Evacuating large cities

Been there, done that.

Don't miss it a bit.

Best-Laid Plans Weren't Enough in Texas
By ERIN McCLAM, AP National Writer

The Herald

>>>In an age of terrorist danger and with memories of the nightmare in New Orleans still fresh, the Texas exodus raises a troubling question: Can any American city empty itself safely and quickly?<<<

Do you want Comfort or Truth?

Comfort: sure we can, with some planning and everyone staying cool and collected, it can be done.

Truth: NO

Just think how quickly some "disasters" occur! Hurricanes give you a short time period to plan and do. But if you wait until the last minute, you get stuck in the above. Shoot, the freeways use to look like this every evening starting at 5 p.m. when I lived there 7 years ago. Can only imagine how much more they are congested now.

>>>Houston is a landlocked city, an hour's drive from the Gulf of Mexico. Besides Houston's 4 million people fleeing, as many as 2 million were trying to get out through Houston from the coastal side.<<<

I remember Houston being nearly 6 million when I lived there. ??? Wonder if they had added in all of us surrounding areas~~coastal and land locked side back then......?

I love the coast. It is truly one of the most beautiful areas. But I do not miss the stress of hurricane season~~especially when it is one storm after another. That kind of stress justs takes its toll on a body.

>>>Rita and her hellish predecessor, Katrina, come in the new age of terror, as authorities try to draw up plans for clearing out cities in the event of deadly strikes with unconventional weapons.<<<

Good luck. I just don't see how that is feasible. I could not begin to imagine a place such as New York City trying to evacuate.

>>>Still, experts say the massive coastal zone that needs to be cleared of people before a major hurricane is far larger than the area to be evacuated after an industrial accident or a terror attack. In the event of a nuclear accident, federal rules require the evacuation of a 10-mile radius around the plant. After a so-called "dirty bomb" nuclear detonation or the release of chemical or biological weapons, only the region immediately downwind of the release point would have to be cleared. <<<

Well, I think I would want to go anyway.....if Chernobyl in 1986 threatened the United States, then I just don't want to be anywhere near ground zero......

>>>Brian Wolshon, a professor of civil engineering at Louisiana State University,added: "It's not economically or environmentally feasible to build enough roads to evacuate a city the size of Houston in a short time and with no congestion. It's just not going to happen." <<<>

And feeling safe? Is priceless.

Top of Page