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Hurricane Ike: People Not Evacuating Face "Certain Death"

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Dirtbag

Member
captive said:
True. I have been saying througout this thread that it wouldnt be the same and that its not the same.
But a lot of people want to blame Bush for everything with Katrina, its not Bush's fault that so many citizens disobeyed orders to leave. It wasnt his fault the levees broke and that New Orleans is under sea level.

say what you want about him as a president, but all the failures of katrina almost none of them are his fault.

Generators are being brought in from all over the state. People are being brought in from all over the state and neighboring states.
Galveston actually has a 90 day cash reserve and passed a law that allows them to borrow 20 million without any referendums.

Well one thing is for certain.
We knew the levees wouldnt hold anything above cat 3, and there were complaints about water seepage into peoples' backyards all along the levee - documented for a year and a half prior to Katrina, and nothing was done locally or federally (the levees were engineered by the Corps of Engineers and federal).

There is plenty of blame to go around, but its no single entities fault.

I just get really touchy hearing so many armchair critiques by people who don't look at the full story. It's such a complex situation, and I'm already watching history tell the story incorrectly.
 

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
200qk28.jpg
 

mAcOdIn

Member
Dirtbag 504 said:
And if that hurricane hadn't shifted slighty in the night, you would have seen a higher death toll in Galveston then you did for Katrina.

I don't think any of that matters. I think the outlook of most Texans, as well as most small town folk are alot different than people from big cities. Further, I don't think you'd see any Texans, despite having way more guns than Louisiana, shooting at rescue choppers.

Of course there's probably lots of other things at work as well, economic demographics, distribution of wealth in the state, State government not totally incompetent, etc etc.
 

mAcOdIn

Member
Hitokage said:
Clever wit and a can-do spirit mean jack shit if you're trapped on a coastal area covered with 20 feet of water.
I'm talking about rebuilding and who could weather a disaster better, not who can hold their breath longer while sitting in their attic filled with water. It's not like I'm saying this was nothing short of terrible, or that NO was nothing short of terrible, I'm just saying the area will rebuild.
 

Dega

Eeny Meenie Penis
The heavy rain right now is the cold front that was said to come in after Ike. Gonna be raining for awhile.
 

tedtropy

$50/hour, but no kissing on the lips and colors must be pre-separated
By some bizarre luck, my apartment in the North Shore area has power. Guess it figures that the bachelor dude with no family/kid would have electricity. My brother, his wife and kid are "hunkering" down here now. Still no Internet, so I'm just using a spotty off-and-on connection via my cellphone as a modem.

We were fortunate for the most part. None of my family that I'm aware of has been hurt. Although some of my friend's family has basically lost everything. About the worst I've seen happened to my folk's cars...

iw6749.jpg
 

Dirtbag

Member
mAcOdIn said:
I don't think any of that matters. I think the outlook of most Texans, as well as most small town folk are alot different than people from big cities. Further, I don't think you'd see any Texans, despite having way more guns than Louisiana, shooting at rescue choppers.

Of course there's probably lots of other things at work as well, economic demographics, distribution of wealth in the state, State government not totally incompetent, etc etc.
Oh whatever dude.

Sure it's different, your a different city and their wouldn't be standing waters in houston like there was in New Orleans, a major factor limiting the long arm of the law and hurting rescue efforts causing things to escalate quickly. Imagine a police officer that can't respond to any calls because he is flooded into his area.. and basically has to do his beat on foot. Then how do you arrest someone, where do you take them? What do you do with this criminal now that you've got him, catching a criminal just makes that single police officer even more immobile. Also, the entire cell phone network went down in New Orleans for days, another factor most fail to realize... basically cutting everyone off from each other and limiting communications.

The bottom line is, no hurricane will ever play out like Katrina did again, but that doesnt mean you wouldnt have new, different, and unforeseen problems you can't plan for.

It's got nothing to do with the attitude of New Orleans, but everything to do with the opportunistic criminals that stayed behind and a strained and immobile police force (that received zero aid from the Army until 5 days after the fact) that was mostly too pre-occupied with rescue. You throw that problem at ANY American city, and watch what your criminals do.

And don't forget that most of the general populace evacuated and was barred from re-entry by police blockaids further limiting your neighborhood militia factor allowing the bad apples to run wild.
 

j-wood

Member
I know some buildings and stuff took alot of damage, but was it as bad as they said?

I really thought the certain death bit was a little too much.
 

Jewbacca

Banned
We live in Northwest houston by Jersey Village and our roofing got torn up and some of our second floor walls are collapsing in because of water damage. Trees uprooted, all the fencing is torn down. Shit everywhere.
 

