help me, i'm drowning

@shewolfnm,

Please watch the entire video in this link. It explains why people didn't leave. They were told not to.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080909_tj_galveston_evacuations_west_end.5df47ae7.html

They were also told that it was too late to call for a mandatory evacuation and that the residents of the city of Galveston should stay home. The most telling info is in the Q&A from about 1/3 of the way through the feed to the end.

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@dyslexia,

What angers me so much is that the rescurers are putting their own lives at risk to rescue the fools.

BBB

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

I wish I could find the clip where Mayor Thomas vehemently denied reports that refusal to leave the island could result in certain death. There is little or no urgency in any of her announcements. She stated on Wednesday that it was too late to call for a mandatory evacuation of the entire island and then did so Thursday morning after the workday had begun and most people were at work.

There are legal implications in Texas when calling for a mandatory evacuation that they were not prepared to meet and knew full well on Thursday when they told everyone to get out of dodge that it was too late for that to happen. They also knew that they did not have shelter facilities available for the residents to flee to that are required by Texas code when calling for a mandatory evacuation. The video in the link above clearly indicates that on Wednesday night the residents of Galveston were told to go to the grocery store and go home, that it was too late to call for a mandatory evacuation, that none of them wanted a repeat of Rita, that this was a Cat 2 or 3 storm, that most of the buildings on the island could withstand a Cat 2 or 3 storm, that they were only looking to evacuation a handful of people to a shelter, that should they need to evacuate the entire island they had an agreement with Austin to shelter 4000 people (pretty good for a city of 58,000 and an island much higher than that), that they didn't want to take a chance on wasting tax-payers money by calling for a mandatory evacuation on Wednesday.

From the State of Texas Hurricane Evacuation and Mass Care Plan (pg 16, item 4)
(ftp://ftp.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/plan_state/hurr_evac_shelter_state_plan.pdf

I agree that the rescuers are the ones being put at risk by the decisions made by the residents of Galveston island, but I think those who want to participate in name-calling should spread it around to all who deserve it.

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@JPB,

I missed watching these because I dont have sound on my computer right now.

if it proves my ideas wrong, then I apologize for accusing anyone.
Since I do not have tv, I dont get local news unless I am searching it on my computer.

The only time I searched was when Husband said he could not go.
So in two days, what I may have thought I knew, could very well have changed.

( sucks on toes)

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@JPB,

Thanks for all the clarifying, JPB. This also underlines your earlier comments about the present emphasis primarily on the cat numbers.

I did see interviews in various places about Galvenston people and the island's history, and the islanders' spunkiness or foolishness about staying, but this puts that in context.

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Yikes! So it sounds like it was badly mismanaged, yes? Or at least highly underestimated.

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@littlek,

I don't know, littlek. I said on the other thread that people make decisions for the reasons that they make them. That includes the officials of Galveston who were trying to make the right call and possibly failed. There were many residents who indicated that their experience with Rita (where they were stranded on highways for hours in horrendous conditions) convinced them never to attempt another evacuation.

There's lots of opportunity to second guess someone's decisions, be it the local official's or the local resident's. It is the rescuers who have to go into the mess and help deal with the aftermath. I also said on the other thread that inviting/allowing the media to stay during a 'mandatory' evacuation sends entirely the wrong message to the residents. How dangerous can it be if every news organization in the country is sending in it's top people and all of it's expensive equipment?

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@JPB,

Has anyone here ever had to go to a shelter? I had to do so when hurricane Frances was predicted to hit my area. I won't bore you with all the details, but it was the worst experience of my life. JPB is absolutely correct. One must know the relevant details and nuances of such emergencies.

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These folks left their homes at 4 AM Saturday morning - 22 hours before landfall.

Quote:

The group of more than 20 people thought they had left their homes in Galveston County in plenty of time to beat Hurricane Ike's expected arrival. But as they got into their cars at 4 a.m. Saturday and caravanned out of town, they quickly realized their timing was off.

One by one their cars were topped by waves and shoved around. As each car stopped running, they'd pile into the remaining vehicles. Eventually they ran out of cars and had to walk off the peninsula. http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou080914_tj_crystal_beach_bolivar_damage_ike.7a0a4be9.html

Gilchrist is gone -- wiped out. Neighboring Crystal Beach before and after.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c47/cnc66/camera%20stuff/hurricane%20stuff/CyrstalBeach3before.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c47/cnc66/camera%20stuff/hurricane%20stuff/388.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c47/cnc66/camera%20stuff/hurricane%20stuff/CrystalBeach31.jpg

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@JPB,

There's a guy out on a barrier island holed up in church with his pet LION.

Apparently, the rescuers aren't too interested in finding him.

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A first-responder weighs in (from WU blog)

Quote:

I HAVE TO say this...

From an ex-EMS worker (ME).

We do what we do because we LOVE it. We dont sit in judgement of the circumstances that brought us and this person that needs our help..we are glad that we can be there and maybe do our little part to ease someone's suffering....howEVER they came by it.

