Oriental Redneck
| quote: Originally posted by jhe888:
People have lost their damn minds.
About sums it up.
Q
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Probably on a trip
| Good call. People are fleeing their homes and leaving everything behind. A new car can wait. Besides, if something happens to the car now it is on the dealer and not you.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector.
Plato |
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Winner
| quote: Originally posted by dry-fly:
I hear y'all, trust me. Not arguing. Only reasons I'm contemplating it are because it's north of Houston and we'd be headed back by 2:00. I'll be up early checking things out.
From my experience with the Rita evacuation, I would strongly suggest that you wait. It's not the weather you need to be concerned about, it's the panic/frenzy from the evacuation/exodus, which could leave you riding out a storm, stranded on the side of the road. For Rita, the usual 180mi (2.5 hour) drive to Austin took, ~18 hours. Every freeway/highway/backroad out of town in gridlock. Every gas station along the route out of gas. Stalled (overheated, out of gas or involved in a collision) cars only exacerbating the problems. Usual A-hole Houston drivers on their very worst behavior. Admittedly the mass exodus from Rita was worse that usual, because of the recent memory of Katrina, but our local news has already started the typical "stormageddon" reports. Neighborhood gas stations are running out of gas, stores are running out of typical hurricane supplies, which will only add to the panic/frenzy. |
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Stupid
Allergy
| Thanks guys, y'all be safe too!
"Attack life, it's going to kill you anyway." Steve McQueen...
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Member
| The evac for hurricane Rita was a cluster magnificant. It was the fault of one idiot politician. I was on the Emergency Mgt team of a coastal county south of Houston. There was an orderly and well planed evacuation design that the mayor of Houston screwed up because he didn't follow it. He endangered thousands of lives for political reasons. there were zones starting with the coastal area, and then going inland. The county had to evacuate through Houston. Zone 1 would go first, head north throgh Houston via frwy systems on Northward toward Dallas, Austin etc. Then zone 2, 3 etc until coast evact'd. Then Houston. The city of Houston was supposed to block all Houston entrances to their freeway system for several hours to allow coastal residents through. The freeways would then be opened to Houston residents to leave. Houston and surrounding governments had all signed off on the plan and it was part of the master disaster evacuation plan. Instead, the mayor of Houston, fearing criticism from Houston residents, lost his nerve at the last minute and didn't follow the plan. Didn't tell any of the other plan members, local government officials either. Just as the first wave of coastal evacuees were hitting the Houston freeways, the idiot decided not to follow the plan. Freeway access was not blocked as planned. The idiot then got on TV and told residents who wanted out to go.
It took a while for word to get back to us as we began to get reports of massive traffic tie ups.
I was in a county courthouse room and witnessed a red faced County Judge call Houston Mayor Bill White a GD bald headed son of a bitch. Being the only bald headed guy in the room, at first I thought he was talking to me. Then I realized that Bill White was the subject of his rant. Bill White is the single person that screwed up the whole plan and backed up traffic for 200 miles.
It didn't help that the governor didn't send enough hiway patrol to the evac routes to manage the traffic. Our County Judge called the governor's office only to find everyone had gone home for the day. He then had some choice words about Rick Perry.
The only people who need to evac Houston are those living in flood prone zones, which is a small percentage. The media hyped people into a frenzy. Old time Houstonians sstayed put unless they were in a flood zone. Bill White was lucky the systemm veered to the east. Can you imagine what would have happened if the storm had caught thousands of people stranded on the highways?
Of course the media never reported any of this. They would never cricize a democrat mayor, even a bald headed sumbitch mayor. |
| | | Posts: 1624 | Location: Texas Hill Country | Registered: April 07, 2006 | 
IP
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Member
| It is what it is but take these observations as to what a real national emergency would be like. It would be un-announced, instantaneous and worse than this by magnitudes.
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The butcher with the sharpest knife has the warmest heart.
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| | | Posts: 13535 | Location: Bottom of Lake Washington | Registered: March 06, 2007 |
IP
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Savor the limelight
| Exacuation is a great idea in theory and if I lived on a barrier island or a flood prone area, I would evacuate, but when you add people and the unpredictability of these storms into the mix, staying put can be viable. Living on a peninsula (Florida) my choices.
I hope you folks that are going to be affected by this come out OK. |
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Member
| Just getting our first bands of rain around IAH. No traffic to speak of on the drive in to the office this morning. We'll see how it is around noon when we close up shop today. We've had tickets to Coldplay for about 9 months, show is tonight at NRG Stadium, announcement to be made at noon on whether they cancel the show.
The Enemy's gate is down. |
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Little ray
of sunshine
| quote: Originally posted by maxdog:
The evac for hurricane Rita was a cluster magnificant. It was the fault of one idiot politician. I was on the Emergency Mgt team of a coastal county south of Houston. There was an orderly and well planed evacuation design that the mayor of Houston screwed up because he didn't follow it. He endangered thousands of lives for political reasons. there were zones starting with the coastal area, and then going inland. The county had to evacuate through Houston. Zone 1 would go first, head north throgh Houston via frwy systems on Northward toward Dallas, Austin etc. Then zone 2, 3 etc until coast evact'd. Then Houston. The city of Houston was supposed to block all Houston entrances to their freeway system for several hours to allow coastal residents through. The freeways would then be opened to Houston residents to leave. Houston and surrounding governments had all signed off on the plan and it was part of the master disaster evacuation plan. Instead, the mayor of Houston, fearing criticism from Houston residents, lost his nerve at the last minute and didn't follow the plan. Didn't tell any of the other plan members, local government officials either. Just as the first wave of coastal evacuees were hitting the Houston freeways, the idiot decided not to follow the plan. Freeway access was not blocked as planned. The idiot then got on TV and told residents who wanted out to go.
It took a while for word to get back to us as we began to get reports of massive traffic tie ups.
I was in a county courthouse room and witnessed a red faced County Judge call Houston Mayor Bill White a GD bald headed son of a bitch. Being the only bald headed guy in the room, at first I thought he was talking to me. Then I realized that Bill White was the subject of his rant. Bill White is the single person that screwed up the whole plan and backed up traffic for 200 miles.
It didn't help that the governor didn't send enough hiway patrol to the evac routes to manage the traffic. Our County Judge called the governor's office only to find everyone had gone home for the day. He then had some choice words about Rick Perry.
The only people who need to evac Houston are those living in flood prone zones, which is a small percentage. The media hyped people into a frenzy. Old time Houstonians sstayed put unless they were in a flood zone. Bill White was lucky the systemm veered to the east. Can you imagine what would have happened if the storm had caught thousands of people stranded on the highways?
Of course the media never reported any of this. They would never cricize a democrat mayor, even a bald headed sumbitch mayor.
My house is about 2 miles from highway 59 on the north side of Houston. I convinced my wife we didn't need to leave during Rita, and instead we stayed comfortably in our house and watched people frozen on the highway. There is no reason to evacuate Houston this time, and it isn't happening. People are staying put.
The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything. |
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Member
| quote: Originally posted by jhe888:
There is no reason to evacuate Houston this time, and it isn't happening. People are staying put.
I'm just off 99 between 45 & 59, not planning on going anywhere either, though my wife keeps thinking we should go to Dallas. Having ridden Ike out in Huntsville, I don't expect near that level over the weekend. We'll get rain, but I don't expect the devastation that people are expecting.
The Enemy's gate is down. |
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