Why No Evacuation in Houston?

[Kippy]

With well over six days of dire forecasting for Houston why hasn't Democratic Mayor Sylvester Turner ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city? Here we go again...

 

Kipp

[Electra225]

In the greater Houston/Galveston area there are 7 million people. An evacuation is not possible. The freeways are not able to accommodate an evacuation. There is no place for people to go other than north or west (the hurricane came from the south). The freeways are completely flooded. The best thing to do is to shelter in place, get to a shelter if you can (first responders are doing a great job of evacuating people and taking them to shelters). This is my fifth hurricane here in Houston and the Gulf Coast. It is my tenth tropical storm. This time, casualties and fatalities due to the storm (all areas) are confirmed at two people. This number may rise, but at this time casualties and fatalities are at a minimum. I am well aware that the authorities at all levels are doing everything that can be possibly do to take care of things. This is the third major flood event for the Houston area in three years (one a year). First Responders are doing a great job and have learned their lessons well to mitigate loss of life and limb. Property damage will be high, but it is what it is going to be. Please keep all of the Gulf Coast (Texas and Louisiana) in your thoughts and prayers and, if you can, donate to relief efforts through your favorite charity (Red Cross, church, etc.).

[+ bashful]

In the greater Houston/Galveston area there are 7 million people. An evacuation is not possible. The freeways are not able to accommodate an evacuation. There is no place for people to go other than north or west (the hurricane came from the south). The freeways are completely flooded. The best thing to do is to shelter in place, get to a shelter if you can (first responders are doing a great job of evacuating people and taking them to shelters). This is my fifth hurricane here in Houston and the Gulf Coast. It is my tenth tropical storm. This time, casualties and fatalities due to the storm (all areas) are confirmed at two people. This number may rise, but at this time casualties and fatalities are at a minimum. I am well aware that the authorities at all levels are doing everything that can be possibly do to take care of things. This is the third major flood event for the Houston area in three years (one a year). First Responders are doing a great job and have learned their lessons well to mitigate loss of life and limb. Property damage will be high, but it is what it is going to be. Please keep all of the Gulf Coast (Texas and Louisiana) in your thoughts and prayers and, if you can, donate to relief efforts through your favorite charity (Red Cross, church, etc.).

 

I briefly lived in Houston in my younger days, and am hoping the best for "y'all".

[Kippy]

Electra-- thanks so much for your words of wisdom from someone actually on scene! All the best...

 

Kipp

[MikeyGMin]

In the greater Houston/Galveston area there are 7 million people. An evacuation is not possible. The freeways are not able to accommodate an evacuation. There is no place for people to go other than north or west (the hurricane came from the south). The freeways are completely flooded. The best thing to do is to shelter in place, get to a shelter if you can (first responders are doing a great job of evacuating people and taking them to shelters). This is my fifth hurricane here in Houston and the Gulf Coast. It is my tenth tropical storm. This time, casualties and fatalities due to the storm (all areas) are confirmed at two people. This number may rise, but at this time casualties and fatalities are at a minimum. I am well aware that the authorities at all levels are doing everything that can be possibly do to take care of things. This is the third major flood event for the Houston area in three years (one a year). First Responders are doing a great job and have learned their lessons well to mitigate loss of life and limb. Property damage will be high, but it is what it is going to be. Please keep all of the Gulf Coast (Texas and Louisiana) in your thoughts and prayers and, if you can, donate to relief efforts through your favorite charity (Red Cross, church, etc.).

All this plus the last time that Houston was evacuated for Hurricane Rita, more than 100 people died as a result of the evacuation itself.

[Mocha]

For the same reason Atlanta doesn't have enough snow plows....

 

 

 

[+ Charlie]

If one looks at the original projected path of Harvey, and the strange turn it actually took after landfall, one can see that Houston wasn't even supposed to be in the direct path of the storm, and it would be almost impossible to predict which parts of the city to evacuate in advance and where to tell them to go.

[mike carey]

@Charlie tropical storms/cyclones/typhoons/hurricanes are unpredictable. Not only where they will go, but also whether they will fade away or reconstitute. That will always make planning a response difficult.

[mike carey]

An overall evacuation was clearly not feasible, and I would think the apolitical emergency services would not have recommended such a course of action. I am unsure why someone not in the area would have asked why an evacuation had not have been recommended, much less why the Democratic mayor had not ordered it. Reality check: an evacuation wasn't feasible or needed. That is why it didn't happen. Not because some liberal mayor was culpable.

