Woke up this morning to Houston Mayor Bill White calling for an evacuation of flood surge areas near Houston, to begin at noon today. From the Houston Chronicle.
Hurricane Ike's turn toward the Houston area spurred emergency officials this morning to call for a mandatory evacuation of residents in areas that will be subject to a massive storm surge.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett called for mandatory evacuations of low-lying areas starting at noon today. Those residents are in ZIP codes 77058, 77059, 77062, 77520, 77546, 77571, 77586 and 77598. They are in evacuation zones A and B.
Mayor White and Judge Emmett made it very clear that this evacuation was not to be conducted like the catastrophic evacuation for Rita 3 years ago. If anyone remembers, a couple of weeks after Katrina, the gulf coast was the target of another major hurricane - Rita - and in the jittery aftermath of Katrina, the entire city panicked and tried to run away screaming. If I recall (and I have a lousy memory, which makes me a lousy historian) Bill White's recommendations then were for general evacuation (and I'm paraphrasing this:) "if it made people feel better."
I don't blame them, but it was a psychological reaction, not a rational one, and the results of it were truly disastrous. People from genuine evacuation areas (coastal regions subject to fun things like 20 ft storm surges) were trapped in their cars on Houston area freeways while people from areas at no risk of deadly flooding, but only at risk for normal high wind damage clotted up the freeways. There was no gas, temperatures climbed to 100 in and out of cars, elderly people were put at serious risk, a bus caught fire, and many people died - ON THE GRIDLOCKED HIGHWAYS.
My point is not to criticize the past AT ALL. We were all terrified in the wake of Katrina, Houston hotels and motels were already overwhelmed with those evacuees, and no one wanted to be caught making the wrong decision to stay.
But we have learned something since then, and I hope that my fellow Houstonians will take the next two days to remember to think with their entire brain, not just their spinal cords, and let the people in Galveston, Clear Lake, Seabrook, Friendswood, etc. get to safety first. The city/county will be opening contraflow lanes earlier in the evacuation process, so it's possible that anyone else who wants to leave the flying debris to the more hardy and adventurous should be able to.
So, put yard projectiles (bbqs, plants, doghouses) away. Board up your windows if you have the wood. Try not to steal water out of your neighbor's grocery basket (swear, I've seen this...) Help out friends and neighbors who need it, and offer it even if they don't.
Ike is likely to suck, but let's try to get through it rationally...
As a sidenote: Hey, millwx! Thank you SO MUCH for all your great hurricane diaries. After the radio announcement this morning I scrambled to Kos and searched like a drooling dog for your diary... You have me completely trained...