Texas declared a disaster area ahead of time

Houston Chronicle ^ | Sept. 20, 2005, 2:16PM | POLLY ROSS HUGHES

[SolidSupplySide]

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry declared the state a disaster area today in anticipation of Hurricane Rita hitting Texas and personally asked President Bush to approve federal aid to affected counties.

Perry's request for 100 percent federal reimbursement for counties that respond to the disaster came as federal Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials moved into the state to help.

A FEMA official is already at the State Operations Center, which went on full alert status today with 34 state agencies on site around the clock, said Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt.

"FEMA has already been part of this. They have offered whatever support we need,'' Walt said. "Texas is not Louisiana. You won't see that breakdown occurring here.''

Walt said that Texas National Guard troops returning from Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Louisiana at Perry's request will be staged along evacuation routes when officials better determine the most likely landfall for the storm.

"That's so they're positioned and ready to move when they need to whether it's rescue or whatever assistance they need to provide,'' she said, adding the troops might help keep traffic moving along evacuation routes.

Texas' Division of Emergency Management also has begun moving water, food and other supplies to Dallas, Fort Forth and San Antonio in preparation for evacuees.

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services said it is ready to ensure water and ice distribution if a hurricane hits the coast, while the Texas Department of State Health Services said it is prepared to help communities evacuate hospitals and provide vaccines, medications and ambulances.

[peyton randolph]

They will say "Of course, cause its Texas..and cause the people were mostly white..."

Anyone that says that has never been to South Texas. Caucasians have been a minority for years.

[GottaLuvAkitas1]

"Man..Galveston..1900..nasty."

I saw a History Channel special on that storm about 2 weeks ago. It made me cry; poor souls.
I'm sure that they have learned a thing or 2 since that sad day.

[lormand]

The only hope now is for Bush to quickly fly to Kyoto and sign that agreement.

Otherwise we are all doomed.

[deport]

Texas declared a disaster area ahead of time

---

Now if'n we can just get some refieds, tacos, tortillas everything will be okay....

Alligator Cafe offers free food for evacuees

Dallas restaurateur offers beans, rice and gumbo to evacuees

10:31 PM CDT on Monday, September 19, 2005

By FRANK TREJO / The Dallas Morning News

There's a sign showing Ivan Pugh's commitment to helping Hurricane Katrina evacuees. It's right outside his East Dallas restaurant, The Alligator Cafe, offering free beans and rice and gumbo to the displaced.

Ever since Louisiana residents fled the destruction of the hurricane and arrived in Dallas, Mr. Pugh has been providing free food – good Cajun food – to evacuees both at his restaurant and at area churches.

[L98Fiero]

"Yes, if the Texas victims are predominantly white. It will be just another example of his racism."

Dang, he IS an evil-super-genius-but-at-the-same-time-moronic-chimp. ;)

[JFC]

They will say "Of course, cause its Texas..and cause the people were mostly white..."

Texas is not mostly white anymore..... we be brownish.

[MEG33]

There were no warnings then and the seawall had not been built..

[Brilliant]

Galveston is above sea level, but not much. NO is well below sea level. Houston is more than a hundred feet above sea level, and well inland. Biggest problem for Houston is flying glass.

[lormand]

"Texas is not Louisiana."

That's the freakin' truth.

I fled Lousyana for the Great State of Texas as soon as I could.

[hopespringseternal]

'Course, Houston is a couple hours inland.

Not really. More like 30 minutes.

[RummyChick]

Don't forget that it is the home state of Bush.

There will be an outcry by people like Sharpton, Jackson, and the "mother wheel" crowd.

[SLB]

1915 Galveston, Texas Death toll: 275 A second category 4 strike on the Gulf of Mexico coast in the same year: Galveston had constructed a seawall after the devastation of the 1900 hurricane. Still, 275 people died when the 1915 storm hit.
NBC Weather: http://www.nbc6.net/weather/4908506/detail.html

My wife's grandfather was killed in the 1915 Galveston Hurricane. He was conductor on a train taking people oout of Galveston over a causeway when the storm surge hit. We have pictures of his train after the storm. He died trying to pull passengers to shore while the engineer/motorman ran for cover abandoning the train to the storm.

[peyton randolph]

Houston is more than a hundred feet above sea level, and well inland.

Seems like the place floods every time it gets more than 3 inches of rain.

[deport]

Let's hope that the Galveston sea wall holds if a Cat. 4 or 5 hits.

---

I suspect a Cat 4-5 may top the sea wall anyway... but Galveston is above sea level so it will be drain able once the gulf water recedes.

[Tarpon]

Yeah I said the same thing about earthquakes, I left CA and came back to hurricane country on the bay.

The key to surviving hurricanes is -- don't build your homes out of sticks and straw, and don't live in trailers. Reinforced Concrete survives quite nicely, and oh don't build below sea level also helps.

I never understood why the people in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas build houses along the coast out of wood.

When the hurricane is too big, you just run inland.

Earthquakes, one minute you are sitting there enjoying the football game, the next minute the house falls on you.

[Arizona Carolyn]

They said on FOX it's not likely to hit '5' because Katrina cooled the water in the Gulf.

[rahbert]

>get those buses running...
head out on the high way..

[wolfcreek]

Whites in Texas only make up 49% of total population. But, everyone thinks we're just a bunch of cowboys anyway.

[ryan71]

Ha!

First, poor "refugees" holed up in the Super Dome.

Now, the same poor "refugees" holed up in the Astro Dome.

______

She's now a Cat 2!

[texianyankee]

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