Houston's Perfect Storm

Thought I would separate this from the current running Ike thread because it's so chilling.

This was written by the Houston Chronicle's Eric Berger ... seven months before Rita.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3046592.html

Houston's perfect storm would feed on late summer's warm waters as it barreled northward across the Gulf of Mexico, slamming into the coast near Freeport.

A landfall here would allow its powerful upper-right quadrant, where the waves move in the same direction as the storm, to overflow Galveston Bay. Within an hour or two, a storm surge, topping out at 20 feet or more, would flood the homes of 600,000 people in Harris County. The surge also would block the natural drainage of flooded inland bayous and streams for a day or more.

Coastal residents who ignored warnings to flee would have no hope of escape as waters swelled and winds roiled around their homes. Very likely, hundreds, perhaps even thousands, would die.

 

Wow.

We'll see how that plays out.

 

Not if the thousands who live there GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE! As, apparently, they are, because I have family on the west side of Houston, and they say everyone is beating feet out of there.

 

Damn skippy. That's what I'm talking about.

Leave the whole shooting match for Boob Selig to watch a Cubs-Astros game that no one will attend.

 

Note, though: The "perfect storm" he's talking about is a Cat 5 that hits at exactly the right spot and flares up with little warning.

I still say Ike goes east of Houston.

 

The story I linked only said Cat 3, but when you you get into alleged Cat 5 territory, the "whatevers" get forgotten.

 

The Friday and Saturday Cubs-Astros games have been postponed.

 

Bout damn time

 

Anyone else think the evacuations didn't happen early enough?

 

Yes, but I'll say what I've been saying since the early post-Katrina analysis: None of this is an exact science, and with many people living paycheck to paycheck, the cry-wolf aspect of too many early evacuations in a lifetime can make things a tough call. Sometimes you get it right; sometimes you get it wrong. Sometimes you really get it wrong, especially with storms that don't know how to read the script the computer models have written for them.

 

Anyone know if the government provides tax deductions for gas purchased to evacuate a hurricane? Seems like it would be a no-brainer, but then again.
And if you haven't read it, check out Isaac's Storm on the first Galveston hurricane written by Erik Larson. A hell of a book.

 

I'll echo that. Read it earlier this year.