Rita's Death Toll Highest From Evacuation, Not Storm

[cynatnite]

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Rita caused only nine reported deaths after it slammed ashore near the Texas-Louisiana border on Sept. 24. At least 28 people were killed in the mass evacuation before the storm.

snip:
The pre-Rita exodus, the biggest evacuation in U.S. history, slowed to a crawl as almost 3 million people fled southern Texas and Louisiana. After Rita weakened and struck farther east than predicted, damaging some of the evacuation sites more than it did Houston, elected officials urged residents to continue taking storm threats seriously.

snip:
The day before Rita made landfall, 23 people who had been evacuated from a nursing home near Houston were killed when their bus caught fire south of Dallas.

At least five people became ill and died while stuck in traffic jams. Fuel and supply shortages and temperatures near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) plagued the evacuees, thousands of whom were stranded on roadsides in the days before Rita hit. The 240-mile (386-kilometer) drive from Houston to Dallas took some motorists more than 24 hours.

The Houston Chronicle reported that a 79-year-old man near Lufkin, a city where some of the evacuees took refuge, was killed when a tree blown over by Rita fell on him. The Federal Emergency Management Agency hasn't reported any deaths in Texas.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=top_world_news&sid=aO0iZC5OKbFw

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. We have a plan for evacuation.... it's called, be first or be last... and

it's pretty much "you are on your own" for that matter.

[mike_c]

2. that's a rather misleading headline....

Rita's toll was higher for the evac than the storm precisely because people evacuated rather than staying to be killed by the storm. In other words, that's precisely as it should be if the evacuation was even moderately successful. In an ideal world, no one would have died during the evac, of course, but the fact that fewer were killed by the storm is at least a step in the right direction. The U.S. really needs to learn some lessons about hurricane prep from Cuba.

[Kurovski]

3. Good point. Also how many folks out of three million would have died

as an average on any given day?

[Mr_Spock]

4. Well, 24 of them died in a bus fire

Not sure saying "people would have died anyway" is a popular argument in this case though frequently it is a reasonable statement.

[Kurovski]

5. It is also no reason not to look at the statistics.

Bus accidents are not an anomaly, and 5,000 people die each year just crossing the street.

It was a horribly gruesome explosion. Emotion should not dictate that the evacuation was a failure based on that.

What did happen with the oxygen tanks? was someone smoking? Were they improperly stowed? It may be that the accident was due more to incompetent, underpaid staff from the nursing home than the incompetent, overpaid staff from Bush's government.

I dunno.

[Mr_Spock]

6. They said that the brakes caught on fire thus igniting bus then oxygen

Anyway, I wasn't supporting an argument that the evacuation was a failure - I was simply pointing out that fact that most of them happened in one incident. I actually gave your argument a pass in my post above. :shrug:

[Kurovski]

7. Yes, and thank you. I'm just saying "popular" or not,

that's how it is. So I was addressing those who might perhaps feel as you described.

I was also reiterating my view generally, and likewise not directed at you, that we can't fairly pin deaths from the evacuation on Bush, which seemed to be the territory the thread in some places was headed into.

There was a great deal of misery during the evacuation, and I've heard ideas to improve on the process.

Are we cool, Mr_Spock? :-)

[Mr_Spock]

8. Live long and prosper

[Kurovski]

9. Hehehe!

Same to you. :-)