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I would agree that they need to control building and have codes, infrastructure to handle massive water but still, that much water is going to cause problems in any city in the world unless someone points out a city that has successfully handled 50" in 4 days. It's the same for New Orleans, it's going to flood again when a hurricane the size of Katrina hits again.
As an aside, one of my friends from TAMU has a house in The Woodlands and it's value is approximately the same as mine in Washington state and the cost of insurance of his house is 4.5 times greater....that cost is rolled into every house in the area to cover the cost of inevitable insurance claims.
The question is, to what extent of engineering/construction do you extend to cover a one in 50 years loss situation? Perhaps it can be justified with the cost savings on insurance that you would avoid times the 5 million or so in Houston area over time.
I too have friends in The Woodlands. Their employer invoked their disaster emergency plan and they evacuated to Milwaukee. This is their 4th evacuation invoked by their employer to ensure business continuity.
The one interview that stands out for me is with the Mayor of Houston where he was asked why he did not evacuate. He said that it would have been too challenging to manage traffic evacuation. I think that was a huge mistake and error in judgement. Photos of senior citizens in care homes sitting in water up to their armpits is disgraceful. Evacuations could have been prioritized to reduce the number of tragic scenarios we see today.
That's exactly correct. Evacuation can be done in stages, with the police monitoring who's accessing the highways out of town by blocking/opening on ramps, and making both sides evacuation routes. Coastal cities do this all the time.
I wonder if some Texas GOP congressional members will again vote against support for Hurricane Harvey victims due to pork concerns as they did back with Hurricane Sandy.
Texas lawmakers, now bracing for Harvey, voted against Sandy spending
unprepared? whose fault is that? i am listening to the news right now about harvey, and some lady said that an evecuation order should have been given. my question to her, and anyone else that was waiting for an evacuation order, is, "why didnt you make plans to evacuate voluntarily when the weather service was telling everyone that this storm would be dumping 50" of rain on houston over a period of three days?"
not only was the weather service sounding the alarms, they were even telling people to GET OUT. they also told people WHEN the storm would be hitting.
if these people had a lick of sense, they would have been gone well before the storm hit, and would have waited out the storm before going back and starting salvage operations.
as much as i denigrate the weather reporters for ignorance, when severe weather warnings hit, i do take heed of them, even here in tucson.
It is not reasonable to expect millions to self-evacuate, just in case.
Where would they all go? For how long? Then what?
Media reported yesterday that all hotels along evacuation paths were sold out. Texas AG reported that price gouging was apparent. How many people have the means to live in a hotel out of harm's way, indefinitely?
FEMA contracted with Carnival Cruise Lines for 3 ships for 6 months, after Katrina and was heavily criticised for it. Seems many thought the 7000+ who lived on these aging ships were living a life of luxury, as opposed to each person having about 35 square feet of living space. Where else are you going to be able to house people that have ready made facilities for feeding thousands of people and providing medical care?
Friends in Austin tell us it was on constantly. I can't imagine Houston would be any different.
But how in the hell do you evacuate 6 million people?
Heck, how do you evacuate 1 million?
Saw the impact of self-evacuations in anticipation of Rita. Expressways turned into 24 + hour parking lots. Hundreds died while trying to get out of Dodge, including nursing home residents.
You can't. Aside from the fact that many of those people probably had no way to get out and nowhere to go if they did, the traffic jams would have been horrendous. People are forgetting how quickly this storm grew in intensity.
Harvey looks to me like the kind of tragedy that really can't properly be blamed on any single person or group of people.
I too have friends in The Woodlands. Their employer invoked their disaster emergency plan and they evacuated to Milwaukee. This is their 4th evacuation invoked by their employer to ensure business continuity.
I also know someone in Woodlands. Their office is open, although they were told its ok to work remotely to avoid the commute. So, evacuation to another State turned out to be unnecessary, which highlights the issue with making the call since you never know how bad it will get. The Woodlands is higher ground.
That's exactly correct. Evacuation can be done in stages, with the police monitoring who's accessing the highways out of town by blocking/opening on ramps, and making both sides evacuation routes. Coastal cities do this all the time.
Nah. When you order mandatory evacuation, people rush to their cars and hit the roads like they did when Rita was approaching.
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