Houston Mayor says up to a million might need to evacuate

[rainbow4321]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/05/rita/3362545

Up to a million Houstonians living in low-lying and flood-prone areas might need to evacuate if Hurricane Rita threatens the region, Mayor Bill White said today.

The mayor presented a map showing the areas that could be threatened by storm surge if the storm grows to Category 3 strength or higher, including parts of the Clear Lake area and some eastern neighborhoods.

The mayor said the city has a plan to help the elderly, people in assisted-living facilities and those without transportation. The city is deciding how to set up a phone number for people to call if they need a ride on Metropolitan Transit Authority and school buses. That will be announced later, if necessary, he said.

"The government in this type of situation cannot do everything," he said. "We need a lot of citizens to be helping other citizens."

[FloridaPat]

1. So if you can't get out it's your fault because you can't make friends?

[daninthemoon]

2. When is landfall? Is the Astrodome safe? Are there still evacuees

there? Is this really gonna happen again already?

[rainbow4321]

4. They are sending LA evacuees to Arkansas and shutting some schools down

This is just so "not real" feeling..2 major cities within a few weeks? Granted, Houston is a "may or may not" evacuate but what a nightmare this could turn into.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/05/rita/3362112

Hurricane Katrina evacuees, mostly from Louisiana, waited inside and outside Reliant Arena throughout the day for cabs, buses and airport shuttles to take them away.

Behind Reliant Arena, volunteers worked to keep together the evacuee families who opted to make the trip to Fort Chaffee, Ark., via chartered commercial planes. Red Cross volunteers and law enforcement officers escorted evacuees from the arena door to buses waiting outside

Stressing that neither Houston nor the two shelters, the George R. Brown Convention Center and Reliant Arena, are safe to ride out a storm of Rita's predicted size, officials offered the transportation to Arkansas as well as continued one-way airline tickets to other points in the country or transfers to smaller area shelters.

Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said Reliant Arena could perhaps withstand a Category 2 hurricane, but Hurricane Rita is expected to hit the central Texas Coast as a Category 3 storm on Friday night.


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/05/rita/3362458

These Houston area schools have announced that they will be closed on Thursday through at least the end of the week due to Hurricane Rita.

Alvin
Anahuac
Angleton
Brazosport
Brazoria
Columbia-Brazoria
Danbury
Deer Park
Dickinson
Galveston
Hitchcock
La Porte
Pasadena
Santa Fe
Sweeny

[SheilaT]

3. Houston is low lying

and very flat. All of the development in recent years means much of the ground is paved over, and cannot absorb water as much. As a consequence, it's increasingly prone to flooding.

For years and years it's been noted that millions of people have moved to the coastal areas and it's always been a matter of time before a major hurricane strikes anywhere you want to name.

Yeah, I know, every part of the country has its hazards (I live where there are tornadoes myself) but this would be ridiculous if it weren't so sad.

[Quixote1818]

5. Models show landfall just south of Houston which would be a worst

case scenario! The wrap around winds would push the storm surge off the ocean right into Houston!

Isn't Houston ten or 20 miles inland though?

[rainbow4321]

8. "Models show 'massive devastation' in Houston" ($50 billion damage)

http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/05/hurricane/index.html


---------------------------
Crap...Houston Chronicle has a scary run down...the answer to the question "is Houston ready" was found to be **no**.
----------------------------
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3046592

A landfall here would allow its powerful upper-right quadrant, where the waves move in the same direction as the storm, to overflow Galveston Bay. Within an hour or two, a storm surge, topping out at 20 feet or more, would flood the homes of 600,000 people in Harris County. The surge also would block the natural drainage of flooded inland bayous and streams for a day or more.

Coastal residents who ignored warnings to flee would have no hope of escape as waters swelled and winds roiled around their homes. Very likely, hundreds, perhaps even thousands, would die.

Meanwhile, as the storm moved over western Harris County, its most dangerous winds, well in excess of 120 mph even inland, would lash the Interstate 45 corridor, including Clear Lake, the Texas Medical Center and downtown. Many older buildings could not withstand such winds.

Dodson's firm modeled more than 100 storms of varying power, speed and landfall. It concluded that a large Category 4 or Category 5 -- a storm only moderately larger than the four that struck Florida last summer -- would cause as much as $40 billion to $50 billion in damage. That's 10 times the cost of Tropical Storm Allison and approximately the city of Houston's entire budget for the next 15 years.

[AspenRose]

14. Lordy, I remember Allison

Dumped rain in Houston FOREVER, it seemed.

[gkhouston]

9. approximately 50 miles inland and 50 feet above sea level

the problem is the storm surge could be pushed through Galveston Bay up the Ship Channel and from there into pretty much all of the bayous. I'd expect the folks nearest the Bay to be hardest hit, but anywhere along a bayou could be locally bad. Buffalo bayou runs through downtown Houston and Braes bayou goes past the Texas Medical Center. While the storm surge is pushing inward, the water won't be able to drain out to the bay as it normally does. Once that passes, things should drain fairly quickly, but the time it takes to pass could seem like an eternity.

[highplainsdem]

6. Link to KHOU's storm-surge map:

http://www.khou.com/weather/stormsurgemap.htm


I've already posted that in another topic, about the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore saying Houston could lose 600,000 homes, in the topic at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4834367

[AspenRose]

7. Crap

Not only does my cousin need to evacuate....(Clear Lake)

my friend in Pearland (77581) and my former music professor (at UH now, zip 77057) need to leave, too.

[gkhouston]

12. damn straight.

Most of the people I know who live down that way are making concrete preparations to leave -- including people who usually don't evacuate. Some are leaving tomorrow, others on Thursday.

[Liberal In Texas]

13. Thanks for the map. My son is in an affected zip code. Guests for

the weekend in Dallas, looks like.

Jeeze Louise.

[OzarkDem]

15. Houston Ship Channel

will be rising for certain.

Houston is similar to NO, but without the history, good music and character.

You have friends up north, Cleveland will take you in.

[Bluebear]

10. Poppy and Babs official residence condo is in Houston

Will this work out "very well" for them?

[AspenRose]

11. Heh, no

I think their condo is in Memorial area, which isn't far from Buffalo Bayou...I'd venture to guess that the bayou would flood....

[daninthemoon]

16. Took the words out of my/her mouth. The conspiracy theorist in

me can't help but think this is very convenient for getting those "scary" people back out of Bab's neighborhood.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. don't say does that mean that babs may have to

spend soem time in a sports stadium with the masses? (I know, I know not bloody likely but the irnoy)

[A-Possum]

17. Here's an irony...

My husband was in Crystal Beach last week, on the Bolivar Peninsula (island across from Galveston, no seawall, just beaches and low dunes). Guess who was sheltering there in one of the churches?

Katrina evacuees. They will have to be evacuated starting 6 pm tomorrow. :(