Not evacuating for Rita..

[chadfromdallas]

My dh's brother, wife, and 2 little girls are in Houston and are trying to leave today. I can not get through on their cell phone - the circuits have been busy all day.

Hmm, that's odd. I'm having no problem getting through to my friend's cell phone down there.

 

[Lisa F]

Hmm, I'd rather sweat it out and stick to the traffic rather than stay around and die from rising water....That's just me though. No hotel? No problem. Head to a shelter.

There are gas trucks on the highways now. Gas shouldn't be an issue any more.

Not ALL of houston is in a flood zone. In fact a good portion of the metro area isn't. We used to live there, got flood insurance real cheap because we were outside of a 500 year flood plain. I'm not talking about people on Galveston island (they should have been in a much earlier wave of evacuees anyway) but anyone in the greater metro area. There are many many people who are in "the cone" but who are NOT in a mandatory evacuation zone.

edited to add, unless C.Ann was talking about ONLY people on the coast where the hurricane will make initial landfall. I think the traffic problems in Houston are more due to the fact that before Katrina most people who are not in mandatory evacuation zones would choose to ride out the hurricane, but now it seems like EVERYONE is trying to leave town. If we still lived there, we would too. Interestingly enough, I've been checking the city of Pearland's website (where we used to live). Yesterday they were saying that there were going to be no mandatory evacuations, the city is not in a flood plain etcetc. This morning they said there were for certan zones (those in flood plains). Now they are calling for mandatory evacuations of the entire city. I'm wondering if mandatory evacuations are way more widespread than the last time I checked.

 

[Belle1962]

cats7494: try text message if you can. I read a report this morning that it uses different bandwidths???? than cell calls PLUS it stores and sends as soon as it can. While you may not be able to "talk' to them you may be able to contact them this way.

For those in TX--don't forget you can forward your home phone number to your cell phone if you are leaving.

 

[DisWDWMay]

My sister left Houston yesterday morning and it took her 9 hours to get to San Antonio. I have several friends that left last night or early this morning and still have not arrived in Austin (where I live) and they're all reporting stalled cars on the road down here.

Knowing that, I can totally understand why some people, if they are not in a flood plain or in a trailer would prefer to ride the storm out in Houston. Houston is not in a bowl or surrounded by water like New Orleans is.

Some may flame me but I think this is a classic case of overreaction on the part of many Houstonians, fed by the media and the government, due to Katrina. Panic set in and everyone left at the same time. Many houstonians left even though they didn't live in a flood plain (most of West Houston), had small children, or had a disability. This resulted in the gridlock thats occuring. If we do this every time there is a threat of a hurricane, there will be hurricane fatigue.

Gov Perry was all over the airwaves saying we're as prepared as any state in the nation but it looks like they were not prepared for the 100 mile parking lot in the 100 degree weather thats causing cars to overheat. Believe me, it is a very uncomfortable ride and potentially dangerous with small children. We just don't have a good plan in place period for the evacuation of a large city in the event of a hurricane. Once mandatory evacuations were issued for galveston and Houston clear exit routes should have been outlined and broadcasts, with phased exits. For example they just opened up all eight lanes of I45 to northbound traffic this morning. Why didn't they do that last night? Also I read if you took some of the smaller country roads there was virtually no traffic. Why haven't these alternative routes been broadcast.

Sorry if this sounds like whining about government again, but I'm tired of them patting themselves on how much better they're doing when the storm hasn't even arrived yet and we're still having all these problems evacuating. I hope they learn a few lessons here too.

 

[chadfromdallas]

Some may flame me but I think this is a classic case of overreaction on the part of many Houstonians, fed by the media and the government, due to Katrina. Panic set in and everyone left at the same time. Many houstonians left even though they didn't live in a flood plain (most of West Houston), had small children, or had a disability. This resulted in the gridlock thats occuring. If we do this every time there is a threat of a hurricane, there will be hurricane fatigue.

This is laughable....

