We attended the Houston/Galveston Hurricane Workshop yesterday at the George R. Brown Convention Center and learned a lot. Most importantly, the evacuation planning is light years ahead.
Also, remember that period over the last 50 years where we only had a handful of hurricanes? Yeah, those were the good old days. According to National Hurricane Center forecaster Stacy Stewart, we're at the start of a 15 to 20 year cycle of more frequent and intense storms. Bummer.
As for the evacuations, they're going to put the emphasis on I-10, I-45 and US 290 for Houston residents with US-59 north of town reserved for East Texas residents. Houstonist doesn't recommend taking US 290 as it bunches up around Brenham where it goes down to one lane.
More info after the jump...
The state has worked with local jurisdictions and private parties to provide free gas (for those near E), medical service, water and other necessities every 50 miles. Which is a good idea they should have had long ago (may have prevented a few of those 137 evacuation related deaths).
They also emphasized running from the water and bracing for the wind, i.e., leaving if there is a threat of flooding but perhaps staying if there's only a risk of some minor wind damage. If there is a wind damage threat you could hide in one of those mini shelters (if you're nuts), but in a flooding situation it's just a floating coffin in our opinion.
Finally, they mentioned that we've got more at-risk people than the government can likely handle so its great if citizens can help evacuate friends and neighbors who lack cars or the ability to drive long distances. If you don't have the ability to get yourself out of the city (or know someone who can't) they can call 2-1-1 and get their name on a statewide database.
For more information, check out following websites:
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