The slow crawl out of town
All roads out of Houston have slowed to a crawl. The only reason Molly and I made it out is because Molly's boss, Steve Mackwell (director of the Lunar & Planetary Institute), told us on Tuesday that if we were going to evacuate, we'd better do it now. Boy, was he right.
As described in this article in the NY Times (free registration required), Houston officials have been caught a little flat-footed by the scale of the exodus. Frank E. Gutierrez, the emergency management coordinator for Harris County, said that models for an emergency evacuation envisioned 800,000 to 1.2 million people but that "well over 2.5 million" hit the road to flee Hurricane Rita.
People are running out of gas and are stuck on the side of the road. City planners had originally reversed the inbound freeways yesterday to try and accommodate the massive outbound volume, but had to abandon that plan by midafternoon in order to bring in much needed gas. The city is now scrambling to try and bring water and gas to stranded motorists stretched throughout the 100-mile parking lots that were once freeways.
Did I also mention it is hot as hell in Houston? This whole week we've had higher-than-normal temperatures with highs reaching the into the 90's and beyond. Coupled with high humidity, you can't help but sweat profusely even when doing such strenuous activities as say, standing still.
The good news is that Rita has veered north (see scary/awesome satellite pics here), and the eye of the storm will now pass to the east of the city. I wonder if this is how people in New Orleans felt when hurricane Katrina took a last-minute jaunt to the east? Did they cheer their apparent good fortune, only to have that hope turn sour when the levees broke? I don't know. The bottom line is that Houston hasn't dodged the bullet yet, for even a glancing blow from a hurricane can really really really ruin your day/week/month/year/life.
As described in this article in the NY Times (free registration required), Houston officials have been caught a little flat-footed by the scale of the exodus. Frank E. Gutierrez, the emergency management coordinator for Harris County, said that models for an emergency evacuation envisioned 800,000 to 1.2 million people but that "well over 2.5 million" hit the road to flee Hurricane Rita.
People are running out of gas and are stuck on the side of the road. City planners had originally reversed the inbound freeways yesterday to try and accommodate the massive outbound volume, but had to abandon that plan by midafternoon in order to bring in much needed gas. The city is now scrambling to try and bring water and gas to stranded motorists stretched throughout the 100-mile parking lots that were once freeways.
Did I also mention it is hot as hell in Houston? This whole week we've had higher-than-normal temperatures with highs reaching the into the 90's and beyond. Coupled with high humidity, you can't help but sweat profusely even when doing such strenuous activities as say, standing still.
The good news is that Rita has veered north (see scary/awesome satellite pics here), and the eye of the storm will now pass to the east of the city. I wonder if this is how people in New Orleans felt when hurricane Katrina took a last-minute jaunt to the east? Did they cheer their apparent good fortune, only to have that hope turn sour when the levees broke? I don't know. The bottom line is that Houston hasn't dodged the bullet yet, for even a glancing blow from a hurricane can really really really ruin your day/week/month/year/life.
posted by Bradley Thomson at 5:53 AM
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