County leaders oppose Perry's hurricane planning orders

Associated Press ^ | 4/18/06 | kRIS-TV

[BellStar]

HOUSTON -- Counties that were saddled with chaos and traffic-choked highways before Hurricane Rita are defying an order from Gov. Rick Perry to empower one person to make evacuation decisions during a disaster.

Instead, a group of elected Gulf Coast leaders adopted a different plan Tuesday that puts the authority in the hands of a 15-person committee _ even though the ultimate power to evacuate still rests with individual counties.

[BellStar]

We are all going to die!

[BellStar]

"What elected official is going to take the responsibility of not cooperating and causing the evacuation to collapse?" said former Kemah Mayor Bill King, who served on the governor's hurricane task force. "I just can't see that happening."

Mayor Bill White!!!!!!!!!

[BellStar]

Under the Texas Disaster Act adopted in 1975, executive orders issued by the governor "have the force and effect of law." Perry spokeswoman Rachel Novier said for now, the governor will continue to try to work with the region.

Hmmmm!

[BellStar]

WHAAT?!?!?! OKAAAAYY!!!!!
We are all going to die!

[Nathan Zachary]

I guess the "committee" of morons in New Orleans is something to model every states disaster plan after. After all, it worked well for them- nobody to single out and blame except the President. What state Governor wouldn't want to wash his hands of all responsibility?

They'll take the money, the praise and glory when things seem well, but as soon as disaster strikes- It's Washington's fault!

[weegee]

When I was on the highway for 22+ hours, it was clear that the way things were being done was flat out wrong. Mayor White was among the pinheads making wrong decisions.

He was still telling people to get on the choked highways at 2pm. I was still in Houston after 12 HOURS on the highway at that point. Y'know, at rush hour, they meter the traffic and do not permit cars to keep feeding onto the on ramps when the highway has higher density traffic.

Additionally there appeared to be some resistance in the towns all the way up to Brenham against permitting the use of contraflow highways (using the south/inbound side of 290 to send cars North out of Houston). Traffic was clogged for that entire 90 miles. After Brenham, things were radically different.

Also the town of Hempstead would not permit any non-residents to enter the town. Gas was depleated along the highway and frankly Hempstead wasn't having any of it. They horded their resourse. POLICE blocked the highway exit ramps (and forced us to drive through the grass and get back ON the highway (we had been on the feeder road in an effort to get gas, we had burned through nearly a tank just to get that far).

[CindyDawg]

Maybe these decsions do need to be made by people that don't have a political stake in the outcome.

[Nathan Zachary]

I guess next time you will know to buy extra gas a few days before the storm is predicted to hit, and also NOT wait until the last minute to leave.

[weegee]

Mayor White's evacuation plan relied on people taking rail to relieve our clogged highways.

[TexasTransplant]

What do you expect when you get Government involved?

Where do you think all of those Great Acronyms come from, (like FUBAR).

When we had to leave for Rita we (I) got pi$$ed and crossed through the grass, got on the service road ran about a mile the wrong way to a County Road (I know the area) and then we didn't see another car for hours, made it to the campground 8 hours ahead of the folks stuck on the Highway and then heard all of the stories. Why they don't want to use ALL roads to evacuate is a mystery to me.

TT

[weegee]

I left not because I was worried that my place would flood. I knew it wouldn't. I also had opportunity to stay with other people.

I left because it was 90 degrees:

(A) I knew that my power would probably go out (it did for at least 8 hours) and I didn't want to spend some unknown period of time without AIRCONDITIONING. I could stockpile food, water, and batteries but not "cold".

(B) I knew that city services would go to s&*@#. The mail was not delivered. Stores closed on Thursday so if you did not buy supplies before Wednesday, you were SOL. Storm was not projected to hit until Saturday. Gas had run out and did not get restocked until after the weekend. Bars remained opened but those that normally served food did not serve any over the extended weekend.

(C) Never know when a storm WILL hit or if it'll pass by and also how long things will be bad. I was given the opportunity to work in another Texas city if I wanted (but it would be difficult to leave if I waited until after the storm had hit).

I do know that it is best to leave town as soon as you get the notion. The police will not be there for you. The mayor will not be there for you. The corner store will not be there for you.

There was NO police presence along the entire route to Austin (except for a few officers closing exits/crossovers). It was every man for himself at the gas stations and as sundown approached (and people had waited in lines that were constantly being cut for HOURS), it looked like a near riot situation. No cops. We pushed on with our last 1/8th of a tank of gas to get into a community near Brehnam on a backroad. We did get gas but the station was playing down the fact they had much gas (sign said "out") and it was on a back road.

UNLIKE Houston (which pushed up prices for gas on Wednesday), none of the gas we saw on the highway Thursday was gouged a dime.

So we left a #%$&storm of ineptitude in Houston for Austin. Where we ate well. Had AC. Went to the Austin City Limits festival for free. And had a good time.

And on the way back we finally saw a police presence ticketing speeders on the way back to Houston. Donut Watch in action.

[CindyDawg]

I think we all learned a lot from what happened but this storm was very unpredictable. The strike zone kept bouncing around. Houston didn't have much notice.

[weegee]

I keep maps in my car now (free with my AAA membership).

They've come into play twice since Rita. I-10 west of Beaumont was stopped one night when we were returning from Louisiana. Ended up taking an alternate parallel highway.

And same when I saw an endless traffic jam from Clearlake to Houston.

My friends who took backroads from Houston to Austin got there in 4 hours. And they left LATER than we did (we left at 2:45am Wednesday going to Thursday and were STILL IN HOUSTON at 3pm).

[tenthirteen]

Nice rant. Total whine. and then the crowning comment about Donut Watch. Very informative.

[weegee]

Houston PING

[weegee]

So what was your Rita experience? Care to dispute any of the facts I observed?

They disappeared when fights broke out but were there to make revenue off the people who were returning.

[weegee]

To make things abundantly clear. If you did not have food purchased by Wednesday night, you could not buy food until Sunday. 3 days provisions were to be purchased. Most people were clocking that from SATURDAY on. No one expected to get into rations on Thursday.

Why did the businesses close? Clearly everyone did not leave town. Clearly there were no barriers to going to work (only outbound highways were clogged).

Lots of those who stayed laughed at those who left. Why didn't they work if there was nothing to be concerned with?

[RobbyS]

A relative of mine avoided the main roads. He went from snear Galveston to more than 100 miles north of Houston in three hours. Plan your escape. You need an extra ten gallons of gas, food, water, a detailed road map. If the cops don't F____you up, by blocking your route. you are oK.

[TexasTransplant]

So has anyone ever figured out why the Police close the Exits to keep everyone on the freaking Freeway?

I carry 135 gallons of diesel, I could have driven to Canada or burned it all in 5 miles of stupidity enhanced traffic jam.

Government.... or is it the Police? I didn't care, I didn't want to play and to be quite honest I knew they wouldn't or couldn't come after me and once I hit 70mph it was cruise control for hours.

oh well, at least it was good campfire talk when everyone else showed up. Bunch of Horror stories about food, water, fuel, flats and overheating, most of which could have been avoided.

(We met a bunch of great people, watched the news on portable TV's went fishing and then went home)

TT