[N13]

[quote="Kippy,........ why hasn't Democratic Mayor .............

Kipp

 

Are you saying that it would have been alright if it was a Republican Mayor? What possible difference of political party does it make? This divisiveness along political lines does nothing to help our country.

[+ bashful]

I was living in Houston (Meyerland area) when Alicia hit, and don't remember it being anywhere as bad as what I've seen in the media today. Probably because it's not moving out of there, which is unusual, and just keeps dumping more rain on the area.

[Kippy]

Admin note: PUT A CORK IN IT. Wrong forum for politics and you know it.

[MikeyGMin]

I was living in Houston (Meyerland area) when Alicia hit, and don't remember it being anywhere as bad as what I've seen in the media today. Probably because it's not moving out of there, which is unusual, and just keeps dumping more rain on the area.

I had to look it up to see when Alicia hit. The concrete jungle that is Houston has changed quite a bit in 34 years. There have been some very interesting local pieces, perhaps national, on the topic. The wetlands and boggy areas have all been paved over and there simply is nowhere for the water to go. Unfortunately, every expectation is that it will just continue to get worse.

[+ Travis69]

If Houston had a Republican Mayor, the media knives would be turned to the failing to call for an evacuation (feasable or not) and the hapless way every aspect of the rescue would have been undertaken! As it is-- all is just fine! Ask the drowning residents of Houston...

 

Kipp

Not on Fox News. Republicans can do no wrong.

[+ bashful]

I had to look it up to see when Alicia hit. The concrete jungle that is Houston has changed quite a bit in 34 years. There have been some very interesting local pieces, perhaps national, on the topic. The wetlands and boggy areas have all been paved over and there simply is nowhere for the water to go. Unfortunately, every expectation is that it will just continue to get worse.

 

Yes, Houston has grown exponentially since I left. Same thing in other metropolitan areas too. In suburban Chicago, very heavy rains tend to flood a lot of areas for the same reasons. Growth has covered more and more ground that used to absorb the rain water.

[+ glutes]

 

We are with you Brother!

[rvwnsd]

Evacuation of the Houston-Galveston area wasn't feasible. With 6+ million, Houston is soon to replace Chicago as the nation's third largest city.

 

With so many people, Houston learned its lesson during Hurricane Rita in 2005. Four million people got on the roads and create huge traffic jams. I was one of those people and got only to Conroe, TX and that took 15 hours to go 47 miles. So, I volunteered at Conroe High School and laid out gym mats in the gym for evacuees to lay upon.

 

Got a basketball game going for the young children and opened the weight room for the guys and boys. I was at the high school for 38 hours and then headed back home after the hurricane passed.

Not only would an evacuation be impossible, there is the matter of where to put the millions of people once they left the metro area.

[kewtex]

If Houston had a Republican Mayor…

 

We'll test your hypothesis as soon as Texas amends its constitution to allow partisan municipal elections.

 

"If a man's from Texas, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him by asking?" (John Gunther)

[+ PapaTony]

With well over six days of dire forecasting for Houston why hasn't Democratic Mayor Sylvester Turner ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city? Here we go again...

 

Kipp

.

Any semblance of real concern for the people of Houston was completely obliterated by your obvious agenda of politicizing this.

.

[TruthBTold]

Also, now some of the people who were evacuated have had to leave the places to which they were taken because the second places are now flooding.

[+ oldNbusted]

4 out of 5 people in the US live in urban areas, and there are a lot more of us jammed into these cities. I don't think anyone wants to come to grips with the massive changes necessary to facilitate evacuating a large city quickly or how to reinforce the infrastructure so "shelter in place" wasn't another way of saying "die in place". Didn't mean to go all prepper on ya!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_States

[MikeyGMin]

4 out of 5 people in the US live in urban areas, and there are a lot more of us jammed into these cities. I don't think anyone wants to come to grips with the massive changes necessary to facilitate evacuating a large city quickly or how to reinforce the infrastructure so "shelter in place" wasn't another way of saying "die in place". Didn't mean to go all prepper on ya!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_States

I certainly don't have a prepper mentality, but if I lived in Houston I would certainly invest in some kind of inflatable raft/boat. I know I haven't seen the circumstances of all the deaths, but the ones I have seen have all been related to cars -- either drowning in the car or after abandoning a car that got swamped.