On 2005 Sep 25, Dan Feldstein and Matt Stiles in The Houston Chronicle
wrote
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3369453
... the regional evacuation plan was missing a key element --
pre-planned contraflow lanes ...
because
... Houston's freeway grid is much more complicated than other
coastal cities.
However,
State and local officials changed their minds early last Thursday in
the face of a historic traffic jam.
...
First, they had to determine how and where to redirect traffic.
Then they had to make sure it was safe. About 10 hours later,
with a long, snaking line of idling evacuees waiting, southbound
lanes on I-45 were reversed. Contraflow on I-10 opened later.
So it took 10 hours and more when those involved had not planned what
to do. On the one hand, this looks quick to me; I am impressed by
what was done. On the other hand, with planning and exercises, I
suspect it would have taken less time. Not having a plan indicates
negligence on the parts of those responsible.
...
The Department of Public Safety had to send 1,300 troopers to
southeast Texas, more than a third of its force. An army of local
police also helped.
The story does not tell us how many local police helped and what
portions of their total forces were used.
As for evacuation in general, the authors say:
Florida hurricane planners have learned to worry about the "shadow
evacuation" -- residents outside the mandatory evacuation zones
who leave.
I did not know about `shadow evacuees'. This is a good point. But we
would expect from knowing about human nature that their numbers are
... always much larger in the immediate aftermath of another major
storm -- in this case, Hurricane Katrina.
The following makes sense. With the help of sociologists and
historians, you can predict (give or take a fairly large percentage)
how many will try to evacuate under various reported conditions and
prepare accordingly:
The answer [to the question concerning evacuation] is to respect
people's freedom of choice, but make sure they are educated at the
beginning of each hurricane season so they can weigh realistic
considerations ... if you evacuate, you definitely will find
yourself in a titanic traffic jam; if you stay, there may be only
a one-in-five chance the storm will hit your area and, if it does,
you will spend a terrifying night in your house, but probably will
be fine.
By the way, according to a story in the The Times-Picayune, New
Orleans, LA, on 2005 Sep 26,
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09_26.html#082732
conditions in the New Orleans Superdome were squalid, but rather than
the 200 bodies that a FEMA crew expected, the total was six. The
... vast majority [of people] were 'well behaved' ...
The story is titled,
Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated
--
Robert J. Chassell
[EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
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