It's not because of Katrina, stupid....
Sorry, just had to use that word. God, I love General Honore.
As Texans near the coast pack up and move out of Dodge (i.e., Galveston, Houston and the surrounding areas), I've heard the comments that Texas is learning the lessons Louisiana learned the hard way during Katrina.
Gov. Rick Perry held a news conference this morning, more than two and a half days before Rita's projected landfall, urging people to get out of harm's way. Constrast that to a governor in a neighboring state who appeared on television one Sunday morning, less than 24 hours before landfall of another hurricane, saying that the President had personally called her urging the state to issue mandatory evacuation orders.
The city of Galveston held a press conference on Monday (yes, Monday, more than five days before landfall) informing its citizens - some of whom are descendants of victims of the great hurricane of 1900 that leveled the city - that voluntary evacuations would begin on Tuesday with mandatory evacuations beginning on Wednesday. On the other hand, the mayor of the major metropolitan area in our neighboring state, appearing at the same press conference as his governor, issued mandatory evacuation orders for his city with less than 24 hours to go before landfall when all the experts say it takes at least 72 hours to evacuate the city.
Galveston informed its people on Monday that buses would be available for those unable to get out on their own - all they had to do was call a phone number and sign up. Transportation was also set aside to evacuate the hospitals, and when buses meant to evacuate a mental health hospital didn't show up, the city swiftly made other arrangements. Constrast this (via Generation Why?)
To this....
In Texas, provisions were made for the animals to be evacuated, as well - from people being allowed to take their animals on the buses as long as they are in cages to a veterinarian who sent a horse trailer to a shelter in San Leon which was having a hard time finding shelter for 40 animals. In our neighboring state, many people stayed in their homes because they wouldn't leave their pets to fend for themselves, while others did leave their pets to fend for themselves to heartbreaking and tragic results.
But Rita comes after Katrina, so Texas had three weeks to learn from Louisiana's mistakes. Right? Wrong. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Texans have kept level heads during impending storms for at least several decades (from Wikipedia)....
"Carla [a 1961 storm which made landfall in Texas as a Cat4] killed 43 people, 31 in Texas. The low death toll is credited to what was then the largest peacetime evacuation in US history. One half million residents headed inland from exposed coastal areas."
Texas has been doing it the right way for years. If there were any lessons to be learned about not messing around with Mother Nature, Texas learned them during in 1900, when a local meteorologist ignored warnings from Cuba that a monster storm was headed towards the city - to disastrous results. Our friends in our neighboring state need to pay attention and take notes on how to respond when the mother of all storms sees a big bullseye on your state's coast.
As Texans near the coast pack up and move out of Dodge (i.e., Galveston, Houston and the surrounding areas), I've heard the comments that Texas is learning the lessons Louisiana learned the hard way during Katrina.
Gov. Rick Perry held a news conference this morning, more than two and a half days before Rita's projected landfall, urging people to get out of harm's way. Constrast that to a governor in a neighboring state who appeared on television one Sunday morning, less than 24 hours before landfall of another hurricane, saying that the President had personally called her urging the state to issue mandatory evacuation orders.
The city of Galveston held a press conference on Monday (yes, Monday, more than five days before landfall) informing its citizens - some of whom are descendants of victims of the great hurricane of 1900 that leveled the city - that voluntary evacuations would begin on Tuesday with mandatory evacuations beginning on Wednesday. On the other hand, the mayor of the major metropolitan area in our neighboring state, appearing at the same press conference as his governor, issued mandatory evacuation orders for his city with less than 24 hours to go before landfall when all the experts say it takes at least 72 hours to evacuate the city.
Galveston informed its people on Monday that buses would be available for those unable to get out on their own - all they had to do was call a phone number and sign up. Transportation was also set aside to evacuate the hospitals, and when buses meant to evacuate a mental health hospital didn't show up, the city swiftly made other arrangements. Constrast this (via Generation Why?)
To this....
In Texas, provisions were made for the animals to be evacuated, as well - from people being allowed to take their animals on the buses as long as they are in cages to a veterinarian who sent a horse trailer to a shelter in San Leon which was having a hard time finding shelter for 40 animals. In our neighboring state, many people stayed in their homes because they wouldn't leave their pets to fend for themselves, while others did leave their pets to fend for themselves to heartbreaking and tragic results.
But Rita comes after Katrina, so Texas had three weeks to learn from Louisiana's mistakes. Right? Wrong. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Texans have kept level heads during impending storms for at least several decades (from Wikipedia)....
"Carla [a 1961 storm which made landfall in Texas as a Cat4] killed 43 people, 31 in Texas. The low death toll is credited to what was then the largest peacetime evacuation in US history. One half million residents headed inland from exposed coastal areas."
Texas has been doing it the right way for years. If there were any lessons to be learned about not messing around with Mother Nature, Texas learned them during in 1900, when a local meteorologist ignored warnings from Cuba that a monster storm was headed towards the city - to disastrous results. Our friends in our neighboring state need to pay attention and take notes on how to respond when the mother of all storms sees a big bullseye on your state's coast.
1 Comments:
Be prepared for the next donation hurricane katrina or find another one that's similar. As the Boy Scouts say: "Be Prepared"!
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