Hurricane Evacuation Strategy Planning (Houston, Galveston: middle-class, power lines, houses)

[crone]

Most of the traffic problems were caused by evacuating families driving every car they owned.

Had they left early in one car, things would have been different.

Had they followed the plan and left by the zones, things would have been different.

[txdemo]

Many people downplay the devastation wrought by Hurricane Rita. But many of us still remember.

[descovy]

Do you have a place to stay? For Rita, we reserved a hotel in Dallas. Left a day before the big bad traffic mess. Only to find out the hotel cancelled our reservation because of the storm. First come first served. So at a minimum PRE-PAY the hotel.

Nowadays we live in Katy. Plan is not to evacuate before the storm.
1. We are safe from drowning in storm surge. Really. I promise. Who remembers "I live in Katy. Should I evacuate?"

2. Nothing worse than being away from home wondering how "home" is doing. By chance, we were out of town during Allison. By the news reports, our cars and house were floating away. The water never splashed over our curb.

3. Our New plan is to stay put. Keep from clogging the roads so folks from the SE can leave. However, fill up the tanks, have cash on hand. Be prepared to go out of town after the storm if the power is out for long periods of time.

4. Don't bother stocking up on groceries. If the power goes out, you will eat like kings BBQ'ing all the meat thawing in your freezer for breakfast lunch and dinner. After Ike we didn't touch the canned spaghetti0s. We were stuffed on pork roasts, chicken, and steaks thawing in the freezer. No one went hungry.

[rusty2006]

Originally Posted by descovy

Nothing worse than being away from home wondering how "home" is doing.

While this is absolutely true if you are in a 'safe' zone, probably not true if your area is really impacted by the storm. I can imagine a lot worse things that being in a hotel worried about my house.

When I moved here in the 80s, I lived for awhile on the Bay side of 146 in LaPorte. We had quite a few storms in '88, '89. Evacuated for one to Austin, no one else did so the roads were fine. Seabrook police were knocking on doors urging people to evacuate. Storm turned and were were all fine other than getting docked two days pay when we got back to work. Bummer. Being new to the area, I guess I over-reacted. It's not an easy decision to make.

[shortel]

Since my place doesnt flood i dont plan to go anywhere. everyone else can sit in traffic for days on end.

far as food. well during rita we were grilling steaks and meat my neighbor had hunted from his deep freezer to keep it from being ruined from not having power.

[descovy]

Originally Posted by rusty2006

While this is absolutely true if you are in a 'safe' zone, probably not true if your area is really impacted by the storm. I can imagine a lot worse things that being in a hotel worried about my house.

When I moved here in the 80s, I lived for awhile on the Bay side of 146 in LaPorte. We had quite a few storms in '88, '89. Evacuated for one to Austin, no one else did so the roads were fine. Seabrook police were knocking on doors urging people to evacuate. Storm turned and were were all fine other than getting docked two days pay when we got back to work. Bummer. Being new to the area, I guess I over-reacted. It's not an easy decision to make.

Earlier in the post, I said from Katy. Katy is not LaPorte. Best for us Katy folks to stay off the roads "evacuating" from Katy and not block the LaPorte folks from leaving. Katy will get wet and windy. Katy will not drown in storm surge.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by descovy

Earlier in the post, I said from Katy. Katy is not LaPorte. Best for us Katy folks to stay off the roads "evacuating" from Katy and not block the LaPorte folks from leaving. Katy will get wet and windy. Katy will not drown in storm surge.

I heard Katy evacuates when the temperature drops below 40 or it rains more than three hours.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by descovy

Do you have a place to stay? For Rita, we reserved a hotel in Dallas. Left a day before the big bad traffic mess. Only to find out the hotel cancelled our reservation because of the storm. First come first served. So at a minimum PRE-PAY the hotel.

Nowadays we live in Katy. Plan is not to evacuate before the storm.
1. We are safe from drowning in storm surge. Really. I promise. Who remembers "I live in Katy. Should I evacuate?"

2. Nothing worse than being away from home wondering how "home" is doing. By chance, we were out of town during Allison. By the news reports, our cars and house were floating away. The water never splashed over our curb.

3. Our New plan is to stay put. Keep from clogging the roads so folks from the SE can leave. However, fill up the tanks, have cash on hand. Be prepared to go out of town after the storm if the power is out for long periods of time.

4. Don't bother stocking up on groceries. If the power goes out, you will eat like kings BBQ'ing all the meat thawing in your freezer for breakfast lunch and dinner. After Ike we didn't touch the canned spaghetti0s. We were stuffed on pork roasts, chicken, and steaks thawing in the freezer. No one went hungry.

Well that's false. Dying in the storm is certainly worse, being trapped in your attic because of flood waters is worse, come to think of it there are a lot of things worse than being out of town and worrying about possible damage. Have insurance and worry less

[motorcycledoppelganger]

Never having lived through a hurricane, I'm not in on the Katy/evacuation joke. Do they just not come that far inland? How far do they come? (I live SE of Rosenberg)

[crone]

A short distance in from the coast will get storm surge. If the storm hits at high tide, the surge may be worse, especially in the nw quadrant. Anybody further inland might get wind and rain. Sometimes the storm will bring tornadoes.