I'm sure it is. If I owned my own home and/or wasn't able to get out quickly on time, then the inconvenience of having no a/c and power could possibly be outweighed by other issues.
I think many people are thinking like that right now. 20-25 hours to get to Austin or Dallas is absolutely insane. In addition, the hurricane's eye is not going over Houston and is going to be about 100 miles east of Houston. The strongest winds are only 60 miles from the eye, so Houston should be ok. I think Katrina and the media caused a lot of panic in people.
I still feel you are only partly right. The media and politicians could have done a better job, for sure. I, for one, was not aware that a Cat 5 storm can only stay that strong for 24-48 hours just due to physics until yesterday, which was near the end of that period - meaning it was very unlikely it would be a Cat. 5. That said, you never know what could happen. Even with a Cat. 5 going right up I-10 West, and putting Houston at the most risk, all hell wouldn't break lose. But on a case by case and house by house and apartment by apartment basis, you never know what will happen. If it stalled, there'd be major flooding. At that strength there would be major tornadoes. There would be major tree falling. Basically, anyone would be at risk for serious injury or death - a risk dampened if you hole yourself up in a safe, downstairs closet, but still a much higher risk than normal. And then factor in the 5-10 days of no power, no clean water, no A/C (which for most is just a convenience, but for some, especially the elder, is a major health issue in this heat). My point is, when everyone left, the worst case scenario was what was projected to happen. So you can't fault people for leaving and you certainly can't fault the officials for telling people they can't go. You can fault them for not anticipating gas shortages and the roads being a parking lot, though.
awesome post/thread! i've been talking about this from the time the storm entered the gulf -- i just didn't have a term for it (thanks!) i knew almost a week ago that the cablenewsnetworks were going to work the citizens of (enter community in danger) into a complete state of unwarranted panic. i hung out through Allen and Alicia and the only real problem was the level of UNcomfort due to lack of air conditioning following the storm. evacuate houston ??? give me a break. galveston: yes. brazoria county: probably. downtown houston: yes (remember the raining glass during Alicia?) i agree totally that without Katrina, NO ONE in houston (proper) would have evacuated. all this has done is hinder the evacuation of those who really need to leave their homes. pathetic.
It's the laws of physics, the hurricane can only be strong for so long until it dissolves and heads to the counter direction due to the natural rotation of the Earth. The coastal areas, definitely evacuate! But the others, just relax. I blame it on the media, they are causing a state of panic. This is not armageddon, this is not New Orleans, a city which is underwater to begin with. No electricity for a few days, no A/C, these are conveniences. The human body can survive intense conditions.
Well, my wife and her family left for Austin about 30 minutes ago, even though Rita is a Cat.3 and won't even come near us. Her mother's rationale is she didn't want to be without power for an extended period of time. To each their own. At least now they won't get stuck in traffic for 9 hours just to reach Katy. I-10 west is wide open now and getting to 71 shouldn't be a problem. My son is happy because he likes the adventure of going someplace. He was really disappointed when they turned around yesterday. Even though my area tends to lose power easily, I'd say it's <50% that we lose power, especially if Rita falls to a Cat.2 or curves further northward again.
Your first point is somewhat true. I never actually heard a weatherguy say Rita would be a Cat.5 when it hit Texas. What I saw was "Third strongest storm ever (in the history of mankind) on it's way to Texas coast", etc, etc. The ones projecting a Cat.5 strike were news anchors, etc, not weathermen/women. Until yesterday, the meteorologists avoided that projection and used coded words like "dangerous storm" & "major hurricane", which are broadly applied for Cat 3-5 hurricanes. Yes, I can fault people far away from evac zones for leaving because of the traffic disaster they caused for those who really needed to leave. I disagree with your last point. I can't fault anyone for not anticipating the traffic disaster. How was anyone supposed to know almost the whole city of Houston would take an evac order for Galveston & Brazoria countries (plus select portions of eastern Harris county) and apply it to themselves? This is the craziness of the whole thing. Houston has had many hurricanes and hurricane warnings without this happening before. Only someone with a "crystal ball" could seen this coming. This is where Katrina's effect came in.
SO . .when will houston be back to normal? I expect Sunday's traffic to rival then traffic of today getting everyone back will be a bugger Rocket River
i dont think people will be back sunday, it will still be raining pretty hard through monday. i dont see all those people trying, and when its lighter here it will be harder up there.
You should tell that to the National Hurricane Center, which reported that the Hurricane might grow back to a Cat 5 last night..
You should tell that to the 22 people from Houston that died in Allison, which was only a tropical storm.
The people who stayed in NO got a lot of flack for it. I don't blame anyone for leaving, especially when this became a cat 4 and started to head east earlier than expected. South houston leaving alone would of cuased freeway problems. Houston is a huge city. Normal weekday traffic is a b****! I don't blame anyone for leaving at all, and I would never judge someone for trying to get out of harms way. Any descion you make could be the wrong one even when you think you are doing what's best. We don't know what's going to happen.
call me stupid, but would it be hot when freaking storm hit? A/c or no a/c, looks to me doesn't matter that much.
it is a little ridiculous that so many ppl left their homes even though thier was not a need to. ANd yeah it does seem that the news reporters are really trying to "scare" ppl rather than give the news.
i'm not into the plague either. i prefer utilities..particularly clean water. all of these are particularly so when you have little kids to take care of.
