Did we learn nothing from Katrina? (Houston, Galveston: transplants, house, where to buy)

[5stones]

As a Native of Houston I am shocked to see the residents of my former city so TOTALLY unprepared for the aftermath of a hurricane.

a mere 24hours after the storm passed people were out and complaining about no where to buy food water gas etc...
YOu know the drill...you saw this monster storm aproaching as it devestated Haiti and cuba.
Gas tanks should have been filled on thurs, water...bought and stored (enough for 3 days for your family) and food stocked up etc...

A hurricane isn't like an earthquake or tornado...you have days to prepare. (weeks in htis case) and if it misses the area...well so what? you wont have to go to the grocery store for a week!

Now my old hometown is on every national news channel and it's worse face is being shown. People fighting and arguing and DEMANDING that someone bring them water and gas. It makes me sad. I even saw residents complining that they had to buy gas...they were saying the govt should be giving them gas etc...

Now, yes my heart goes out to everyone there, I still have family in the area (yes, they did evacuate) The site that galveston is in, just devestates me.
I remember all to vividly the aftermath of Alicia and how entering west beach 2 days later to find our house standing, but without a roof or back porch etc...
my heart does ache, but I am also shaking my head in wonder.

Just as I have empathy for those who stayed on the Island and can understand how scared etc they were....but I also want to know what part of MANDATORY did they not understand?

I wonder do we not hold anyone up to personal responsiblity any more?

[cubssoxfan]

Is any of this due to large# of newcomers, with no experience? Or is it far broader than that? Also, why did so many stay on Galveston? Couldn't the local police say "Evacuate or be arrested and be forcibly evacuated?"

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

Is any of this due to large# of newcomers, with no experience? Or is it far broader than that? Also, why did so many stay on Galveston? Couldn't the local police say "Evacuate or be arrested and be forcibly evacuated?"

You can't force people to leave during a mandatory evacuation. We live in a democracy, not a police state. However, I believe that if you're in a mandatory evacuation zone and you choose to stay, you should be required by law to reimburse every state and/or federal agency completely if you need to be rescued afterward.

[AK123]

Not sure what's being shown on the national news, but from what I'm seeing first-hand this is much different than Katrina. People are out cleaning up themselves and trying to be self-sufficient and helpful. You don't see a bunch of rioting or looting. To even compare to Katrina is a little offensive IMO. There will always be a few who were unprepared. I think most people were stocked up and prepared. This is an area of 5+ million, much larger than NOLA. That is a huge number of people who need to gas up and get supplies. On Thursday and Friday, the gas stations had lines and the grocery stores were packed. This was before the storm. And in the days prior to that, it was looking like the storm was going to hit south like Corpus or Matagorda.

The problem is that either the state or FEMA said they'd have more supplies coming, and it didn't happen. This should have been staged, ready to go and out within the following day. Ice is a major problem. At my house we were without power 30+ hours and our ice melted... then there was nowhere to get more. So, we lost everything in the fridge. Luckily our power has been back on since yesterday afternoon. But much of Houston still has no power.

If anything, I think the state is looking bad for not being a little more helpful with getting supplies (especially ice) trucked in from other cities.

[love roses]

Yeah, there are some complainers who want handouts, but mainly I think our citizens are doing a much better job of helping themselves out than the media likes to show. My mom stayed put in her mandatory evac zone, but is taking care of her own stuff. She had no damage or high water where she was, except for a small downed tree. Guess I pretty much second AK123. I also think that some of the people are new to hurricanes or may even be NOLA transplants. Not everyone moved back after Katrina.

[Korel]

I agree with bluescreen73. If our tax dollars are now being spent to rescue a group of people who just wanted a reason to throw a party and stare death in the face, they should be held accountable for the cost of that rescue. Those rescue assets could be used in other areas that would help expedite the recovery. I remember here in north Texas, a couple of girls claimed to have been kidnapped a few years ago and many of the police agencies were spending a lot of money to find them. All along they were over at a friends house against their parents orders. They got a the bill for the time the police spent looking for them. That being said, every one of the people who stayed behind thinking they could ride it out and now requesting federal assistance to save their sorry rear-ends, should be financially responsible for the cost of the rescue. Those rescues are costing you and me thousands of bucks in taxes.

