Posted on 09/24/2005 9:58:36 AM PDT by Howlin
In hindsight, the way the Houston/Galveston evacuation was handled could have been better, but then, there's no such thing as a perfect evacuation. Anything can always be handled better, just as these storms can always be worse. So when all is said and done, IMO the Texas evacuation was as good as possible under current circumstances. The bottom line is that everyone got out in advance of the storm, and had Houston been hit, that's all that would have mattered.
Sure you do! You just hide it by picking my brain every now and again! I don't mind AT ALL! LOL
Great idea laz. I totally agree with you as to how Texas got the people out in time. That is the most important thing. I also take note of all the first responders who lost homes or did not know the status of their homes and continued to work on behalf of the public. A HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU. YOU ARE THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA.
From Anderson Cooper on Larry King:
"Larry, what happened in Vermillion is, it wasn't during the storm that this flooding took place, it's
when most people thought the storm was over. The surge still continued, they had this second surge that
came. A lot of these regions are pasture land and normally don't flood at all. A lot of people there you
know, have lived there their entire lives, 60, 70 years, can't remember anytime there has been flooding like
this."
"Let's go to Rob Marciano in Lake Charles, what's the situation there Rob?
MARCIANO: Water is receding just a little bit but as they do, you know, damage is strewn about
everywhere. Evacuees are ordered not to come back because it's still very dangerous.
I drove from Beaumont into Lake Charles today. I used to -- I used to live and work here for a few years,
so a bit of a nightmare nostalgia to come around and try to get through neighborhoods where I lived, where
friends lived. It's a little bit -- it's a little bit tough to see. Huge trees down, I mean I've never seen so many
big trees completely uprooted, at least here in Lake Charles.
Then we took a drive down south. Everybody is talking about Vermilion Parish and Cameron Parish. Well,
we went down in Cameron Parish and went down to Grand Lake. I've got a friend who lives down there. I
figured his house would be flooded, managed to catch up with him. Sure enough his house was flooded.
I suppose the thing that's really bad, Larry, and that's been the ongoing theme the last couple nights is that
the waters here, they actually came -- they came in after the storm made landfall when really people were
thinking maybe I can go back to my home now and they're really, really slow to recede.
We have this persistent southeast wind. The waters are so dreadfully slow to recede. People are getting
anxious to check out the damage in their homes but there is still plenty of water down there in Cameron
Parish."
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/25/lkl.01.html
When I peeled off to take a nap around 9pm Friday night, the storm was forecast to come ashore at 0330, but when I returned at 0300, landfall had already taken place.
I'm starting to wonder if the storm accelerated and left the surge dome behind, which was then pushed by the west to east winds behind the storm's core east into Louisiana.
At least others are noticing the odd behavior of the surge, so I know I'm not going crazy.
:-)
Tom, you're a good guy- thanks, and let me know if I can help.
Nita, the offer stands.
I don't usually release personal info, but this qualifies as exceptional circumstances-- Doug from Upland & Eternal Vigilance have my number, have talked to me over the phone, and would probably testify to my good character. :)
One thing we do here when a storm threatens is charge all the batteries beforehand, and even fill all the air tanks-- it's all stored energy.
This is not to say that I have my act together as well as it ought to be-- it just occurred to me that I need to get my old wrecker back in servicable condition-- the winches and boom and push bumper on it would be a real lifesaver for moving trees and clearing debris. You'd be amazed ( or maybe not, given the circumstances ) at how much work can be done by something like that, or a boom truck, or even a small tractor.
I can envision these pit-stops located at ten mile intervals along designated evacuation routes. Lots of space to handle many cars, lots of gas pumps. Entrances as wide as toll plazas. Plenty of ice, water, and restrooms. Normally, they are shut down, and they come into play only during an evacuation.
Of course, the logistics of how to staff and stock them would need to be worked out. For example, is the gas already there, in storage, or are the tanks filled when the evac is called?
It would cost a lot to build a system of these, but then, it might be worth it in the long run, especially in the case of the larger cities.
I can envision these pit-stops located at ten mile intervals along designated evacuation routes. Lots of space to handle many cars, lots of gas pumps. Entrances as wide as toll plazas. Plenty of ice, water, and restrooms. Normally, they are shut down, and they come into play only during an evacuation.
Of course, the logistics of how to staff and stock them would need to be worked out. For example, is the gas already there, in storage, or are the tanks filled when the evac is called?
