Comments, anyone? Hopefully, this is the Lone Star State showing the rest of the Country how things are done. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Posted on 09/22/2005 7:28:47 AM PDT by section9
Just by looking at the Idiot box, I get a distinct impression of a superbly crafted and executed evacuation plan. I mean, we have real live bus drivers here.
The anticipatory response of Governor Perry and the Texas State Homeland Security Department just begs to be contrasted with the catlike reflexes of Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin.
It's like night and day. So far, the only thing I see going wrong is that huge traffic jam on 45. They should have begun counterflow some time ago, as in, last night.
But you'll notice that no one is running around like chickens with their heads cut off in Texas.
Comments, anyone? Hopefully, this is the Lone Star State showing the rest of the Country how things are done. Be Seeing You,
Chris
My wife made the same observations - I hope you're both right but this looks like a REAL bad one.
Those buses are full of white people, don'tcha know. You gotta have decent evacuation plans (and more importantly actually use them) if white lives are at stake.
Oh, shoot, that's right. I forgot that the Absolutely Fabulous Knights of the Ku Klux Klan run the Buses as a Faith Based Charity for Pat Robertson. Glory Be!
(/sarcasm off)
Be Seeing You,
Chris
In all fairness, we knew that Rita was going to be bad yesterday, it is set to make landfall on Saturday.
Maybe I wasn't paying attention enough, but it seems like we only had about 48 hours to evacuate NO.
Basically, they had another day. You can get a LOT of work done in one day!!!
It is as hard to get good results when working through incompetent/corrupt local officials, as it is to stick a greased snake through a keyhole. IMHO.
Congressman Billybob
Regarding the contraflow - I was wondering the same thing. When are they going to institute it?
The Texas DOT just put a press release up on their site that it will start at 1030 local time. The very last sentence of the announcement is interesting:
Changes Should Ease Highway Traffic Flow
All Lanes Of I-45 and I-10 To Be Outbound Only
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, September 22, 2005
HOUSTON -- City, county and state officials announced Thursday morning that all lanes of Interstate 45 will flow northbound from Houston to Buffalo, about 130 miles north of the Bayou City.
Texas Department of Transportation said the change would go into effect at about 10:30 a.m on Interstate 45.
Gov. Rick Perry made the decision Thursday morning to alleviate bumper-to-bumper evacuation traffic on the primary evacuation route.
Local media has reported that northbound traffic on I-45 is bumper-to-bumper for up to 100 miles north of Houston.
Once the changes on Interstate 45 have been implemented, road authorities will begin setting up a similar plan for Interstate 10 toward San Antonio.
This is the first time the state has ever taken such a step. They also said the plan is an improvisation and has never been part of the state's emergency plan.
Last night I thought the same thing. Now, I'm not so sure.
My wife called awhile ago to check on the whereabouts of relatives heading out of Houston for San Antonio. They left late last night. They're stuck in traffic at Katy!
For all practical purposes, they've barely made it to the Houston city limits! A friend reports a brother hit the same kind of outbound Houston traffic, got off the freeway and went back home. Not good signs.
Hopefully, things will ease up by tomorrow.
...blue state versus red state...which one would you choose???? I know which one I'd trust...:)
No one is going anywhere on the freeway...people are starting to run out of gas...8 hours to go 12 miles in some cases even slower...all plans sound good on paper...we are waiting to see if the traffic ever lets up...if not, we are just going to stay here.
Not good news.
Other relatives from north Houston were not planning on leaving until early this morning. Haven't heard from them, yet.
Either they're sitting in traffic or else they're also sitting at home weighing the choice between running out of gas or sitting out the storm in their home.
Friend says the closest gas between Houston and San Antonio is at Lulling. Hope they're wrong.
Stay safe!
As was widely discussed during Katrina - and irrevocably proven by the June 9th 2005 minutes of the Orleans Parish Shool Board - the City and the School Board were still haggling over the use of school buses, drivers, gasoline etc. for hurricane evacs.
That's right, in June 2005. This year.
Then in July 2005 the School Board was effectively neutered by a hired private management firm, due to the bungling and effective bankruptcy of the school district.
We can safely assume that there was no plan or process in place to use N.O. school buses for evacs.
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