My God what a Mess!

[wlfpack81]

IMO they should've started contraflow earlier and started it from Houston instead of farther north in Conroe. f5 I too hope Rita doesn't fool all of us and come back in somewhere between just south of Galveston to just north of Galveston. With all the people turning around to head back home it would be a mess.

BTW anyone have any idea of what the Humble area is like? I've never been to Houston so I don't know much about the make up of that area.

[Roxy]

Canebo are you riding it out in League City? You are certainly safer there than in traffic right now.


I am kind of pissed because so many people who didn't NEED to leave left, now they are crowding the roads and using all the gas. I know people are freaked out because of Katrina but this could be really bad.

Yes, I'm on the West side of League City.We didn't flood here during Allison, so with it moving farther east the storm surge is less of a threat. We are in the Cat 4 storm surge evac zone here.

Ellington is a good place to be. They are flying out some people that they could not bus out earlier there. They also have Natl Guard, HPD airport officers, Coast Guard, and other resources there. If somehow it went to heck very fast, you are close to many people whose job it is to help you.

Almost anything is better than being on the road right now. My neighbor made it to Wharton and is coming back. He has about 100 miles worth of gas left and 200 miles to reach his evac destination. He has contacted all of the PD's in that area and they all said NO gas in the direction he is headed for at least 100 miles. They will have to rip up the evac plans here and start fresh after this mess.

Stay safe everyone who is staying behind. Prayers for all of those stuck on the roads somwhere running low on gas, time, water and patience.

Well the west side of LC is probably better than other areas.

We are also in an Cat 4 evac zone, and our house actually backs up to Ellington, so if it goes to heck...hopefully we can flag help down. But I am really praying it doesn't come to that.

Good luck to you Canebo, and all those riding it out.

[Shoshana]

Local authorities were way too late in implementing contraflow lanes!

I feel so sorry for these people. They are running out of gas sitting in traffic. This is just ridiculous.

Good luck in Bellaire, Katdaddy. A good friend of mine is hunkering down in Meyerland near you. I'm hoping if it goes in north of Houston you will be spared the worst of it.

People evacuated much sooner than expected - the officials overlapped the different area mandatory and voluntary evacusations so the people in mandatory evacuation zones got caught in more traffic. Once an area went to mandatory, they were supposed to leave using their predrawn evac route - not everyone is doin that. Plus, lots of voluntary evacs headed out at the same time. And lots of people not in any evac zone packed up and left.

Yeah, they should have had contraflow earlier, maybe overnight but they couldn't have done it earlier yesterday without disrupting regular rush hour traffic. Today was the day businesses and schools were closing.


I-10 and I-45 should ease up once the contraflow starts working - then all the people on the fence and on the boundaries of evac areas who haven't left should leave - once the traffic is flowing again it will mean they have time to get out.

[Roxy]

I-10 and I-45 should ease up once the contraflow starts working - then all the people on the fence and on the boundaries of evac areas who haven't left should leave - once the traffic is flowing again it will mean they have time to get out.

Well, if they can find gas...

[sma10]

I have spent 2 days preparing and on the road. We left League City at 7PM last night and got to Highway 6 and Bellaire at 12:15AM! We stayed at my co-workers house last night and back on the road at 7AM. At 11:40AM I was in Katy. At that point with no movement, low gas, and a overheating baby I said screw it!. Back at my co-workers house in Bellaire for the duration. The worst traffic jam I have ever seen. It like this all over SE TX. Cell phone networks unable to handle the call load is extremely frustration.

Yesterday was hell enough putting up storm panels and packing what is important to in a 12 hour period. This has been very trying time for KatDaddy and Mrs KatDaddy.

Whew KatDaddy sounds like you've had a heckuva bad 2 days!

It's scary to think how much worse it would have been if that high pressure ridge hadn't been there to protect Texas!

[Shoshana]

The state is bringing in fuel trucks and supposedly be fueling up motorists who have run out of gas. I can't quite figure out how that will work tho.

[Roxy]

The state is bringing in fuel trucks and supposedly be fueling up motorists who have run out of gas. I can't quite figure out how that will work tho.

Well the TxDot lady pretty much said the same thing; she is not sure how it'll work. She even admits she is having a hard time finding gas.

I think it'll be too little too late.

[huricanwatcher]

The state is bringing in fuel trucks and supposedly be fueling up motorists who have run out of gas. I can't quite figure out how that will work tho.

are they gonna fuel the cars where they sit ...... cause that mess... no going forward no going back.... bring it to them!! they made this mess

[Roxy]

The state is bringing in fuel trucks and supposedly be fueling up motorists who have run out of gas. I can't quite figure out how that will work tho.

are they gonna fuel the cars where they sit ...... cause that mess... no going forward no going back.... bring it to them!! they made this mess

I think that's the plan but they are only providing a gallon or two to get people off the road and out of the way of traffic, but that hasn't begun yet and seems unlikely, IMO.

