In contrast:
http://reverepress.com/news/osteens-megachurch-closed-houston-mosques-open-doors-flood-victims/
Here’s the church’s perspective.
I don’t see any reason not to come to San Antonio. We are fine. We don’t seem to have attracted many refugees yet, though. We had more after Katrina.
Maybe check flights? If you go through Houston it could be a problem, but a direct flight or a flight that connects through Atlanta or even Dallas should be okay.
There was a report on the radio this morning about spot shortages of gasoline since refineries are down, but I don’t expect this to be a problem.
“And where do you propose they go?” That’s the question that needs answering before smacking our heads that they stayed. Not everyone has friends and family in high/dry places. Or the money to spend weeks in a hotel. Or wants astrodome conditions.
It’s also right that you need a secure route out. And that, if everyone goes, traffic can’t move.
As for building super escape routes, whatcha gonna do? Build them from every city in the southeast and south?
Weren’t the Southern Baptists among the first support folks to arrive post Katrina, lines of food trucks and clean up facilities?
Evacuation doesn’t mean that everyone has to leave, and that if some can’t leave, then nobody should leave. Evacuation doesn’t have to be to a far away town, but merely from low lying, flood prone areas to safer ground. If you get some of the people who are obviously in harms way out of there, that’s less people to rescue. It’s not all or nothing, just from bad to better, and apparently that is what is happening now.
^^^ Yes but even if the evacuation isn’t “far away,” the thousands of people have to sleep somewhere. Where do you put thousands of people right away? For what could be MONTHS?
Also, it’s my impression they DID evacuate all the at risk area/people and it’s to prioritize them that auhorities asked for people in less at risk areas to stay in place.
I’d imagine you have a plan ahead of time on where to put them. It’s not a mystery that Houston has a problem with flooding. Schools, churches, convention centers, wherever they are putting them now. I am sure they know where the places are that will definitely flood, and those that definitely won’t. And after the danger subsides, the people who can leave, leave. They go home if they can, or to friends and families. Those who have nowhere to go, stay. The point is, they will be going there anyways, right? So why not evacuate the people in obvious danger to safe places ahead of time so you don’t have to rescue them? Save your rescue personnel for the unexpected things that happen.
I would expect that they did this before the hurricane, at least to some level.
They can guess what places definitely won’t flood but they can’t know for sure. Last year in Louisiana many places flooded for the first time.
And more than one shelter had to evacuate after taking on water.
They are talking about this as a 1,000 year flood. Not sure how well you can predict which locations will definitely flood and which will not. And you have to have a non-flooded path between the two of them.
Of course some of the planning was in place. Considering how low the death toll is, it’s clear that it was effective. What you’re seeing isn’t lack of planning, @busdriver11. What you’re seeing is the reality of a massive natural disaster.
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@saillakeerie – that’s what I hear the big problem is: some areas are too flooded for cars, and not flooded enough for boats. A bunch of islands, to which access is very limited.
I think there was probably a massive amount of planning that went into this event, @katliamom , large departments of people devoted to this. Whether there was adequate planning (particularly as far as allowing overbuilding), will be something they look at closely when the devastation stops. I am hoping they don’t end up finding more people in houses and cars after the water recedes.
I wonder if there have been requests to the public to take in people to their homes, if they can. I know that’s a big commitment, but if someone has extra space, it’s better than going to a shelter. We would definitely take in a family during a disaster like this. There have been people at my company taking in other co-workers whose houses were flooded.
It sounds like you’re trying to find someone or something to blame.
Sorry. Disasters happen. This will happen again. No matter how well we’re prepared, there will be destruction, there will be massive loss of business, possible loss of life. Want to prevent it altogether? Fine, tell the government to tell everyone in the 4th largest city in the country to move somewhere else. I’m sure that will go over well.
I know someone who moved to Houston several years ago. She was on the local news (because everyone is always about finding a local connection to any given event). Her house is newer and is thus 4 feet above many of her neighbors. She has people from two neighboring houses staying with her. Just as people are coming out in boats to rescue people, I am sure there are people in non-flooded areas helping those in flooded areas. Not sure what you do long term but I imagine no one was concerned about that at the time. Just get people in need to safety today; worry about tomorrow tomorrow.
@katliamom, sometimes there are people that deserve blame. If the article that I linked pages back was honest about massive building allowed in floodplains, causing other neighborhoods to flood also…yes, that is someone to blame. It may be a horrendous natural disaster, but something like that makes it seriously worse. So maybe you don’t agree that there is some culpability, or that the next time people could look at what went wrong and what went right and learn from that, but we’ll just have to disagree then.
Moderator’s Note: Please keep political views to yourself. This is not the right venue.
Apologies, @“Erin’s Dad” - mea culpa.
@busdriver11 So what’s your solution? What hasn’t been planned well here, and how could it have been improved?
Disasters happen but poor urban planning/overbuilding and climate change no doubt contributed to making things worse than they might have been. Of course we are all concerned for those in the midst of dealing with this disaster but it is also important to look critically at events to learn from them and help mitigate the effects in future situations.