Overreacting to a cat 4 hurricane? Are you joking? Other than the flooding, there are other dangers.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I don't know what to say. When Frances was bearing down last year looking like a monster storm I decided not to evacuate. If I was RIGHT on the coast, I would have left. But the more I waited and watched, it seemed like she was losing her intensity and the conditions were favorable for that to continue so I stayed.

Like right now Rita is finishing her eyewall replacement cycle and will come out a weaker storm. She will be hitting some cooler waters. She should make landfall as a Cat 3. The real issue here will be the rain. Up to 25-inches could fall inland.

It's not easy to just up and leave, and I think there may be some Katrina-fever going on. Yes be safe, get out if you need to, err on the side of safety.

Editing to add: after looking at satellite images, anyone immediately East of the cone better prepare as well. This thing keeps on moving more east.

 

[WDWHound]

This is laughable....

Overreacting to a cat 4 hurricane? Are you joking? Other than the flooding, there are other dangers.

I agree with Chad. Sure, a large percentage of the time (perhaps even the majority of the time), evacuation proves to be an over reaction, but the problem is you can only tell if was an over reaction in hindsight. Unless you assume every storm is dangerous and evactuate everytime, sooner or later you will find yourself ion a storm that puts your life in serious danger.

In short, the only sane reaction to an approaching Hurricane is the over reaction (ie evacuation). If you try to predict where a Hurricane's destruction will fall and how bad the destruction willl be, the odds are good that sooner or later you will guess wrong and you will end up being one of folks on TV who say "I didn't think it would be that bad", assuming the huiriicane doesn't kill you first.

 

[Grog]

There are gas trucks on the highways now. Gas shouldn't be an issue any more.

Actually it is still an issue. Not more than 10 minutes ago the local news reported that while the trucks may be enroute, no one has been told how they plan to get gas to vehicles that are in areas that won't be easy to reach. There is talk of setting the trucks up in rest areas, but no idea about who will be given priority on who gets gas first, the first in line, or the family with the baby and grandmother in the car. No matter what, it's going to be a long process to get gas to everyone that needs it and get traffic rolling again.

Hopefully from this will come a plan to have trucks rolling and emergency fuel stops set up as soon as evecuation orders are given in the future.

 

[4nana]

OMG - do they need 4nana to go down and help?!?!!?

Hello! Haven't we learned a thing??? OPEN those dang multi south bound lanes to clear out the north bound grid lock so twice as many cars can exit!!!!!! Come on, let's get people out of there people!!

 

[C.Ann]

OMG - do they need 4nana to go down and help?!?!!?

Hello! Haven't we learned a thing??? OPEN those dang multi south bound lanes to clear out the north bound grid lock so twice as many cars can exit!!!!!! Come on, let's get people out of there people!!

---------------

For sure! I can't even begin to imagine being stuck like that..

As for the issue of overreacting or underreacting, I would rather overreact EVERY time and be alive - than underreact ONCE and be dead.. I would have been out of there LONG before those traffic jams started with the voluntary evacuations.. Call me an alarmist, but I'd still like to live for a few more years..

 

[dturner]

OMG - do they need 4nana to go down and help?!?!!?

Hello! Haven't we learned a thing??? OPEN those dang multi south bound lanes to clear out the north bound grid lock so twice as many cars can exit!!!!!! Come on, let's get people out of there people!!

I thought they did that this morning. Have they not opened them yet???

 

[Grog]

I thought they did that this morning. Have they not opened them yet???

Yes they have, but it takes time to get things moving again. One reporter gave a good example... when you have a stalled car on a normal day, that might cause a two to three mile backup, it can take 30 minutes to get traffic flowing smoothly again once the lanes are clear. In this case we are talking about a 100 mile backup.

 

[DisWDWMay]

I agree with Chad. Sure, a large percentage of the time (perhaps even the majority of the time), evacuation proves to be an over reaction, but the problem is you can only tell if was an over reaction in hindsight. Unless you assume every storm is dangerous and evactuate everytime, sooner or later you will find yourself ion a storm that puts your life in serious danger.

In short, the only sane reaction to an approaching Hurricane is the over reaction (ie evacuation). If you try to predict where a Hurricane's destruction will fall and how bad the destruction willl be, the odds are good that sooner or later you will guess wrong and you will end up being one of folks on TV who say "I didn't think it would be that bad", assuming the huiriicane doesn't kill you first.

