Comments on: Texas Is Evacuating The Coast

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:02:29 +0000

If you drove up I-65, like I did, you could have enjoyed the light show as the heavy rains shorted out electrical substations, and then you could stop every so often to haul the chain saw out of the back of the truck to clear a tree off the road so you could continue.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:10:46 +0000

we went to tennessee for opal, and just barely dodged the tornadoes that followed us. saw lots and lots of tornado damage to the trees on i-65 in alabama on the way home.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:13:11 +0000

Two days before Katrina was forecast to land it was headed right at me over here, but it moved further West and landed at the Miss-La border. I was 12 hours from leaving when it continued to move West.

We have one road to the North that becomes a single lane in Alabama.

My Mother got directed towards Atlanta during Opal and had the damn following her the whole way. Things got really dicey when a tornado touched down near the evacuation route.

Around here you have to leave early or stick it out. I got her out for Ivan and then came back to take care of things.

You just don’t want to be in a city with no traffic lights or air conditioning for days or weeks.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:05:07 +0000

you know that someone lives in florida if they have no more than $20 worth of food in their freezer and refrigerator.

cash, water, full gas tank, pet food [and cat litter]. paper plates, plasticware, paper towels and bleach. medicines. and more cash.

i used to keep a couple weeks worth of non-perishable food, but i’ve pared that down to only a few days worth [whatever i’d want to carry in a backpack if i had to evacuate]. up to a category 3, and maybe a low category 4, most of the stores here are going to reopen in a day or so, and trucks bringing more food will get through shortly after that. big bad category4/5 and i’m outta here, so no need to leave lots of food behind to get washed away in the storm.

lots and lots and lots of people rode out opal sitting in their cars on the clogged-up highways. i’m amazed scads of them weren’t killed. the only way to avoid that kind of gridlock is to evacuate early, which means looking silly if the hurricane changes course. better silly than dead.

ivan was supposed to hit new orleans, and veered over here at the last minute. i forget what the number was but something like 100,000 [more?] left new orleans [late] and ended up stranded on the highways for 20+ hours. fortunately for them, ivan gave them a pass. i’ve often wondered if that ‘dry run’ [people complained mightily about having to leave for nothing] played into how the katrina evacuation was [non]handled the following year.