Free Republic

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.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Military officials told President Bush today that the U.S. needs a national plan to coordinate search and rescue efforts following natural disasters or terrorist attacks. (snip) Bush got an update about the federal hurricane response from military leaders at Randolph Air Force Base. He heard from Lt. Gen. Robert Clark, joint military task force commander for Hurricane Rita, and Maj. Gen. John White, a task force member, who described search and rescue operations after Hurricane Katrina as a "train wreck." With Katrina, "we knew the coordination piece was a problem," White said. He said better coordination...

*Family and friends cram inside dorm rooms, apartments to wait out hurricane* Natalie Mills knew what she had to do to prepare for Hurricane Rita: stash her alcohol tin the bottom drawer of her refrigerator. It was her way of parent-proofing her Austin apartment before her roommate's parents and brother, fleeing the hurricane from Houston, temporarily move into their small two-bedroom apartment. Although she's glad to help, Mills said the parents might cramp her party plans with her roommate, Amy Wald. "Her 21st birthday is on Monday," 18-year-old Mills explained. In an unusual role-reversal, thousands of Austin-area college students are...

Authorities set up shelters as Mexicans living in Texas' Gulf Coast rush home NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO - Hundreds of Mexicans living along the Texas Gulf Coast were rushing home Thursday to avoid Hurricane Rita while authorities in northern Mexico readied shelters and prepared for heavy rains. In Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, Mexican families coming from Houston, Galveston, South Padre Island, Corpus Christi and Pasadena waited in long lines to purchase a government temporary import permit for their cars. Thousands of Mexicans live and work in Texas, but still have family — or even second homes — in Mexico....

Late this morning, Houston authorities were advising motorists stuck in the gridlocked evacuation with less than an eight of a tank left to pull off instead of risking the possibility they might run out and block traffic. Stop at any gas station that is open and fill up, they advised. New twist: Some gas stations in the already evacuated cities south of Houston were open. Some folks were filling up cans and containers there, with plans to head north and provide it to those in need. “Everyone needs to get out. Everyone needs to help,” explained Sy Lindsay, a Bacliff...