Yes, overreaction. Many Houstonians were NOT in harm's way but with everyone screaming "you're going to die if you don't get the out" they panicked and now the traffic jams all around Houston are causing some people that ARE in harm's way to decide to stay. Luckily the storm looks to be tracking away from Houston but this could have been a potentially disastrous just because our evacuation plans were not smart.

The way the evacuation took place WILL introduce hurricane evacuation fatigue and many people who should leave will not leave in the future.

 

[chadfromdallas]

Yes, overreaction. Many Houstonians were NOT in harm's way but with everyone screaming "you're going to die if you don't get the out" they panicked and now the traffic jams all around Houston are causing some people that ARE in harm's way to decide to stay. Luckily the storm looks to be tracking away from Houston but this could have been a potentially disastrous just because our evacuation plans were not smart.

The way the evacuation took place WILL introduce hurricane evacuation fatigue and many people who should leave will not leave in the future.

Oh, well, I'm glad you can tell just where the hurricane is going to be dangerous. Thinking about changing careers?

 

[4nana]

Removed my reply, before I have to eat my own words.

 

[tzuhouse]

I'm with you. We were leaving early this morning. Had all out cars packed and ready. DH is an essential County employee and, up until last night about 9pm, was going to have to work today and then meet up with us later. Then his boss called and said if he got some stuff done that the County needed, he could evac with us. So he was up almost all night writing these computer programs for the County. At 5am I'm watching the news and the traffic is the same as it was yesterday. I called a gas station right where we would emerge from the backroads to get on the highway. I was hoping that all the congestion and 3mph speeds were only "in town" but they weren't. We would have driven for an hour (at best) just to get to the freeway and then find out that they won't even let you on the freeway because it's so congested. I have many friends that spent 10 hours on freeways today and finally just went back home because they hadn't even made it across town, let alone out of town. I think the comments I'm reading here are from people that have no idea what we are doing here. I'm not going to put my 6 year old in a car for 15 hours, run out of gas and then have him start seizing on the side of the road because he is overheated. I'll take on Rita because from everything we are being told, it's safer to stay in our homes than get on the road. We can't even get 5 blocks from our house to pick up Ryan's seizure meds, which I was having filled early, just so we would have plenty. There is traffic absolutely everywhere and no gasoline anywhere. Luckily, we filled up 3 days ago with the intention of evacuating. Now they are saying they don't want us to unless we live in a mandatory area because the congestion is still bad after all this time.

Mary

I had to really bite my tongue (or fingers) when it comes to some of the ignorant comments here. The roads are so jammed that it is taking an hour to move one or two miles, and it is getting worse as people run out of gas. Part of the problem has been people evacuating too early, not too late. The low lying areas are broken up into evacuation zones to try to help alleviate that, but when three zones try to leave all at once, instead of waiting until their posted time, it creates chaos.

We're all packed and ready to go, but by the time we got off work and made our way home, the roads were already jammed. Given the choice, I'd rather ride it out at home, than in a vehicle stuck on the side of the road. If it were possible, we would be gone by now. We're hoping that the fact that a lot of people are on the road now, plus the fact that they are finally opening up the freeways to allow traffic to go the wrong way, will help alleviate that. We plan to head out at 4:00 am Friday.

Yes, there are a lot of stupid people out there, and there are those that are simply caught up in the events that are unfolding around them. Please try not to judge unless you have been through something like this.

 

[DisWDWMay]

Oh, well, I'm glad you can tell just where the hurricane is going to be dangerous. Thinking about changing careers?

Sorry if this hit a nerve. No I am not an expert but I've lived in Houston and been through a couple of hurricanes. There are many parts of Houston that are not in a flood plain and are not in danger of storm surges. True, there are some dangers but there should be some priority given to people in low-lying areas and who live in or close to flood plains. From what I understand from friends in Houston there are many areas that are not under mandatory evac orders but people were leaving from there in droves anyway. Thus the gridlock.

