Would you evacuate if it was "mandatory"?

[Doug.38PR]

Assuming your place of residence is inland and not by the ocean or gulf, would you evacuate if a Hurricane was heading your way? Would you evacuate if the Mayor said it was "Mandatory"?

Here is what I am considering. I live in Houston 40 miles inland and above sea level. Whatsmore I live in the west side of houston which is even better. Last year when the mayor and governor said that Rita is heading our way (it was at 3 or 4 days still out in the gulf ) they said that everyone should get out of Houston and evacuate. Galveston and some parts of Southeast Harris county (Houston) were mandatory. Those area's I can understand as they are so close to the water, and Galveston would have probably have been flooded.

That Wednesday the freeways and roads in all directions from Houston were packed. hwy 59 was packed all the way up to Texarkana, I-45 was packed all the way up to Dallas, I-10 was packed from San Antonio to Beaumont. These freeways were parkinglots for the next 4 days. Everyone panicked! Everyone was saying to me, "you need to get out!! I can't believe you are staying!!" They felt so justified in what they were doing, they felt they had to insult you for staying. My mother and grandmother were at the house. My dad and I in separate cars and from different directions were coming into Houston Wednesday night (Rita didn't hit shore until Sunday if I remember right). It was like the movie Independence Day. Everyone else was trying to get out of the city, we were the only ones trying to get in.
In my mind, this was insane (not to mention irresponsible on the part of the officials. As far as I am concerned, they are the reason those old people were killed in that fire on I-45 South of Dallas with all those cars jammed up on the hwy).
You can't evacuate 3 million people in one city. It's a disaster. Houston didn't need to be evacuated.
We have so many Yankee newcomers in Houston who don't know about Hurricanes plus all the media hype about New Orleans (the bowl under sea level) plus the moron mayor and other officials who prematurely told everyone to get out.
Our family on the other hand has experienced Hurricanes in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The most recent was Alicia (I think cat 3 or 4) back in 1983 or 84. Family members in other parts of the South didn't think anything of it, they just called up and made sure we had everything we needed to ride out the weather.
All this hype about winds tearing houses in two, trees flying around and tornedo's cropping down every two minutes and flooding is exaggerated and hyped up by the media. (Depends on the age and structure and condition of the house. Tornedos happen from time to time you can't avoid them. Trees don't just get pulled up, the ones that do are usually half dead or all the way dead and roots are weak and Houston is well above sea level and is 40 miles inland and will not flood from a Hurricane) If it's your time to die, it's your time to die. I would certainly be better off inside my house than on the freeway parked in traffic if a hurricane came through.
Even if evacuation was mandatory, I would not leave. Police could come arrest me (but I don't think they'd have the time or the inclination to do it) Even if they do, the alternative is to get out and park in traffic in misery with everyone else. I'd rather spend the night in jail.
Our house has plenty of guns and ammo for us to take care of it. There was no mass halted exodus when Alicia came through. Back then most people who lived here were more local and we didn't have FOX and CNN to scare us

[GoSlash27]

Doug, to answer your question, yes. I would pack up my family and get them to safety. There's nothing on my property worth dying for.

[Doug.38PR]

You are in more danger parked on the freeway than in your house. How would you be dying for your property anyway?

[dan20703]

Under mandatory evacuation they are not obligated to come back to rescue you if SHTF. I live in Katy and during Rita I figured I was far enough away to risk getting on the road with a bunch of crazies.

[Doug.38PR]

I don't understand. You didn't leave because you felt you were far enough inland? Or you got on the road to evacuate with all the nuts on the road?

[dan20703]

Sorry, seemed clear when I jotted down before heading out the door to run the dog.

I meant that I thought I was far enough inland so I didn't risk getting on the road. About 50% of my neighbors evacuated. They were the ones with the horror stories when it all ended.

I too went through Alicia in 1983. I just moved to Texas and was here for 2 weeks when it hit. I didn't leave then either but it was sure a scary thing to witness.

[M14fan]

I have family that live some 150 miles inland from where Katrina came ashore. They were not ordered to evacuate but should have been. The area was devastated. It was almost a week before I could even get through to take supplies.
If I lived within 150 miles of the coast and a catagory 3 or greater was predicted to track in my direction, I would probably evacuate if mandatory. Probably... I keep a well supplied emergency closet and could last two weeks without re-supply.

[Cowman]

It would really depend on where I was, what the threat was, etc.

I'd make the descision based on the circumstances not what some gov official said.

