I live in Missouri City just SW of Houston and have for 32 years. I stood in the eye, literally, of Alecia in 1983 and have been through this more than a few times. We never planned to evacuate even when Rita threatened to hit west of us, putting us on the 'dirty' side, as a potential Cat. 5. Not because we're arrogant, but because we understand where we live - not in a surge area or area known to flood - and because we know our home is strong. We know that if we did take on water - unlikely, but hey, it could happen - it would be only a few inches, materially destructive but not life threatening. We know there would likely be some wind damage and the potential of spawned tornados. Tornados happen throughout the year that we can't outrun - we know how to take refuge in our home to maximixe our safety. We know we'll be without power and water and we know how to prepare for that as well, and we did.
There are areas south and east of Houston that are in the surge and flood areas that must evacuate. Areas near the coast where the winds will flatten all in their path - they must evacuate. No question. Get the hell out. No excuses.
So here is the point of this diary. In my 32 years of hurricane seasons here, I have never seen the like of what I saw this past week. The networks took over 24 hours as of Tues. morning last week with Rita reporting. There were numerous 'ask the officials' segments when, regardless of where the caller lived, they were told 'get out if you can'. It was a mantra. In contrast, in 1983, as I recall there were periodic updates of Alecia's position and strength and then back to your 'programming in progress'. It was informative and serious, but not sensational. We took precautions and prepared.
Between this obsessive, sensational reporting for Rita and the still very vivid images of Katrina's destruction in New Orleans and along the Gulf coastline, many thousands of people evacuated or attempted to evacuate who would not have done so otherwise and, I believe, did not need to. They were freaked. It was unnecessary. Yeah, they were potentially in for one helluva storm and those who knew they were in weak structures did need to find alternative shelter. I do not fault any for taking evacuation measures - I fault those who freaked them into it when it was uncalled for.
I believe the MSM created an unnecessary panic in order to get ratings. They were having a ball getting 24 hours on the air and creating stardom for themselves. What they did was potentially prevent those who HAD to get out, who HAD to evacuate, from doing so successfully. The MSM created much of the traffic deadlock and resulting fuel problem by creating a panic situation. I know of 25 people who died as a result of the evacuation - 24 elderly being evacuated from Bellaire who died in the tragic bus fire and one elderly woman who died in the Houston heat while waiting in a gas station line. I don't know about storm related deaths, if any.
22 died as a result of direct hit hurricane Alecia.
The projected evacuation planned for the area for a storm like this was 800,000 to 1.2 million. I suspect those are pretty accurate figures for those who HAD to evacuate. I think that would have moved along pretty smoothly and with no fuel issues. The 24 hour sensational news more than doubled that number to 2.5 million or more. I really am not ascribing malevolent motives to anyone - it's more of an 'oh, we didn't think of that, we just wanted air time and ratings' thing. I think they do need to think of those things - the role they play and the lives they play with.
Just as an amusing aside - as we watched TV on Friday night as Rita was slamming the coast, we flipped around from our local news which was quite accurate at that point as far as we could tell to the national cable networks, we saw what went from the sensational to the plum silly. We had to laugh at Greta van Susteran in her extreme designer rain gear standing somewhere in Houston with nary a breeze nor drop of rain upon her. She was clearly disappointed.
As for Missouri City, TX just SW of Houston - we got some generous wind gusts during the night and morning but not enough rain to water our lawns. Sprinklers were rockin' this past weekend.