The mayor of Houston is taking it on the chin regarding not calling for evacuations with everyone playing armchair quarterback... The problem is a no-win.. The last time they evacuated during Rita, people died in the process..
Yep. The memory of that nightmare is still fresh, even after a decade, in people's minds. Hell, I can remember almost every bit of it like it was yesterday. There is just no way to evacuate MILLIONS of people in two or three days. Since the ocean is south and the storm is tracking east, that leaves only three major ways out of town. And those would've been filled. This picture is north of Houston during Rita, the highway is about 17 lanes across from feeder to feeder (including emergency lanes). Now keep in mind this picture is one small sliver of one section of one highway.
Not every highway is this wide, and this one starts dropping lanes a few miles up the road. I grew up in the neighborhood that is out of sight on the left side of this picture. This is I-45 North. I left town via 290, jumped off on HWY 6, made my to College Station, then by various back roads, made it to Dallas twelve hours later.
So anyone thinking this was an option......well, it really isn't. This evacuation was an ungodly nightmare that killed quite a few people. For it to go smoothly, people would need to start leaving a week or two in advance. They'd have to stay calm and keep their wits about them, and not everyone can do that in these high level stress situations. They're only human. Plus, many employers wouldn't let their employee's leave that soon. Some places here were expected to be open on Saturday! I went to a Firehouse Subs and the employee's there told me their manager expected them to be there on Saturday when it was all going down. Hell, I was at work when Alison was battering the city and got stuck there for a half a day before trying to brave the highways. Regular folk get leaving. A lot of corporate types have a different idea about that. My boss told me that we might go back to work tomorrow, I told him "good luck" and that I'm stick where I am and will let him know when I can get out. I also told him that I would be going to my apartment first to see if anything was left.
Sadly, this time around, people are just now trying to get out.. We have some friends on the north end of the area who thought they'd be safe, but as of this morning they are almost totally surrounded by water and their power is now out, so they've packed up and are headed up to Dallas to stay with family...
I have a co-worker who's wife is urging him to do the same, and they'll probably leave today or tomorrow. Likewise I have family in Dallas who are urging those of us down here to come up there. My co-workers are from Dallas, so they don't know that those roads to Dallas have several low lying spots that are most likely flooded on I-45. In addition, there will be many other people trying to do the same, so I'm sure the traffic will be shit. I don't know to what extent your friends are surrounded by water (I'm surrounded by water, but it's, thankfully, a safe distance away so far), but I'd rather be rescued from a well populated area than be out in sparse country areas with less resources to help people.
I just heard that the neighborhood next to my apartments is under mandatory evacuation. I really hope I don't lose everything. I've lost a good chunk of my stuff before in the 90's, but still managed to keep hold of some of the items with the most sentimental value. That was by fire and those items were in storage. I'm nervous because while I suspected I'd probably get an inch or two, I'm now fearful that it could be much more than that. Trying not to think about it since there's not much I can do, but still.
Thoughts and prayers with everyone there
Amen to that.
Here's the longhorn I was talking about. After this picture was posted, many people rushed to help him out. He was pulled out and is now safe and sound
Saw this one on the news....a dog carrying a bag of dog food.
And because we need a smile in this mess