It would cost a lot to build a system of these, but then, it might be worth it in the long run, especially in the case of the larger cities.
Looks like a remnant of Rita has made its way back down over the gulf. TWC says they don't think it'll develop, but they'll keep an eye on it. Sure hope Rita doesn't do an Ivan.
Now that you mention it, it does seem to me that on final approach, Rita moved faster and landfall came quicker than originally thought. And the eye did intensify just as Rita came in.
Landfall was around 0230, thereabouts. If I remember correctly, 0238. An hour earlier than anticipated.
well duh...
been sitting here going over the NOAA imagery for about two hours, and in the back of my head thinking that the next move is to establish an accurate time for landfall, all the while staring at a map that I plotted the 0200 just offshore, and 0300 just onshore, position on myself...
0238 eyeballs to be right on the money.
Worst to best:
Holly Beach is gone. Of the 4 major east west streets, the one nearest the ocean is gone. No sign of pavement, (might be under sand) no sign of foundations, no structures or sign of structures along that street. The west end of town all four of the streets disappear under sand and water, and in the middle of town, about three quarters of the foundations remain, while the other quarter shows only small lakes where the foundations used to be. Out of hundreds of visible foundations, at most I could count 8 structures that are throwing a shadow. Everything north of the highway was still underwater.
Cameron fared a little bit better. Most structures still have foundations but little else. There are structures still standing, including houses, but commercial buildings seems to have fared better on the whole. A trailer park, housing edition, or some other arrangement of streets resembling a ladder NW of town was either never developed or else no sign of whatever was once there exists any longer. As of the NOAAA aerial photography pass, everything except the highway was under water.
Oak Grove is inaccessible, a very few houses still standing, most just bare foundations, and it appears that half to three quarters of the commercial buildings are still standing. The scholl seems to have fared pretty well but it. like all of the town except the road itself is flooded.
In Creole, the highway west towards Cameron is still above water, but the crossroads and the road in the other three directions is not. Roughly three quarters of the visible structures seem to be largely intact, but with the flooding, bare foundations are not visible. There are two residences that have been shifted from their foundations partially blocking the road just north of town.
In Grand Chenier, the structures visible are about 75% largely intact, but there are about as many driveways that lead to nothing visible above the flood as there are driveways that lead to houses.
In North Island, a handfull of houses appear to be largely intact but flooded, though most of the area is underwater with nostructures, if any existed there, visible.
Sabine and Sabine Pass seem to have fared well. There is extensive flooding, and perhaps 25% of the structures visible have sustained structural damage, mostly roof loss.
The Sabine Pass Lighthouse is sill standing, with no way to tell whether it is functional or not.
Thanks (from a dedicated lurker) for all of your hard work on this thread.
A couple of questions that come to mind, reading your damage report --
1)Is "pier-and-beam" construction used much in this part of the state(s)?
2) If so, how stable are "pier-and-beam" houses that have had the piers underwashed by flooding?
I guess what I'm wondering is if the "still-standing" structures are as untouched as they might appear from a distance?
In this case, don't you think it would eaiser to just connect the inverter to the vehicle battery in her car and run an extension cord inside?
McIlhenny Company has survived Hurricane Rita and will post more information once full power has been restored to our Corporate Office and Manufacturing Facility on Avery Island, Louisiana.
Yes, that's the easy way- you just have to be careful to not run the vehicle's battery down too much to crank the engine, or keep the engine running to charge the battery.
Both the Rapides Parish public and Catholic schools were still closed today and they won't make a determination until later this afternoon about Wednesday. Some of the factors cited are unsafe water (Alexandria is still under a boil order), lack of diesel fuel for the school buses, spoiled cafeteria food and several schools still being used to shelter evacuees.
Although I know this is a nightmare for working parents, I hope they won't rush to reopen the schools. I keep picturing children who won't stay away from the water fountains, especially when we are still under a heat advisory. Also, I wonder about the pressure in the toilets and what water source would be used to prepare meals. It's been reported that these miserable conditions have caused a few fights among the evacuees at the Rapides Parish Coliseum, so I hate to think about similar factors in the schools.
The kids who live in my apartment complex are wandering around bored and cranky today, but still it's better than having them come down with some nasty gastrointestinal illness from exposure to unclean water!
Thanks for the Tabasco update!!
I didn't see any evidence of post and beam construction from the overheads, but you can set such a structure on a foundation that would appear rectangular from the air. Any ground with a high water table requires extra steps to put concrete or concrete and steel standards in below that depth, so a more or less standard foundation may have been used.
