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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
                    Location: In the Hills of Texas | They did evacuate where the Hurricane was going to have a direct hit and two of those towns were Port Aransas and Rockport. Many of the evacuees got stuck at gas stations waiting for more fuel to be delivered. Both towns are basically at almost 100% loss. Now they are evacuating more coastal towns NE of Houston because of flooding. Some things are impossible to do and evacuting millions of people is one of them. Where do you put them all? |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
      
| I am literally in tears at the loss of both human life and livestock. Shelters for people are now flooding, horses rescued and sent to dry barns are now flooding. This is beyond what anyone could have perceived . ----- N Murphy |
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 Expert
Posts: 1440
      Location: Texas | I have to admit I have been hearing all week people say " why didn't they evacuate". I am kinda irritated with them at this point. Unless you are from there or have lived there it is hard to comprehend. They evacuated people who were in the direct path of he storm as well as people who knew they normally flood. They didn't want mass confusion like they had with Rita. I grew up in Florida and lived through soooo many hurricanes and when I say evacuating Florida is way easier than evacuating Houston. Like I said unless you have lived it don't judge. I have friends who have lost everything.... It's just heartbreaking. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 878
       Location: "...way down south in the Everglades..." | Swannranch - 2017-08-29 5:57 PM I have been praying for them all. Someone who comes from Florida, I can honestly say no one knows what to do. The storms change directions constantly and no one predicted it would get "stuck" between two other systems and drop constant water on the same area.
We have evacuated, and we have also stayed. It depends on so many things.
I'm not sure I understand the Not being able to evacuate Houston, Florida has evacuated multipal times and NO place is more difficult to evacuate...basically 2 main roads from the bottom to the top, and only one way to go, North. At least with Houston They could go inland or North, yes horrible traffic, but at least off the coast.
I don't blame the people though. No one expected this much flooding. I'll keep praying for those in difficult situations.
Hey, another question, someone mentioned the electricity and water issue. Here in Florida the power companies SHUT OFF the power in most bad areas as soon as there are lines down. Hasn't the power company cut off electricity to the major flooded areas? I know its hot and inconvienent, but electrical deaths would be a main concern.
Re: power...I was wondering that myself. Doesn't make sense.
And to anyone judging...there are countless reasons why people do NOT evacuate. Money, hurricanes are not perfectly predictable, not believing media hype, mayor of Houston not putting them in mandatory evacuation, transportation, a place to go, elderly, sick, etc. And plenty of people don't evacuate when pets and/or livestock are involved. If you have a huge ranch think about the logistics...not to mention not knowing when you'd be able to safely make it back to care of your animals. Even dog and cat lovers were in a bind as there are a substantial number of shelters that don't take pets.
Now - were there some extremely stupid people in this tragedy? Sure. There will always be people doing dumb things. But until you've walked in their shoes or could know exactly what they were thinking...how do you know? (panic? trying to save someone else? thinking water wasn't as deep as it was on road? exhaustion? ...)
The best thing anyone can do now is to offer help whether financial, physical, or just in prayer...that is what these people need right now. Living in Florida and through a cat 4, I can promise it's about the only thing on the majority of their minds right now. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2128
  
| From what I have read many didnt leave because they would have just been stuck on the freeways for hours/days and had a better chance by staying in their home. Its not easy to move 2 million people. We may never know what could have been done to make things go better but the main thing is IT HAPPENED and now what we need to focus on is HELPING those who need it. |
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
         Location: Bandera, TX | Not sure if this is true, but I read somehwhere that 48% of the population of Texas is affected by Harvey. You can't evacuate that at a moments notice. You can't even evacuate the greater Houston area at a moment notice. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
      
| Bottom line, this storm was beyond the scope of forecast or warning. There is no way to move 6 million people. I spent the day walking through waist high water to get horses out from an area that had taken in other horses displaced by the flood, an area considered to be safe and dry and in no danger of flooding. It is just crazy the amount of area this storm has flooded. We are now dealing with the runoff and waiting for the rivers to crest. An area over 300 square miles received from 35- 50 inches of rain, it is just crazy |
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