We (I know I certainly never did) don't see ourselves as being 'put out' by the "frequent flyer"...the drunk that we know by his first name that we get calls on every few days by someone that sees them laying on the street somewhere and calls us. We don't feel 'put out' by the calls we get of shortness of breath that are anxiety attacks, not cardiopulmonary events...I could go on. There are lots of calls we get that some might think we SHOULD feel 'put out' for getting......The fact of the matter is, most of us DON'T. This is our JOB. This is what we DO. And we do it...because we LOVE doing it.

Just thought, since there seem to be posts about this, I'd offer another perspective.

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@dyslexia,

I agree - they should have to at the very least pay.

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@Green Witch,

yeah - how much forceful do you have to be?

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@Letty,

letty wrote :

Quote:

Has anyone here ever had to go to a shelter?

growing up during the war in germany finding a shelter was pretty much a "routine affair'".
and i know from our british friends that it wasn't much different for them !
if you wanted to have any hope of survival , you pretty well went to any shelter available when the sirens sounded . some were simple tunnels dug into the ground others were huge concrete underground or above ground shelters - you took whatever was available - even children learned quickly !
when parts of a city or whole cities had to be evacuated , people moved any way they could : on foot , on bicycles , hitching a ride ... just get out !
hbg

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@Linkat,

If anything can be learned from these storms it is that nothing is ever for sure. My Mom and Dad's river house NEVER flooded. For well over 50 years, through Camille and a direct hit from category 3 Frederick, as well as others. But Katrina - the storm that hit two hours west gutted it. Now when I see the storms come into the gulf my gut feeling says get out while you can. Have things ready to protect your house the best you can and find a place to be until it is over. In my book, when it comes to hurricanes, there is no such thing as a sure thing and staying safe is your best bet. That would mean dragging your behind away from there.

Anyway - it is a shame most folks have to learn the hard way. It does make me sad to see all the devastation. I do hope the Galveston officials know now never to take a chance. That is a horrible chance to take with so many lives at stake. Though I will say - I am a person of average intelligence - I am pretty sure if someone told me to write my SS# on my arm in waterproof ink - I would not have stayed.

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@mismi,

True about hindsite - but these rescuers risk their own lives to save others even when they are told mandatory. I think it is reasonable to expect them to pay for the expenses. Whether they are able to afford it after all the flooding who knows.

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do you guys know about the hurricane coming in on florida and them?
it is said to be REALLY big.

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@littlek,

pdiddie's blog links to this blog with recent discussion of media blackout

http://www.burntorangereport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6798

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@ehBeth,

copied from the WU blog

Quote:

Greetings from Houston. Still without power making me the most popular guy on the block with extension cords running from my house. I am at about 80% load right now but should be down to normal as more generators are appearing. I was the only one on my block with one and I know of 3 more that have been purchased with a couple more coming in today. We are taking care of each other. Gas is a big problem. Gas stations are out because of power and the ones with power are not getting a steady supply despite promises that gas was pre-staged. People line up at stations with power and just wait for the trucks. Power could be out for weeks,

Everyone I know made it through ok. Lots of damage. My Dad's house a tree through the middle of it.

FEMA needs to get its act together. PODS (Points of Distribution) were given to FEMA and when no supplies showed up, FEMA decided that it was the City and County's job to distribute. That is not what they said before the storm. Also, FEMA was supposed to come in and relieve First Responders and feed them. That did not happen and first responders (God Bless em) worked for 60 hours straight at least and citizens were feeding them.

Galveston is a mess and since there are restrictions on reporters we still do not have the full story. There is a news blackout as no city employee is allowed to talk to reporters. There are also restrictions on reporters, they can not broadcast any images of bodies. (Election year) So there might be quite a tragedy in Galveston that has not been reported yet.

I did hear one survivor from the west end describing floating in the water hanging on a beam of some sort and they lost people that were hanging on with them.

Not much more to say except Houston is a strong community. We take care of each other. We are self reliant as much as possible. Some great acts of heroism will never be told but they happened all over the area.

Wind at my house was sustained 59 mph with gust to 88. We got lucky.

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@dyslexia,

Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas is completely incompetent. Galveston (like New Orleans) is a time bomb and every last person who lives there knows it. Thomas’s idiocy, however, does little to absolve the residents’ responsibility to think for themselves. I don't know specifically who all has the power to trump the mayor's authority; but they collectively dropped the ball badly too. Ultimately, their combined gross incompetence seems to have gone relatively lightly punished... but the simple truth is: Had this storm got stronger instead of weaker, tens of thousands of lives could easily have been lost. And this will come up again.

It is high time legislation gets passed that:
A. Mandates that authorities err on the side of caution during these imminently predictable events. Gambling on dodging such bullets is tantamount to idiocy.

B. Criminalizes acts of defiance against evacuation orders (including serious felony charges for any A-hole who fails to make every effort to get their kids out.)

C. Forces coastal dwellers to largely foot the bill for their own insurance needs. (Coastal living is either a privilege worth paying for or it isn't, but it most certainly isn't a birthright.)

D. Includes a time-deadline assistance package to assist those who lack the funds or desire to remain high risk coastal residents under the new laws.

1 Reply

help me, i'm drowning

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