Tideas

Banned
j-wood said:
I know some buildings and stuff took alot of damage, but was it as bad as they said?

I really thought the certain death bit was a little too much.

well, it was certain death for the 7 people that has died (so far)
 

saelz8

Member
It didn't even rain here in Austin, what's the deal? I expected at least some rain to be thrown this way, but it was only partly cloudy.
 

thefro

Member
We've got trees and stuff down in Indiana already and the rain isn't even here yet.

Had to prop up half my wooden fence with rope already since the wind blew it half over. :lol
 

Teknoman

Member
North Houston:

Damn finally the power is back on. Then again...there are still plenty of people with no power or ice or anything for that matter. The few stores that are open have huge lines in front of them, and alot of the smaller bodies of water have engulfed bridges. Lots of damage outside of our apartments. Some apartments have all their shingles missing, There were a few vehicles crushed by trees.

Man if things suck this much after just 1 day without power + a storm, i'd hate to see a nationwide disaster.

Snagged some charcoal and 2 more jugs of water. Galveston unfortunatly got totally blitzed. Its completely underwater.
 

Chumly

Member
j-wood said:
I know some buildings and stuff took alot of damage, but was it as bad as they said?

I really thought the certain death bit was a little too much.
Considering Ike made a last minute jog to the north it could have saved a lot of peoples lives. The storm surge would have been 8 feet higher on Galveston Island. Thats why the warning was given out. Considering some of the stories that have come out a lot of people are really lucky this happened because they were too retarded to evacuate. So no the message really wasnt over the top and people just dont realize how lucky they were.
 

Chumly

Member
Holy shit check this picture out
ike_sar_small.jpg

The light in the middle of the eye is the freighter that got caught in the storm when its engines failed!
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Jewbacca said:
We live in Northwest houston by Jersey Village and our roofing got torn up and some of our second floor walls are collapsing in because of water damage. Trees uprooted, all the fencing is torn down. Shit everywhere.
Wow Im just south of you and have no damage like that what so ever. Sorry to hear that man.


Stupid comcrap has been working off and on all day. I am one of the lucky ones with power though.

Now i just need to explain to my roommate the gravity of the situation of whats going on...
We have no bottled water, so the second she realizes we have running water again what does she do? Take a fucking shower.
 
I live in a newer neighborhood and we already have power and only had minor wind damage in League City about a mile or two from the Kemah boardwalk. Others aren't so lucky.

EDIT: Also, went down to my hometown in Texas City and the Dike is completely gone, along with all the buildings and piers that were on it. The surge made it up about halfway the Seawall on Skyline Dr.
 

Teknoman

Member
captive said:
Wow Im just south of you and have no damage like that what so ever. Sorry to hear that man.


Stupid comcrap has been working off and on all day. I am one of the lucky ones with power though.

Now i just need to explain to my roommate the gravity of the situation of whats going on...
We have no bottled water, so the second she realizes we have running water again what does she do? Take a fucking shower.

Isnt the water still possibly contaminated due to the station failures? I mean we've got water now, but i'm still apprehensive about drinking it/using it for anything. We've still got a few more bottles + 2 jugs of water.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Teknoman said:
Isnt the water still possibly contaminated due to the station failures? I mean we've got water now, but i'm still apprehensive about drinking it/using it for anything. We've still got a few more bottles + 2 jugs of water.
Yes, which is why Im boiling two big pots of water. We barely have any pressure and who knows when it will be fixed, but shes took a shower.
 

Ripclawe

Banned
Teknoman said:
Isnt the water still possibly contaminated due to the station failures? I mean we've got water now, but i'm still apprehensive about drinking it/using it for anything. We've still got a few more bottles + 2 jugs of water.

until you get the okay from the water officials, boil water.
 

Dega

Eeny Meenie Penis
Looks like the people here are starting to get frustrated with FEMA. No relief supplies have arrived yet (food/water/ice etc.) and they only say "It's on its way." without giving an ETA.

Things didnt end up as bad here in Angleton as Houston so I cant really comment on FEMA though...

Also the Mayor seemed pissed...
 

Teknoman

Member
Emenis said:
Looks like the people here are starting to get frustrated with FEMA. No relief supplies have arrived yet (food/water/ice etc.) and they only say "It's on its way." without giving an ETA.

Things didnt end up as bad here in Angleton as Houston so I cant really comment on FEMA though...

Also the Mayor seemed pissed...

Well everyone seems to be getting pissed off on KPRC at FEMA. Also earlier KTRK said they would provide some free ice and dry ice, yet the second scheduled appointment ran out early(or just didnt show up) and left alot of angry people.
 

