Family Forum / Parenting / Mothers / September 2005

Right, which is why the governor is offering to help people get out- really
so there is NO excuse. Highways are clogged but it's better to sit in
traffic on the highway than to decide to stay home! Airlines aren't really a
very good alternative but it sounds like tomorrow they are shutting down the
airport and using all of the planes to get the 9,000 (and growing) people
that need to be evacuated out. We won't go into the idiots who take a
tragedy like this and use it to their own benefit- they are ALREADY price
gauging gas and other items.

All I am saying is that there really is NOT an excuse this time. There is
alternative after alternative and the state and local government are telling
the people they will help. If people don't ask for their help, they are
putting THEMSELVES in this situation. While it is harsh to tell them not to
expect help immediately following the hurricane, it's reality. When you have
options out there and your refuse to take them, the government can only do
so much. I think people who have alternatives and choose not to take them
are very selfish.

Hopefully, though, people have learned and are using the help the government
has offered and getting OUT! I am not hearing as many stories as I did
pre-Katrina about people staying for this miniscule reason or that. Sadly it
took something so devastating as Katrina for people to learn.

I am crossing my fingers on this one. There are all different reports with
people saying it could lessen to a Cat3 and others saying the winds might
get stronger before landfall. All I know is that it is a MONSTER storm
(looks even scarier than Katrina on radar) and I really feel for those in
its path.

-Kara.

lots of equally stupid mistakes being made by the
"authorities" in this case too.
BTW, if you can get streaming audio, NPR has tapes of the
phone meetings prior to Katrina that show just how badly the
governor & mayors/parish presidents in Louisiana were lied to.
the taped meetings start 3 days *before* the storm. it's sad.

Galveston was requested to evacuate starting Wednesday. they
were *ordered* to evacuate yesterday, but there was already a
huge jam by then. Houston residents that didn't evacuate
Wednesday morning basicly don't have a choice. they're stuck.
better to be stuck in a house than on the road in a car
though.
lee

I trust them because I, personally, heard them say it in their press
conferences. It's up to the people to LISTEN. No, I don't think this is
going to prevent ALL deaths but it is MILES beyond where Texas' neighbors
were 3 weeks ago.

They've been trying to evacuate people from Galveston for the past 3-4 days
at least- offering government help and sending busloads out for the entire
duration. The clogged highway situation is very scary, yes, but it's still
NOT an excuse not to leave.

-Kara.

Same here, either the traffic will clear in which case you can do that
45 miles in less than an hour or it wont and you'd be stuck in that
awful heat with lots of fear and uncertainty as to if you'd make it out
of the jam with enough gas to get anywhere useful. There is no point in
sitting in a car all day getting nowhere.

What a toss up.  I dont' know.  I remember a family in NOLA that knew the
road would certainly kill their family member who needed round the clock
oxygen.  They couldn't get enough to be on the road for days so they stayed.
Alot to consider in a situation like this.  It is certainly cooler now than
it was when K hit LA but still way too hot to sit on a road.  Hope they have
water.

Anni

Yes, in Houston, *maybe*. However, if my house were in Galveston- NO WAY!

-Kara.