"Debating Houston's readiness for a big storm"

[chrisnnavarre]

"Bill King has a vision he can't shake. He sees long lines of vehicles trapped in a major traffic jam. Behind them, a massive hurricane churns ashore. Ahead lie washed-out bridges, flooded roads and thousands of sets of taillights. Their escape has been cut off, and time is running out. King, the mayor of Kemah, echoing the fears of many, puts it this way: "Sooner or later there's going to be a bullet in the chamber. ... and if we haven't been out there and practiced (an evacuation) and everybody knows exactly where they're supposed to go and what they're supposed to do, then we're going to kill a bunch of people." "

"Models show 'massive devastation' in Houston
Engineers recently modeled more than 100 Houston-area storms of varying power, speed and landfall. They concluded that a large Category 4 or Category 5 -- a storm only moderately larger than the four that struck Florida last summer -- would cause as much as $40 billion to $50 billion in damage. That's 10 times the cost of Tropical Storm Allison. "

"The most vulnerable would not likely survive
Some tenants of Galveston's public housing projects are among thousands who could face being stranded on the island and risk losing their lives should a major hurricane strike."

http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/ ... index.html