Here Comes Rita!!

[Geoff_M]

Nice to see that someone in Houston "gets it"...

 

[WDWBetsy]

Keeping everyone in Rita's path in my prayers.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Nice to see that someone in Houston "gets it"...

Me too. I am glad that the state and local leaders took note and fixed what went wrong during Katrina.

 

[DawnCt1]

Nice to see that someone in Houston "gets it"...

Have you noticed how proactive the state and local government is in Texas? The governor has been front and center.

 

[DawnCt1]

"When Rita Leaves, Rita's gone". (Delbert McClinton) Lets hope its soon!

 

[WDWBetsy]

Have you noticed how proactive the state and local government is in Texas? The governor has been front and center.

Of course, they're going to be proactive. I honestly don't believe it's just state and local though - the federal government is throwing more resources at this. They saw the screw-ups made by New Orleans local officials and the state (Blanco), not to mention the feds. It appears that everyone has learned from Katrina mistakes/response time. I expect no less. They are doing what should be done anyway ... and they don't want to have mud on their face like NO, LA, or federal officials. FEMA appears to be acting more proactively - and they're promoting how supplies and resources are standing ready.

I'd rather have serious overkill on disaster preparedness than lackluster response.

CNN article on federal preparedness

 

[Planogirl]

Governor Perry basically said that Texas fully expects to have to handle this on their own and anything else beyond that would be welcome. I guess that some people do learn!

I understand that Rita took a bit of a wobble to the north last night and it might come in slightly to the east of Galveston now. It would be murder on east Texas though but we'll see.

 

[Geoff_M]

Across the federal government, officials were advertising the Bush administration's stepped-up response plans for Hurricane Rita as it swept across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Texas coastline.

I really question whether the preparation is really substantially that much different this time. What I do think is different is the recognition of the importance of "advertising" the preparation (as the CNN article points out). That wasn't done with Katrina. So when things turned ugly afterwards, efforts to try and explain what was done in advance made little impact on people watching the human drama unfold.

I understand that Rita took a bit of a wobble to the north last night and it might come in slightly to the east of Galveston now. It would be murder on east Texas though but we'll see.

Perhaps more importantly, this probably means more rain for the New Orleans area.