Houston Should Be Evacuated

[Yonivore]

Great Scott! Where's Dr. Emmett Brown when you need him?

[Yonivore]

The roads aren't on any map and yet the evacuees must be castigated for not using them?

I wouldn't be on I-45, I-10, US-59, or US-290...

Hey, if those with the means -- brains and a computer -- would use them and find an alternate route, those without the means would be fine. And, I didn't say "any map," I specifically said, "any printed map." For Christ's sake, it's the 21st century. If you don't have Microsoft Streets, go to the friggin' library and map out a route on Google Earth or Mapquest or maps.google.com...

Baaaa Baaaa Baaaa get me out of here, I can't think for myself! Baaaa Baaaa Baaaa! That's all I hear from these people that are complaining about sitting on the road.

[Spurminator]

I would guess just about every road is packed. Most of those back roads are one lane and don't have gas tankers waiting on cars who run out of gas.

[Yonivore]

I would guess just about every road is packed. Most of those back roads are one lane and don't have gas tankers waiting on cars who run out of gas.

If I had the time and inclination (and gas money), I'd prove to you that I could get to US-290 and Loop 610, in Houston, and back in less than 7 hours.

[Marcus Bryant]

I wouldn't be on I-45, I-10, US-59, or US-290...

Hey, if those with the means -- brains and a computer -- would use them and find an alternate route, those without the means would be fine. And, I didn't say "any map," I specifically said, "any printed map." For Christ's sake, it's the 21st century. If you don't have Microsoft Streets, go to the friggin' library and map out a route on Google Earth or Mapquest or maps.google.com...

Baaaa Baaaa Baaaa get me out of here, I can't think for myself! Baaaa Baaaa Baaaa! That's all I hear from these people that are complaining about sitting on the road.

Your post wasn't that clear. Yeah, I agree about trying to find alternate routes.

[Marcus Bryant]

I would guess just about every road is packed. Most of those back roads are one lane and don't have gas tankers waiting on cars who run out of gas.

True. Also, if I am not mistaken, some of the roads you'd have to use would go down closer to the coast.

[Useruser666]

Just drive on the beach till you hit Florida.

When the impossible is what you need, all you can do is your best. I would probably left early if I was in the area in danger. I also think that some people further inland are evacuating unnecessarily and causing log jams for those closer to the coast.

If I were trying desperately to get out and I10 was blocked like it has been, I would drive on the access road's shoulder on the lanes headed in the opposite direction if I had too.

[RandomGuy]

Houston chronicle Hurricane blog

Scary traffic stories so far. Sitting in traffic for many hours, little or no gas or bottled water left, poor people without buses. Sounds depressingly familiar.

It's those damn local officials again. Oh wait, they're Republicans, so they MUST have their s*** together...

[SpursWoman]

Ya'll are exactly right. They should have waited until today to start evacuating instead of, like MONDAY.

[Crookshanks]

Look folks - anyone who has lived or visited Houston knows that there is traffic gridlock every single workday. The highway systems are simply not built to handle the mass numbers of vehicles trying to leave. At least 2 million are trying to evacuate - that's a lot of cars!

Why must people always place blame? Sometimes bad things happen that are out of the control of anyone - especially the Federal Government!

[ChumpDumper]

Are San Antonians hording supplies like Austinites? It's like they think we're going to be underwater this weekend.

[SpursWoman]

Are San Antonians hording supplies like Austinites? It's like they think we're going to be underwater this weekend.

Yes...it's horrible. I had to pick up a prescription last night, not early but right on schedule...and the line was huge and the pharmacy employees were going bananas....

All the bottled water, bread & toilet paper were GONE.

[Nbadan]

Are San Antonians hording supplies like Austinites? It's like they think we're going to be underwater this weekend.

Hoarding food and supplies locally now is just going to compound a bad situation. Prepare now for high gas and electricity prices. When Rita is done we are going to have to rebuild chunks of SE Texas.

[Crookshanks]

I place the blame on the local news media for inciting widespread panic in San Antonio. By the looks of the lines at the grocery stores and gas stations and the fact that you probably can't find batteries, bottled water, or toilet paper in any of the stores, you'd think we were in the direct line of the hurricane! We probably won't get anything but a FEW scattered showers.

Too many people in San Antonio are dumb sheep!!

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Y'all are ing idiots. As someone who has travelled to Houston for business roughly 20 times in the last 4 months, let me just say that traffic always sucks in Houston.

3 million people. THREE MILLION PEOPLE. Traffic sucks in Houston pretty much anytime between 7 AM and 6 PM. And that's with multiple loops and roads criss crossing Houston.

