KHOU.Com - Galveston Mayor announcement

inotherwords · #21 Postby **inotherwords** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:08 pm

I don't see anyone arguing or bickering, some people are just offering opnions civilly. The people in TX are going to do what they want when they want to no matter what anyone here says, and that's their prerogative.

Some of us have had a little experience in the past year or so with evacuating so it's not as if we're talking about stuff we don't understand.

If the mods want to restrict posts to regional residents only, then they should say that in the thread.

GalvestonDuck · #22 Postby **GalvestonDuck** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:11 pm

artist wrote:why argue over this particularly if it is not affecting you??? Galveston Duck wanted this to be in info thread - not a bickering thread I'm sure!

LOL...yeah, I did. I didn't anticipate people debating the fact that voluntary evacs were being considered.

inotherwords · #23 Postby **inotherwords** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:20 pm

Who is debating it? A few people are just offering comments. I think a few people are being a little too touchy.

We're told over and over not to depend on five day forecasts or to look at the line, and that's exactly what you guys are doing. If you choose to evacuate now it's your decision but it just seems a little early to me when the models are still widely divergent and we're 5 days out. If that offends some people here, then I'm sorry. It's just my opinion.

GalvestonDuck · #24 Postby **GalvestonDuck** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:25 pm

inotherwords wrote:Who is debating it? A few people are just offering comments. I think a few people are being a little too touchy.

We're told over and over not to depend on five day forecasts or to look at the line, and that's exactly what you guys are doing. If you choose to evacuate now it's your decision but it just seems a little early to me when the models are still widely divergent and we're 5 days out. If that offends some people here, then I'm sorry. It's just my opinion.

I'm simply trying to point out the reasoning behind the mayor's decision to call for voluntary evacuations. People who are arguing that it's too early seem to be basing it on their experiences living in a coastal city, not living on an island with one route out.

No one said we were evacuating now.

#25 Postby **vbhoutex** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:26 pm

72 hours out from expected landfall is Wednesday morning. I am not in an evac zone, but I have lived in Houston for 35 years and with several hundred thousand minimum to move if we are looking at a CAT4 or 5 voluntary evacs seem quite prudent to me. Traffic in the city is at best terrible at the best of times and with over 200,000 additional residents in the last few weeks and the need to move literally hundreds of tousands out of harms way, PRUDENT is the only way we should be. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!!!

#26 Postby **jasons2k** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:31 pm

vbhoutex wrote:72 hours out from expected landfall is Wednesday morning. I am not in an evac zone, but I have lived in Houston for 35 years and with several hundred thousand minimum to move if we are looking at a CAT4 or 5 voluntary evacs seem quite prudent to me. Traffic in the city is at best terrible at the best of times and with over 200,000 additional residents in the last few weeks and the need to move literally hundreds of tousands out of harms way, PRUDENT is the only way we should be. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!!!

Exactly. Not many people who actually live here (and know what I-45 is like on a DAILY basis) are saying it's too early. You cannot compare Houston traffic to some place like Naples or even Tampa or Miami for that matter. Esp. with 100,000+ new residents in town and full shelters.

Stud · #27 Postby **Stud** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:31 pm

This is not too early. As others have pointed out Galveston has a lot of people with one way out. With the storm expected to be around that area Saturday people would start leaving at a critical time too close to the ETA of the storm. If you live in Houston or have been to Houston on a Friday afternoon you understand how bad the traffic is. Trying to get 2 million + people out of Houston in 24 hours would be an absolute nightmare. It takes me an hour to get from Baytown to Tomball at noon, when traffic is light. It's a question of logistics and taking responsiblity to ensure that the citizens of the area are safe. Screw the aspect of money ... you can't put a value on a life.

soonertwister · #28 Postby **soonertwister** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:31 pm

It takes a long time to evacuate Galveston Island, I'm sure that the voluntary this early is to give notice to the population that there is potentially a real threat of a dangerous hurricane in the area, and that evacuating earlier is an option to be considered, especially considering that there are so many people displaced from Katrina now in the Houston metro area.

What few hotel rooms are available probably have dwindled to nearly nothing by early reservations. Houston is a massive city, with 4.5 million plus people, and if Rita starts acting like Katrina, you'd better believe that it will be desirable to get out early.

So in summary, an advisory to consider getting out ahead of the crush, just in case, seems like a wise a prudent action to me. It also alerts those thinking of staying to start their hurricane preparations now.

HoumaLa · #29 Postby **HoumaLa** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:32 pm

Please Be safe than sorry.

ConvergenceZone · #30 Postby **ConvergenceZone** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:34 pm

Hopefully people will take this seriously. Even though this is forecast to only be a weak cat 3 due to all of the dry air in the gulf, a weak cat 3 can still do alot of damage!!! I just hope alot of folks take it seriously, and not ignore it just because it doesn't suppose to be a cat 4 or cat 5.

#31 Postby **Houstonia** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:51 pm

Emergency email network has set up a website with Texas Rita information:

http://www.emergencyemail.org/rita22005.asp

Latest Hou/Galv AFD tells us to be prepared http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php?pil=HGXAFDHGX:

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
336 PM CDT MON SEP 19 2005

.DISCUSSION...
WITH A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER SE TX THIS AFTERNOON...THE NEXT
FEW DAYS LOOK TO REMAIN HOT AND DRY. THE MODELS HAVE BEEN A BIT
SQUIRRELLY...ESPECIALLY BEYOND DAY 3. AM A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT HOW
THEY ARE BREAKING THE RIDGE DOWN...BUT THERE DOES APPEAR TO BE A
PATTERN CHANGE TRYING TO OCCUR.

THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF THE FORECAST WILL BE FAIRLY PERSISTENT. THE
TRACK OF RITA WILL DETERMINE WHAT OCCURS BEYOND WEDNESDAY...THUS
THE FORECAST CONFIDENCE LEVEL IS LOW FOR THE UPCOMING WEEKEND.
WILL GO WITH A DEGREE OR TWO HIGHER OVER SOME OF THE INLAND AREAS
TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AND INTRODUCE ISOLATED POPS OVER THE GULF
WATERS FOR TUESDAY. BASICALLY FOLLOWED THE CURRENT FORECAST BEYOND
WEDNESDAY.

FOR ANY OF THE PUBLIC WHO FOLLOW OUR FORECAST DISCUSSIONS...A
THOUGHT ON THE TRACK OF RITA. PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW JUST THE POINT
TO POINT TRACK FORECAST. THE ERROR CONE WIDENS DRAMATICALLY BEYOND
THE DAY 3 FORECAST (72 HOURS). THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION AT THIS
TIME TO IS BE PREPARED. IF YOU LIVE AT OR NEAR THE COAST...YOUR
PREPARATIONS SHOULD INCLUDE WHAT DO TO IF YOU NEED TO EVACUATE.
PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT FROM THIS
OFFICE. YOU WILL ALSO WANT TO REFER TO THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM
THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER. BOTH ARE ACCESSIBLE FROM THE
HOUSTON/GALVESTON NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE AT
http://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/HGX.

PL-40

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
COLLEGE STATION (CLL) 74 99 74 100 74 / 0 0 0 0 0
HOUSTON (IAH) 75 95 75 96 75 / 0 0 0 0 0
GALVESTON (GLS) 80 90 81 91 81 / 0 0 0 0 10

&&

.HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...NONE.
GM...NONE.

gratefulnole · #32 Postby **gratefulnole** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:52 pm

It isn't like people run to their car and get on the highway immediately when an evac order is made. This gives them time to plan and pack without panicing.

#33 Postby **bvigal** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:52 pm

Wow, this boggles the mind. I haven't been to Houston in 35 years. But when I was a kid, my grandparents lived there, and we visited them twice a year. Every visit we went at least once to Galveston to fish off the pier. BACK THEN it was a long trip, and Houston was the most stretched out city. I since heard it's the largest geographical city in the U.S. The thought of that many people trying to drive from Galveston THROUGH Houston, is easy to believe a 'big one' could be at least 24 hrs of road time to safely evac! :eek:

soonertwister · #34 Postby **soonertwister** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:58 pm

Anyone considering staying should read the information at this link about the 1943 surprise hurricane that hit Houston.

It was a relatively weak hurricane with estimated sustained winds in the 80's, and the population was only 600 thousand then.

http://www.houstontx.gov/oem/1943.html

artist · #35 Postby **artist** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:12 pm

it has been a few years since I have been there ass well but just during rush hour it can take you an hour to get 10 miles! That is only with the local work traffic - it is far worse than Dallas and that is very very very bad!

StormWarning1 · #36 Postby **StormWarning1** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:46 pm

The 1943 hurricane probably gets the upgrade to a major when the re-analysis project gets around to that storm. Lots of data supports a CAT 3.
It was typical of July GOM major hurricnes, small in diameter and a very compact wind field. Similar to a July hurricane that hit Freeport in 1932.

#37 Postby **patgaz** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:56 pm

GalvestonDuck wrote:
inotherwords wrote:Late Weds/early Thurs seems prudent if the track holds. Today and tomorrow seem premature to me, though.

But it's voluntary after all, so people can do what they want even without any kind of formal announcement.

Look at a map, gang.

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps.py?&addr=&csz=Galveston,TX

Island...one route (the causeway) off the island....leads to I-45 that heads northwest towards Houston. Then all those people near the bay (League City, Texas City, Kemah, Webster) have to leave also and they'll be joining us on the busy interstate.

And look at an evacuation map.
http://www.cityofgalveston.org/_private ... p_6_05.pdf
Once we do get off the island or away from the bay, we still can only go northwest on I-45 until we're north of Houston.

The earlier, the better.

Furthermore, just because landfall is forecast for early Saturday morning doesn't mean we won't start feeling effects before then. Rainbands can make some streets impassable.

Not to mention they close the causeway when the winds hit 39mph..
I'm leaving Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

#38 Postby **simplykristi** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:46 pm

I don't think it is too premature to call for a voluntary evacuation for Galveston Island. I think it is better to be safe than sorry.

Kristi

#39 Postby **collegebroke** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:48 pm

Another thing that most people don't realize is that besides I-35, the other evac route is Hwy 6. There is massive road construction all along Hwy 6 to the north past Sugar Land. This will slow things dramatically if people wait to evacuate. There's not much in the way of empty hotel rooms around the area anyway...... looks like a good time for a vacation to Arizona :wink:

#40 Postby **Houstonia** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 11:20 pm

collegebroke wrote:Another thing that most people don't realize is that besides I-35, the other evac route is Hwy 6. There is massive road construction all along Hwy 6 to the north past Sugar Land. This will slow things dramatically if people wait to evacuate. There's not much in the way of empty hotel rooms around the area anyway...... looks like a good time for a vacation to Arizona

I think I will take a vaction to Arizona - UNTIL NOVEMBER IS OVER!!

:eek:

KHOU.Com - Galveston Mayor announcement

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