Due to Rita, people will be far LESS likely evacuate in the future!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Isn't this all just so ironic? The lesson of Katrina was to evacuate and save yourself. The lesson of Rita is don't even think of evacuating because you will be in more danger stranded on an open highway with no gas and no help.

So, next time around in any major city, we will all remember the clusterf@#$%k of the Houston evacuation and say "no way!" and stay home. Where we will be blown, crushed or washed away because no one in our gigantic, multi layered government can figure out how to truly evacuate a major metropolitan area effectively. And maybe there is no way. Possibly part of our human hubris is believing that we can engineer and eliminate the tragedy that inevitably occurs due to natural catastrophes and phenomena. Most catastrophes, like tsunamis or earthquakes will not provide an adequate warning time to evacuate in the first place.

I think our time, money and energies should be put in building strong municipal shelters, and working on building codes and styles of building and the whole concept of "shelter in place". I'm serious about building cupolas on rooftops in low lying areas that have storage bins for flares and water. "Hurricane housing" should be a growth industry.

I'd also like to see mass transit taken seriously.

[Mutley]

1. People in cities are just screwed no matter what.

I'm in a city, and I've tried to make plans to get out if something ever happens, but I think it would be a miracle if I actually made it. I may as well just kiss my ass goodbye.

[brokensymmetry]

2. Good point!

And good thoughts...

[Aviation Pro]

3. Governor Goodhair....

...recently stated that Texas knows how to "handle" disasters. News flash to Gov. Moron, you have a disaster when you try to evacuate several million people and you don't have an infrastructure to support rapid movement. Also, check this out:



This graphic is the next day forecast from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. Notice that Rita is about to be sheared by a developing front from the low pressure center to the north. When this happens it becomes a violent collision between two air masses (super-energized because of Rita). Therefore, as all the morons (Gov. Goodhair, PResident Numbnuts, Vice-PResident Dick "Dick" Cheney, Karl Satan, and Dracula Chertoff) are declaring victory and start encouraging the diaspora to return, the displaced will face an increased risk of running into a tornado (that's in addition to the floods they'll encounter).

Way to go team! Wrong again!

[MSgt213]

4. One of the main reason people stay and try to ride these out is because

of the hassle with evacuating in chaos. I was in New Orleans from 1995 to 2003. It was years before they figured out the contra flow even though almost every resident was screaming for it for years. I even remember when the Governor of Mississippi refused to go along with LA when they first tried to set it up. Another problem is they wait to long to call for people to leave and often the authorities are more of a hindrance to people then help.

[pitohui]

5. yes ppl do the best they can

katrina was the first time contraflow worked so beautifully w. mississippi & louisiana working together

as recently w. dennis, contraflow was screwed up, w. upper jeff parish evacuating out of order which could have dangerously blocked in the low-lying areas if dennis had actually hit

every evacuation louisiana & more recently mississippi tried to work out improvements, you don't anything perfectly the first time

texas has much to learn from our achievement, they can keep shitting on us & reinvent the wheel or they can look at the tough job we have, w. the need to evacuate over only a few bridges & they accept that we have much to teach abt getting state & local officials on board for proper contraflow

unnecessary evac is bad because evac kills, fragile old ppl WILL die every time an evac is order, someone is going to die, you have to play the numbers & decide what the odds are

[Ian David]

6. I've been asked not to call Tom DeLay's office anymore

See related thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4860502

[soleft]

7. And since the government doesn't know how to evacuate

should they ever be in possession of information of a possible nuke, nuke plant leakage, or chemical spill, they'll likely sit on their buts because evacuation would be a greater risk.

[global1]

8. I Noticed That People That Waited To Evacuate Sped Through...

after all the traffic on the Tx highways was cleared. So I could see people reasoning not to evacuate early but wait and evacuate at a later time. If everybody thinks this way we will see masses of people stuck on the highway right as the storm is to hit.

They need to figure out how to stage the evacuations.

[Southsideirish]

9. I know someone who once designed a huge dome that could later be

broken down into individual "igloo type" huts for families. As I recall the whole structure was made of aluminum..

[rbajai]

10. I totally agree

and I think strong cement municipal shelters is a great idea. Why did they not build such shelters before? They need to withstand hurricane winds.

Anyhow, yes, I thought this last night, that because of all the difficulty evacuating - the Houston traffic nightmare - and with Katrina, the Superdome/Convention Center tragedy - I betcha more people will just say the hell with it and stay put.

I cannot blame them. Although I wish for none to get trapped, flooded out, etc.

[Igel]

11. That, and the usual.

Rita mostly missed Houston. And completely missed some of the other mandatory evacuation areas. That's the main reason for low response rates to evacuation orders.

Katrina made governments and people lower their acceptable risk threshold. Perhaps this will bring the voluntary evacuation rates down to where the plans expect them to be. It would be bad if it depressed mandatory evacuation rates.

[SillyGoose]

12. I agree with you 100% percent.

These 2 hurricanes have exposed how vulnerable we are. Its just not feasible to completely evacuate a large area in a short time...we need more buildings that can serve as community shelters.

In my area a few years ago a couple of builders were advertising safe rooms that were an option in new home construction. I thought it was a terrific idea and wish it would have gained more attention.

[Gold Metal Flake]

13. Look, I grew up in Houston.

I have ridden out hurricanes, and I have run from them.

If I were still there, and a storm like Rita were coming up, I'd leave a day earlier. But I would damn well leave fo sho.

Most smart people will do the same.

So, don't think that this is a negative lesson. For smart people, it's a damn good opportunity to fine tune one's evac plans.

Naturally, stupid people will do stupid things. Oops! I just channelled Rummy! :-)

[fishnfla]

14. There it is!

a sensible answer! People need to learn lessons from these storms-from the goverment on down, everyone.

God forbid there be another major storm and another evacuation, but everyone needs to be prepared and plan better.

[Gold Metal Flake]

15. Thanks. But I'm as bad as anyone.

I'm in the L.A. area now, and I don't have a bunch of earthquake supplies.

This is a reminder to improve that sitch.