[IsaacsStorm]

yeah, it took me nearly 6 hours to get from the clear lake area to sugarland last night. im so thankful i have a place to stay now.... i feel so awful for the people still stuck in that nightmare traffic.

there is no excuse for it to have taken this long to start contraflow, IMO. it doesnt take a genius to figure out that there will be traffic issues when 2 million people or so are trying to leave town

[sponger]

I feel for all of you. Hurricane Floyd taught me to always have enough gas cans to refill your tank. My wife and I spent 8 hours on the road, used 1/4 tank and got no where.

Now if I leave, I have a full tank plus another in cans, if I stay, I can run the generator for 5 days. Empty gas gans are a must have for any hurricane kit. I bought one for 5 bucks every time at Home Depot and before you know it your ready for the big one!

[dolebot_Broward_NW]

Yeah... it's been on the news as well. Jim Cantore just said you can walk faster than the traffic is moving.

Very close to my actual plan in case a 4 or 5 is bearing down on south FL with 36 hours to go. I have two bicycles. My wife and I throw them in the car with the rest of the stuff, and if the traffic gets too bad (ie we don't get a good 100 miles up the road in 8 hours), we get out and ride the bikes north. You can get a good 15mph EASY going on a bike, and that'll get ya 100 miles in 8 hours for sure. Do that for 24 and hopefully we are out of the danger zone.

[KatDaddy]

Well it has been a hellva 2 days!!! I am currently having some some stiff drinks that are well needed. Take care Canebo and Roxy. I just had to relax and ready for Rita leave us alone.

[Roxy]

Well it has been a hellva 2 days!!! I am currently having some some stiff drinks that are well needed. Take care Canebo and Roxy. I just had to relax and ready for Rita leave us alone.

Cheers! I know what you mean!

[kevin]

Yeah... it's been on the news as well. Jim Cantore just said you can walk faster than the traffic is moving.

Very close to my actual plan in case a 4 or 5 is bearing down on south FL with 36 hours to go. I have two bicycles. My wife and I throw them in the car with the rest of the stuff, and if the traffic gets too bad (ie we don't get a good 100 miles up the road in 8 hours), we get out and ride the bikes north. You can get a good 15mph EASY going on a bike, and that'll get ya 100 miles in 8 hours for sure. Do that for 24 and hopefully we are out of the danger zone.

Be sure to bring a gun. That's all I'm going to say, as someone who knows how people respond to smart people who have something they need.

[huricanwatcher]

god...... did you just set reality in....... how mean things get in dire straights

[Houstonia]

Well it is beyond insane...

It's to the point that there should be a call to STOP evacuating...

This time tomorrow evening the absolute worse case scenario may be unfolding if the track deviates to the west...

They have. they said if you are thinking about evacuating now, it's too late and you should be prepared to shelter in place. This was announced on the news earlier this evening.

It's zero time in Houston. And it's eerie, 'cause there's no traffic, all the stores are closed and the only place that is active are the freeways bound with people trying to get out...

[SouthFLTropics]

Here is a link from http://www.floridasturnpike.com as to what Florida DOT plans on doing in the event of a major Cat 4 or 5 striking Southern Florida. Of course all plans don't always go as planned during a crisis but it seems like we have a pretty decent plan in place including the mentioned use of tankers along the roadway to fuel up stranded motorist...Fortunately we havn't had to use this system yet but most likely we will have to someday. Only time will tell. But I will say one thing, being in road construction and engineering myself, it appears that across the country we still have alot to learn when it comes to moving alot of people in a short amount of time.

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/turnpikepio/ ... aFlow.html

SouthFLTropics

[jeffscout]

Please remember, this is an unheard of evacuation. There are over 4 million people in Houston, it's a huge city. Add in Victoria, Corpus, Beaumont, etc. and there just aren't enough roads to evacuate several million people. You've also got a TON of people that did not feel safe with an impending hurricane based on what they saw with Katrina.

Regarding the contraflow plan, they possibly could have started it at 8:00 AM this morning, but not much earlier than that. You have to keep in mind that the VAST majority of Houston area residents had to work yesterday. You can't start contraflow on Wednesday because many of the people that had to work would not be able to get home. I do think they could have started it a little earlier today, but not yesterday. Again, there is a mass hysteria with people evacuating that are 90+ miles from the GOM. When I lived in Wilmington, NC, people evacuated FROM the coast TO a place 90 miles inland.

My wife and I decided last night that we were better off to weather the storm in our house than in our car. We are in Sugar Land, just south of the Brazos and heard multiple horror stories of how long people were stuck in traffic and how many of them waited for 6 hours only to turn back home.

My big concern now is that this beast stalls out or drastically slows inland and we suffer from great inland flooding.

[Canebo]

Well it has been a hellva 2 days!!! I am currently having some some stiff drinks that are well needed. Take care Canebo and Roxy. I just had to relax and ready for Rita leave us alone.

Thanks KatDaddy. Have one for me . I'll post here after she passes Saturday regarding our conditions or as soon as the power is back on. I have a few minor things left to do tomorrow, but everything is battened down for the most part. Take care and stay safe.