[Cathy4017]

[quote=bluescreen73;5275509]You can't force people to leave during a mandatory evacuation. We live in a democracy, not a police state. However, I believe that if you're in a mandatory evacuation zone and you choose to stay, you should be required by law to reimburse every state and/or federal agency completely if you need to be rescued afterward.[/quote]

Very much agree on that one. Most could probably not afford to pay--and unless I am mistaken, they were warned well ahead of time (re: drastic wording Houston NWS and others) that they would not be rescued.

But the taxpayers are still going to get stuck with the bill for these idiots who refused to heed the warnings. I sympathize with their losses and the devastation, but not for staying and having to be rescued. This is also the price to be paid for living on the coast in the first place, so...

I'd say we learned very little from Katrina.

[5stones]

I wasn't comparing anything to NOLA or Katrina... I was wondering if people didn't learn the lesson.... BE PREPARED. even if you don't think it's aiming right at you, the chances are with a storm that BIG that you would lose power is pretty good.

Heck even up here in North Texas...I knew we could possibly lose power...so yeah i had extra water and food on hand...cars filled with gas etc...

When I lived in Houston my mom had milk jugs and oj jugs filled with water stored in the garage and in the deep freeze. when the huricane warnings came in we prepared... took the frozen food out of the deep freeze and put a bunch of jugs of water in to freeze. Then we filled up the bath tubs with water etc...
we were out of power for a fews days when ALicia went through and had not only our family but evacs from galveston with us... we didn't need to get out clogging the roads searching for gas or water etc...

I was just amazed at the lines at gas stations etc...for gas, water and food... on SUNDAY less than 24hours later...I could understand if things stated to get bad by tues etc...

it takes a few days to get supplies in from other towns etc... that's why the GOVT tells you...HAVE supplies for AT LEAST 3 days. But now since alot don't they are mad because the govt isn't right there with a big FEMA truck handing out water and ice.

Plain and simple they were NOT PREPARED and didn't want the govt to tell them what to do etc..it's only a cat2...blah balh. but now..."where is the govt? they need to be giving me water ice and food!!"

In Pittsburg..we have had HUGE snow stroms come in and dump +3 ft of snow in a few hours...and yes we loose electricity and are "snowbound" for a couple of days. (no heat-not so fun) but when you hear the reports of the approaching storm...you stock up on neciesites for a few days.

as for the gas issues in Houston, this is my therory after seeing people lined up and running out of gas etc... is that alot (not all ) but some see prices on the rise so they are going out to fill up with as much as they can. I am wondering what made these people get up sunday moring and see that the ENTIRE city is with out power etc... but hey we need to fill up the truck? Where are you going to go and what are you going to do? Don't tell it all those people are getting gas for generators...(yeah I bought this generator for the hurricane...but I didn't think I would need gas??) Some of those people probably wasted 1/2 tank of gas idling in the line for 2 hours waiting to fill up!

[blueskies49]

My husband and I, too, were shocked at the numbers of people choosing to stay. Let me chime in with my agreement as well that those people should reimburse emergency personnel for their foolishness. Even if some of them WERE new to the area, like Cathy said - didn't we learn anything from Katrina? I just do NOT understand some people at all. Your life is worth so much more than your property or any material goods.

My husbands ex sister-in-law came up from Galveston with her kids early last week, same as she did before hurricane Rita. Only this time, her 18 year old son wanted to stay put. I think he's okay, as far as they know, but I'm sorry, he's an idiot too.

[Trainwreck20]

I think the media loves to focus on the few people that think they should be completely supported by the gov't and don't think they should have to plan ahead more than 10 minutes. I think you can tell if you kind of read between the lines (or between the quotes) that most people are doing okay, if not grand, at least in the mainland areas.

I can understand, to some extent, deciding to stay at your home, as long as you do not expect a next day rescue or something. I do have a hard time fathoming why someone would stay on an ISLAND during a massive hurricance, though...

It has been mentioned that mandatory evacuations were illegal in Texas up until Katrina. If people really were as self-sufficient as they probably should be, that would still make more sense. As a child growing up on the south side of Houston, I remember my parent stocking up on water and loading coolers full of ice, as well as stocking up on food for the hurricane season in general. Our yard often flooded, but our house never did while we lived there. We did have a boat, if we needed it .