Armitage

Member
This stuff is really surreal to me. The most serious weather we get in my home town is like -5 Celsius and a couple of inches of snow. I hope everyone is doing well :(
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Everyone needs to chill the fuck out. The supplies are getting handed out. Its only been a day.
 
Today I was heading east on I-10, and saw easily several hundred bucket trucks, utility vehicles, EMS units, and flatbed trailers carrying generators light banks and electrical equipment, all headed west towards the affected areas of Louisiana and Texas. Just a f*cking immense convoy of vehicles, in columns and interspered among returning Texas residents. An awesome sight.
 

Dirtbag

Member
Spike Spiegel said:
Today I was heading east on I-10, and saw easily several hundred bucket trucks, utility vehicles, EMS units, and flatbed trailers carrying generators light banks and electrical equipment, all headed west towards the affected areas of Louisiana and Texas. Just a f*cking immense convoy of vehicles, in columns and interspered among returning Texas residents. An awesome sight.

I did relief work during hurricane katrina and had the pleasure of watching the army 'land' and assemble. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. So organized.

I say 'land' because most of it was convoys pulling up on the interstate, the other portions was helicopters. They setup right there on the interstate by key intersections. We watched it for over an hour. It was inspiring, to say the least.
 
sure am glad i decided to hightail it to austin throughout all this. one of the best decisions i've ever made.

i knew it'd be bad, but i didn't expect things to be *this* bad. or not in north houston, at least. i think i'll stay here until wednesday or so.
 

MechDX

Member
still here in Livingston, TX. Town is royally fucked up but everyone is focused on the big cities and the coast....just like Rita.

sent family to Austin while I am here at work.


Texas will recover, quite simply, for one reason; we are Texans.
 

ScythD

Member
This storm will definitely go down as one of the most expensive on record. It came up on us here in Houston so fast and for a long time looked like it was hitting Corpus Christi instead. Unless you live on the island or along the bay, the worst part of this storm is the aftermath. You really take AC(and Internet!) for granted until its gone, and the grocery store situation here is crazy! A buddy of mine had to wait an hour for a couple of cans of spaghettios and a case of mountain dew; no ice, no bottle water, gas is just as bad.

The good thing to come out of this storm is that the community really did come together to help each other. Normally everyone keeps to themselves, but in the hours before the storm neighbors were helping each other with boarding up their houses, and after the storm they were out cutting down the trees that fell and picking up the shingles that were everywhere, it really was a sight to see. I guess we'll see what happens in the coming days, but with some areas possibly not getting electricity back for 2-4 weeks, let alone the horrendous damage to the beach-front communities, there's still a long time till everything is back to normal.
 

greepoman

Member
j-wood said:
I know some buildings and stuff took alot of damage, but was it as bad as they said?

I really thought the certain death bit was a little too much.

The main problem was that all the news just ran the "certain death" headline without always clearly qualifying it. These warnings were just for certain types of houses in certain areas (mainly places directly on the coast) and from what I've seen of these areas there are plenty of houses completely washed out to sea. That is most definitely "certain death".
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Tideas said:
more like u guys got oil money
Yup everyone in Houston is in the oil business. We'll be just fine cause of that, not because of insurance or because of all the healthcare facilities or technology sectors in the city or many other industries in the city.
Personally i got two oil derricks in my back yard.
 

Phoenix

Member
Hopefully this means that in the future people will actually listen to the warnings as opposed to making "we don't like in a bowl like New Orleans" rationalizations. A hurricane is a hurricane. All our sea walls do is minimize the damage from strong hurricanes - that's just the reality of it.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Phoenix said:
Hopefully this means that in the future people will actually listen to the warnings as opposed to making "we don't like in a bowl like New Orleans" rationalizations. A hurricane is a hurricane. All our sea walls do is minimize the damage from strong hurricanes - that's just the reality of it.
I dont think they stayed because they were saying we dont live in a bowl like NOLA. I think a lot of people thought the media was hyping it up. The fact that it was "only a category 2,"(this is misleading in of itself) and the fact that there are in fact many buildings in Galveston that survived "the Great Storm" of 1900.

Also many were saying that last time "next time im going to listen to the warnings" it seems it has to happen to some people for them to believe it. I have heard countless interviews with survivors saying next time they are leaving.
 
I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, and we just had winds today up to 75mph. Trees were down on almost every side street I took, I saw an aluminum frame of some sort (heavy ntl) fall 50ft onto an oncoming car fucking this dude up bad. There about 1,000,000 residents in my area that are completely without power. Some surrounding cities don't even have any power at all. I really did not expect this shit to happen this far north from Texas. The last time we had hurricane winds was a little over a hundred years ago. Shit got real.
 
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