getting wet and being greatly inconvenienced. Result: Massive traffic jams, which made it hard for the people that *needed* to flee to get out.

Now they have more detailed plans. Those in the surge areas were told to move out. They've been evacuating. Those in my area were told to stay put, unless there's a good reason to bug out.

We'll see what kind of a job they did with their planning. Let's not count the corpses before they're dead.