Evac of the 'Golden Triangle'

[poptartlette]

Observations from one that lives in Houston near I-10. He states "Once again, the frailty of man and his creations is exposed." is so true. Like that Sting song where he sings:

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are

But wait. I-10, about a quarter mile from where I sit has been running one way, non-stop for over two days now and it continues. A huge section of Texas has no gas. Cars are parked alongside the road and in every available parking lot; people sleep in the medians. Some have no gas, no money, perhaps no medicine that keeps them alive. Kids and pets are along for the ride. It's hotter than heck out there.

This storm has exposed a scary truth. There is no way to move two million people without massive problems. If we could stop this storm right now (it hasn't hit land at the time of this writing), we would have a catastrophe on our hands. Millions of displaced people create problems.

It wouldn't matter if a Democrat was in charge. Such things are beyond the capacity of government. I am reminded of the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, pulling his levers. There is only so much one can do. All the rest is smoke and mirrors.

If it took three days for all these people to get out of the city with all lanes on major interstate highways running one direction, how long will it take them to get back? Will there be gasoline for them to get them back? Who stayed on board at the refineries that produce that gasoline?

The Lord only knows what this storm will do, but whatever it may be, it has already cost a bundle.

Once again, the frailty of man and his creations is exposed.

 

[RadioNate]

Two million out of the Houston area alone, not to mention all the people from Beaumont down to Corpus that also evacuated. Numbers aren't in 3-3.5 Million maybe???

They are asking people who can wait until later in the week to do back to do so. They are trying to avoid the problems that people had leaving.

Bottom line is there just isn't a good way to evacuate major cities.

Houston is the 4th largest city in the US and the 10th largest metropolitian area.

 

[sodaseller]

Link

To make matters worse, the regional evacuation plan was missing a key element — pre-planned contraflow lanes that are a part of virtually every other hurricane-prone city's evacuation strategy.

From Corpus Christi to Norfolk, Va., most vulnerable cities have pre-set plans to run their highways in one direction only, headed out of town, said Brian Wolshon, a civil engineer at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center.

Wolshon gave a presentation on the subject at Houston's TranStar traffic management center two years ago, but found that officials were reluctant because Houston's freeway grid is much more complicated than other coastal cities.

"I don't think they really took it seriously," he said.

State and local officials changed their minds early last Thursday in the face of a historic traffic jam. But it was too late, and the one-way freeways that eventually opened on Interstate 10 and Interstate 45 didn't relieve drivers' 20-hour nightmares.

Another blow to Manichean dualism

 

[Rajah]

This bears repeating:

There is no way to move two million people without massive problems.