Now thanks to the logjams many people in mandatory evac areas are not able to leave.

Anyway I've said enough on this subject and I apologize for bringing this up as this is obviously not what this board wants to hear.

 

[4nana]

I had to really bite my tongue (or fingers) when it comes to some of the ignorant comments here. The roads are so jammed that it is taking an hour to move one or two miles, and it is getting worse as people run out of gas. Part of the problem has been people evacuating too early, not too late. The low lying areas are broken up into evacuation zones to try to help alleviate that, but when three zones try to leave all at once, instead of waiting until their posted time, it creates chaos.

We're all packed and ready to go, but by the time we got off work and made our way home, the roads were already jammed. Given the choice, I'd rather ride it out at home, than in a vehicle stuck on the side of the road. If it were possible, we would be gone by now. We're hoping that the fact that a lot of people are on the road now, plus the fact that they are finally opening up the freeways to allow traffic to go the wrong way, will help alleviate that. We plan to head out at 4:00 am Friday.

Yes, there are a lot of stupid people out there, and there are those that are simply caught up in the events that are unfolding around them. Please try not to judge unless you have been through something like this.

Originally posted by tzuhouse
I'm with you. We were leaving early this morning. Had all out cars packed and ready. DH is an essential County employee and, up until last night about 9pm, was going to have to work today and then meet up with us later. Then his boss called and said if he got some stuff done that the County needed, he could evac with us. So he was up almost all night writing these computer programs for the County. At 5am I'm watching the news and the traffic is the same as it was yesterday. I called a gas station right where we would emerge from the backroads to get on the highway. I was hoping that all the congestion and 3mph speeds were only "in town" but they weren't. We would have driven for an hour (at best) just to get to the freeway and then find out that they won't even let you on the freeway because it's so congested. I have many friends that spent 10 hours on freeways today and finally just went back home because they hadn't even made it across town, let alone out of town. I think the comments I'm reading here are from people that have no idea what we are doing here. I'm not going to put my 6 year old in a car for 15 hours, run out of gas and then have him start seizing on the side of the road because he is overheated. I'll take on Rita because from everything we are being told, it's safer to stay in our homes than get on the road. We can't even get 5 blocks from our house to pick up Ryan's seizure meds, which I was having filled early, just so we would have plenty. There is traffic absolutely everywhere and no gasoline anywhere. Luckily, we filled up 3 days ago with the intention of evacuating. Now they are saying they don't want us to unless we live in a mandatory area because the congestion is still bad after all this time.

Mary

May Godspeed ^i^. Please know that you, your families and all in harm's way are in our many thoughts and prayers.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Sorry if this hit a nerve. No I am not an expert but I've lived in Houston and been through a couple of hurricanes. There are many parts of Houston that are not in a flood plain and are not in danger of storm surges. True, there are some dangers but there should be some priority given to people in low-lying areas and who live in or close to flood plains. From what I understand from friends in Houston there are many areas that are not under mandatory evac orders but people were leaving from there in droves anyway. Thus the gridlock.

Now thanks to the logjams many people in mandatory evac areas are not able to leave.

Anyway I've said enough on this subject and I apologize for bringing this up as this is obviously not what this board wants to hear.

Many who were in Camille said the same thing and they are dead. Or best case scenario--just trapped in their home.

A category 5 storm hitting a major metropolitan area is nothing to sneeze at.

Thankfully it is downgraded and hopefully it will downgrade even more.....but it is a little more than the sky is falling.

The gridlock is the result of a plan that didn't go as planned--and that the emergency officials will make it better so it flows more smoothly next time.

 

[lil mermaid]

Yes, overreaction. Many Houstonians were NOT in harm's way but with everyone screaming "you're going to die if you don't get the out" they panicked and now the traffic jams all around Houston are causing some people that ARE in harm's way to decide to stay. Luckily the storm looks to be tracking away from Houston but this could have been a potentially disastrous just because our evacuation plans were not smart.

The way the evacuation took place WILL introduce hurricane evacuation fatigue and many people who should leave will not leave in the future.

Are you nuts??? All of us Houstonians are in harm's way!!