"...all evacuated in about 72 hours..."
Huh? I thought the highways are still all clogged up and they were all going to die out there?! /s
I had to turn off the radio when O'Reilly was screaming how the evacuation plan "failed" 'cuz people spent 14 hours in their cars.
Sounds to me that moving thousands of times more people than the roads are designed for WILL be a major pain in the arse, but it was NOT a failure.
I think most in the media failed to realize that our roads were SIMPLY NOT DESIGNED TO GET EVERYONE OUT OF TOWN AT THE SAME TIME! They can barely handle everyone going different directions during rush hour.
Heck no, there wasn't a failure. They moved out 1.7? million people? Orderly, without violence, in a relatively short time.
5 million people, 72 hours, on roads that on their best day were designed to take 200,000 cars PER DAY (number from TxDOT).
I defy anyone to do better in the next 10 years. If ever.
Sure, a lot of things could have gone better. That's life - plans *never* survive first contact with either the enemy or reality intact. We have to look and see if the goal was accomplished in the end, and that's all that matters.
We got everyone out who wanted to go. Nobody was left behind to die that wanted to leave.
Part of the problem with the evacuation is folks that were not in emanate danger left the city at the same time as those that live in the actual coastal area.
A co-worker that lives in Tomball was determined to leave Wednesday evening, even though Rita was not predicted to be here until late Friday/early Saturday.
Had the selfish people like her waited, it would not have taken people (like my brother) 20 hours just to get to Tomball.
My husband heard they couldn't reverse traffic because it requires three officers per on-ramp to keep cars from entering and causing a head-on...