Now take all that traffice, and strip it down to essentially 2 roads out of town.

The fact that it's a traffic gridlock isn't surprising to anyone with a brain. But hey they shouldn't have started evacuating until noon today anyway.

Some of y'all are just downright comical in your expectations for the transportation system of this country. Our highways are designed for normal day to day travel, not to evacuate a total of about 4 million people (Houston + surrounding areas) in a few hours.

[Nbadan]

I place the blame on the local news media for inciting widespread panic in San Antonio. By the looks of the lines at the grocery stores and gas stations and the fact that you probably can't find batteries, bottled water, or toilet paper in any of the stores, you'd think we were in the direct line of the hurricane! We probably won't get anything but a FEW scattered showers.

Too many people in San Antonio are dumb sheep!!

People really don't take the time to really inform themselves, but then again you have those wishful thinkers like some of those in the Club that were actually hoping, frothing at the mouth practically, that the Hurricane would head South. Kinda makes ya wonder what the they are thinking.

[Spurminator]

There's hoarding in Dallas too.

People want to be afraid.

[Spurminator]

It's those damn local officials again. Oh wait, they're Republicans, so they MUST have their s*** together...

So do they or don't they?

[spurster]

My sister "only" took 14 hours to drive from Houston to SA yesterday (4am to 6pm). I say only because she did indeed mostly take offroads north of I10. They were packed, but still moving.

[ChumpDumper]

All the bottled water, bread & toilet paper were GONE.

Won't it all get soaked when SA is under 20 feet of water?[/panicked numbskull]

[SpursWoman]

That was my thought when I saw the wiped out shelves. (pun intended)

[ChumpDumper]

[envisions thousands of unopened toilet paper packages floating down Broadway toward downtown]

[Extra Stout]

The NY Times has to bash Houston because it is a red-state city. Texas has been getting a lot of good press lately, and Pravda-on-the-Hudson can't let that stand unchallenged. Texas is supposed to be a third-world hole, because it is conservative, with the exception of Austin, which of course is an oasis of super wonderfulness.

They haven't figured out that the mayor is a Democrat. Once they figure that out, they will sing the praises about Houston's wonderful plan and how well it was executed.

So predictable.

At this hour, as the first rain bands approach Houston, the freeways are pretty much empty. Virtually everyone is out of harm's way.

And let's be clear on "harm's way." Thanks to media sensationalism, people think the entire Houston area was going to be obliterated by a major hurricane. Of course, that's not true. There is a significant area of town to the east and southeast which is prone to storm surge, and the areas near the bayous tend to flood. The key is getting those folks to higher ground. Then there are the folks in mobile homes who have to get into a more secure structure.

That has happened. There are some people in safer areas of town who panicked because of Katrina, and want out. Government has to focus on helping the people in the most danger, and not on catering to the most hysterical people. Outside of the areas prone to storm surge and flooding, the best option is to shelter in place. These folks "trapped" in Missouri City and Bellaire are simply hysterical or misinformed.

And while it would be nice to get to Aunt Myrtle's house in Dallas where evacuees get home cooking and a feather mattress, the priority in the evacuation was protecting life. The evacuation plan assumed that getting people out of harm's way would take 33 hours once a mandatory evacuation was called. That was achieved. Yes, it was ugly, hot, and frustrating. There were snafus with the gas tankers and the contraflow that delayed those parts pf the plan. But they got done before the storm hit. The snarled traffic was two days before the storm, not during the storm. The people who ran out of gas either have been rounded up on buses or have been located in area shelters in counties north and west of town. As long as people got at least 10 miles inland or out of the flood zone, and ride out the storm in a decent building, they'll be fine, though obviously uncomfortable and frustrated.

It looks like Houston is going to miss the worst of the storm. I guarantee you that the liberal media will claim that tens of thousands would have died in a direct hit because of incompetent local Republicans and President Bush (somehow), when in reality the evacuation plan was executed rather effectively.

[whottt]

They haven't figured out that the mayor is a Democrat. Once they figure that out, they will sing the praises about Houston's wonderful plan and how well it was executed.

And stick Nagin's neck in the noose when they do it(where it deserves to be BTW)...by all means I hope they do. Leaders who aren't ing incompetent deserved to be praised...even if they are a Democrat.


I find it hard to believe that Mayor got elected in Houston without appealing to the Republican base though...


And someone else who has earned my respect during both of these Hurricanes is Rick Perry...I thought this guy was a total asshat when he was doing jersey retirements for the Spurs...but he's done a great job of mobilizing the State Response plan and getting the Texas cities to work together.

[whottt]

The Mayor of Galveston is also kicking Nagin's ass.