[GoSlash27]

Doug,
If I understand what you're getting at, you're saying that it's more dangerous to try to evacuate than stay put. I kinda see your point if you're not moving quickly enough, but even if I was lagging enough to get caught up in gridlock my family would simply continue on foot. We're equipped to do so.
Once you wait too long, you're effectively stuck, so it's obviously better to hunker down and re-evaluate afterwards.

My 'property' comment was directed at the 'I've got to protect my belongings' mindset that many people seem to take. That's not directed at you personally, just sayin'. I think it's the wrong set of priorities to risk your life to protect your belongings and highly irresponsible to risk the lives of your loved ones in the process.

I wonder; why were you headed into town when you were already clear? Was your family there?

[DunedinDragon]

I don't know how they work it in other states but Florida doesn't typically have a mandatory evacuation for an entire county. The problem here being because we are a peninsula and you are just as likely to evacuate to an area that's less safe than where you were in the first place if the hurricane makes an unexpected jaunt. They genereally have specific geographic areas or types of dwellings designated as mandatory evacuation areas.

That's exactly what happened to LOTS of folks from the Tampa/St Pete area two years ago when Charlie was supposedly headed right for us. They all evacuated to Orlando and got CREAMED, but by and large Tampa didn't get a whole lot of impact.

Even though I only live a couple of blocks from the intercoastal, I'm not in a flood zone, so I'm not likely to be mandatorily evacuated. However, after learning a lot about hurricanes from being here for many seasons, I will make my own decisions about when it's no longer likely to be safe in my home. Generally that's going to depend on the size of the hurricane, the projected track, it's consistency with the predictions, and what kind of atmospheric conditions are driving those predictions. We are blessed with having some of the best weather radar and meteorologists in the nation on some of our local broadcast stations, so I figure I'll be pretty well informed. For example, one of our stations (Fox 13) is the only station in the US that has BOTH hi-definition VIPIR radar (300 mile range, largest commercial radar in the world) as well as all 5 of their weathermen certified under the new standards for the American Meteorlogical Assn.

If I'm going to end up on the eastern side of a cat III or above hurricane, with a decent chance of being within 20 miles of the eye wall, I will go to some other shelter 20 or 30 miles further inland. But driving hundreds of miles to get out of it's way will be useless given the likelihood I might get hit no matter where I go, either by the hurricane or spin-off tornadoes.

[Eghad]

I live north of Beaumont, On Thursday Afternoon the roads were like parking lots when the county judge called for evacuation around 2:00 pm. My brother and sister in law live in Sugarland on the SE side of Houston, with the same road situation. Not to mention gas stations that were either out of fuel or some were gouging folks. We are 50 miles as the bird flies from Port Arthur.

The authorites should have opened up the roads north to all lanes with traffic stacked up the way it was and left 1 lane on the southbound for emergency vehicles.

I couldnt get my mother in law to leave so I couldnt just leave her here by herself. However, after going through a hurricane even 50 miles from the Gulf I think she will be calling me and we will be on the road to San Antone before evacution is called far before traffic backs up. The pucker factor was about 10 to the 3rd...lol. It was like one big tornado party from 11 pm till sometime early Saturday morning. The roads were blocked by trees and power poles. Most folks had to cut their way outta the driveways.

[DasBoot]

Duned,

"If I'm going to end up on the eastern side of a cat III or above hurricane, with a decent chance of being within 20 miles of the eye wall, I will go to some other shelter 20 or 30 miles further inland."

What is the significance of the eastern side?
And what is considered the closest distance you can be to the eye and still be ok?

[Earnest T. Bass]

I would evacuate, alright - I'd permanently evacuate to a state 500 miles inland!

I can't quite understand folks who insist on living in "hurricane alley."

[Coinneach]

Earnest, everyone's gotta live somewhere. People who live in NV and AZ think I'm crazy to live in a state that gets its butt kicked by snow every few years.

[GoSlash27]

Same here. Tornado alley. There's nowhere completely safe to live. But below sea level right on the coast where hurricanes like to hit? No thanks!

[Hkmp5sd]

I can't evacuate. I have one of those critical jobs that means I get to work during hurricanes. They just can't live without me.

[Hard Ball]

It would depend entirely on the threat and my evaluation of it.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I have a friend whose kid got got caught up in the evacuation. He had to drive to meet her on a boonie road west of Houston.

The evacuation paths were not well thought out as mentioned above.

However, my actions are based on saving my skin and that of family and not really concerned with material possessions.

