DigitalKoans

After the evacuation of 2 1/2 million people from the Houston/Galveston area amid massive traffic jams in all directions, severe gas shortages before gas stations went completely dry (there is no gas between here and Dallas), stranded motorists along all major highways, hotels being full as far away as Little Rock and Abilene (forget Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio), Houston was spared the worst of Hurricane Rita as the eye took a last minute turn northeast to the Louisiana border.

It took me 2 1/2 hours to go 10 miles West along alt 90, barely moving and consuming a quarter tank of gas before I turned back (it took 15 minutes to return). (Lesson learned: smaller evacuation routes cross bigger ones that, when jammed, overflow so much traffic to the smaller routes that they becomes an impassable barrier, plus officials pay no attention to smaller routes.) Few of the roughly 2 1/2 million people left were on the city streets, and virtually all stores and gas stations were closed and boarded up: a ghost town. After a night of howling winds, but relatively little rain, over 600,000 people have no power, and it may take weeks to restore service (the temperature here before Rita was in the upper 90s). So, no gas, no open stores, no power for many, but residents are thankful, because the scenario of a worst case Category 5 strike included large parts of the coastal region and the Ship Channel being under water, and the rest being hit by 100+ mph winds and over 20 inches of rain (Houston has many bayous and floods easily).

Here are selected links:

• "Hurricane Rita"
• Potential Flooding in Category 5 Hurricane by Zip code (large graphic; 610 loop is the core of the city)
• "Models Show ‘Massive Devastation in Houston’"
• "Mayor White Blasts State’s Handling of Gasoline"
• "Looking for Gasoline? Good Luck"
• "Fear, Kindness Looms around Those Stuck on Interstates"
• "Standed on Empty"
• "State Officials Set Schedule for Evacuee Return"
• "And So the Rush Home Begins"
• "State Sets Staggered Schedule for Return of Rita Evacuees"
• "Outages Could Linger for Weeks"
• "Not All Regret Choice to Flee"
• "Welcome Home"
• Lessons Come at High Cost: 107 Lives
• "Hurricane Season Only Half Over"
• Hurricane Rita Wiki

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 25th, 2005 at 8:21 am and is filed under General, Houston. Comments closed here. Read and add comments at http://www.digital-scholarship.org/digitalkoans/.