In either case, the key to stability is lateral bracing. You get some from buried standards, a cantilever effect that increases with depth, but which is wholly dependenent on the ratio of depth to the visible section.
The deeper you go, the more you resist the scouring that comes from moving water as well, but once you hit water, you have to use a special equipment to keep the sides of the excavation from caving in. Once such is boring equipment with a two part screw, which augers in and then is withdrawn, leaving an auger shaped sheet metal shell in place and which can be filled with concrete.
These would be expected to leave a visible footprint from the air, a pattern of dots, but what shows up on the photographs are simple rectangles.
If going that route, the pier bases need to be firmly fixed to the concrete, and any lateral stability is derived from diagonal bracing. For wind resistence only, I like timbers with plate steel, angled plate if possible, since it resists both tensile and compressive forces. Even so, I still prefer having the braces in opposition since even angle steel will fail under considerably less compressive force than it will to tensile stresses.
With any chance of moving water in the equation, wood simply cannot be trusted to hold fasteners of any kind under the potential loads involved. On a coastal area, I'd insist on all steel for any columns used to raise the structure, with resistance to oxidation in a salt environment being a primary concern.
'Caveman' Conditions in Texas Follow Rita
Sep 27 6:12 PM US/Eastern
By ABE LEVY
Associated Press Writer
PORT ARTHUR, Texas
Nearly four days after Hurricane Rita hit, many of the storm's sweltering victims along the Texas Gulf Coast were still waiting for electricity, gasoline, water and other relief Tuesday, prompting one top emergency official to complain that people are "living like cavemen."
In the hard-hit refinery towns of Port Arthur and Beaumont, crews struggled to cross debris-clogged streets to deliver generators and water to people stranded by Rita. They predicted it could be a month before power is restored, and said water and sewer systems could not function until more generators arrived.
Red tape was also blamed for the delays.
Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz, whose own home was destroyed by fire after the hurricane, said "we've had 101 promises" for aid, "but it's all bureaucracy." He and other officials gathered at a hotel-turned- command center, where a dirty American flag found among hurricane debris was hung on the wall.
John Owens, emergency management coordinator and deputy police chief in the town of 57,000, said pleas for state and federal relief were met with requests for paperwork.
"We have been living like cavemen, sleeping in cars, doing bodily functions outside," he said.
Temperatures climbed into the upper 90s, and officials worried that swarms of mosquitoes might spread disease.
In Beaumont, officials briefed President Bush, Texas Gov. Rick Perry at his side, on relief efforts. Perry cautioned against criticism.
"There's always going to be those discombobulations, but the fact is, everyone is doing everything possible to restore power back to this area," Perry said.
About 476,000 people remained without electricity in Texas, in addition to around 285,000 in Louisiana. About 15,000 out-of-state utility workers were being brought to the region to help restore power.
Residents of some hard-hit towns were allowed to check on their homes but were not allowed to stay because of a lack of generators and ice.
About 2,000 Port Arthur residents who stayed through the storm were advised to find other places to live until utilities are restored. Ortiz said it could be two weeks before people are allowed back into Port Arthur.
After seeing a swarm of ravenous mosquitoes around his storm-battered home in Vidor, Harry Smith and his family decided to leave. They hitchhiked 10 miles to an emergency staging area and got on a bus to San Antonio.
"It can't be any worse than here," said Smith, 49, a pipefitter. "This is the worst storm I've seen in the 46 years I've lived here."
In Louisiana, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury President Hal McMillin said residents who come back would be without air conditioning, and risk insect bites and the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. A mandatory evacuation remained in effect for 10 southwestern Louisiana parishes.
"There's a good chance we could have an outbreak or something," McMillin said.
There were some signs of hope. In a Port Arthur neighborhood not far from a grocery store that reeked of rotten food, three Federal Emergency Management Agency semitrailers delivered ice, ready-to-eat meals and water.
"Without these trucks here, I don't think we would have made it," said Lee Smith, 50.
In Orange, people converged in cars and trucks outside a shopping strip for water, food and ice supplied by the private disaster group the Compassion Alliance.
"I know it's going to take some time, but we really appreciate this," Dorothy Landry, 66, said after waiting in the line. "I can't thank them enough."
___
Associated Press Writer Michael Graczyk in Beaumont contributed to this report.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/27/D8CSS7LG0.html
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