I was thinking about this the other day - with all the BOBs and guns - anyone have a CD backup set of their computer ready to go. I would like to take my career with me. Or have significant backup away from home?

[DonR101395]

Having lived and learned in the last 15 years on the Gulf Coast, my answer is yes. What we do is take the mandatory evacuation time subtract 9-12 hours and that is our departure time. Example: On thursday they give a mandatory evacuation time of noon friday, we depart between midnight and 3a.m.
It's worked out great for us the last three evacuations. We are in Birmingham before there is any traffic on the roads and usually we are 3-6 hours ahead of the traffic. We go to my mother's in Pigeon Forge and usually end up watching blocked highways on the weather channel.
It does takes some prior planning to get out of town that quick, but we usually have what we need taken care of done before the evac order is given, so we can go to bed about 8-9 p.m. with the car already packed. All we have to do is get up shower put the dog and cats in the car and we're off. It was a little more difficult when the kids were still at home, but not much more.

[Doug.38PR]

I wonder; why were you headed into town when you were already clear? Was your family there?

Yes, my mother and 88 year old grandmother were there. We stocked up on food and candles and other needs and drove on down to Houston filling up our tanks before we got near the city.

As far as evacuating early goes, the roads were jammed up about 4 or 5 days before the hurricane even hit shore. Like I said, you really can't evacuate 3 million poeple out of a city. 4 or 5 days out at sea nobody really has any idea what a hurricane is going to do. For anyone to truly evacuate before everyone else does, they would have to pack up soon after the hurricane forms in the caribbean sea or atlantic. As everyone knows, the hurricane didn't hit Houston, it hit Beaumont Texas and southwest Louisiana. This premature and unnessessary evacuation of Houston and other inland areas clogged up the roads so people on the areas that were actually hit had trouble getting out and getting hotel rooms in Northeast Texas.

In my view, unless you are below sea level and close to the water, you are better off for yourself, your loved ones, and everyone else staying put in your home and covering your windows. Evacuating 4 or 5 days before the hurricane decides what it is going to do is panic.

[cpileri]

I thought that they can't really order a 'mandatory' evacuation in Texas. They can call it mandatory, but legally its just a strong advisement- they can't legally force you out of your property in TX.
Am i wrong?

OT: By the way, Cowman, what asterisk are you looking for?

C-

[2400]

No.

[Abby]

I'd have to. I'm in a flood zone in Tampa, so there's really no sense in hanging around. About being on the "eastern side" of a hurricane...

The direction in which they spin (counterclockwise?) means that the eastern side of the eye often has more winds and storm surge, and effects that extend further out from the wall.

I've only been down here for one storm season (2004), though. I had to evacuate to a friend's apartment when we thought Charley was coming (my husband and I weren't settled in a place yet - we were in temp quarters on base). I can't even imagine the logjam on the roads trying to get out of here...

[gb_in_ga]

I'd take such a "mandatory" evacuation order with a grain of salt, in conjunction with knowledge of the nature of the storm and the local terrain. Depending on exactly where you were on the west side of Houston and where the storm was heading you might or might not be at risk, and the authorities don't know your situation as well as you do.

Case in point: Hurricane Alicia. I was living with my parents on the north shore of Clear Lake within easy walking distance of the waterfront at the time, and that was bad enough of a storm so that if the authorities were able to get the warning out in time (which they weren't), we most likely would have been in the mandatory evacuation region. As it was, we were high and dry. Lots of folks around us were flooded, but not us. We were on high ground.

OTOH, I lived in the Greater New Orleans area up until '02, and it just amazed me about the number people there were adamant about not evacuating for any approaching hurricane, no matter how strong it was, no matter that the local terrain made it such a death-trap and everybody knew it. And then those same people (who survived, that is) had the gall to complain about it after "the big one" actually came.

[Dave R]

Would you evacuate if the Mayor said it was "Mandatory"?

Not necessarily. Aothers have said, I'd make a decision based on MY circumstances.

If I have enough food, water, etc. to be self-sufficient, AND if I'm pretty sure the hurricane is not going to hit me real hard, I might stay. (Though the thought of no power, and thus no air conditioning, in Houston is pretty frightful even without the risk of injury!)

But if the hurricane is going to hit me hard, and if I'm not properly prepared, GET OUT OF TOWN.

I went through this with Hurricane Andrew in Florida. I left because I had a good place to go. No need to run the risk. My property was not badly damaged. Even so, my next-door neighbor stayed, and said he wished he hadn't. It was an awful, terrifying experience. And then he had to clean up the mess. He would much rather clean up without the trauma first.