On Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 9:15:34 AM UTC-5, Spalted Walt wrote:

It's good to hear you and your neighbors remain pretty much
unscathed! Looking back, do you think a mandatory evacuation should
have been issued by Houston's mayor before Harvey made landfall?

I grew up in Houston and was there during some of the worst storms they have had. They have decades of experience in how to handle this type of situation, from hurricanes, tropical storms, and their attendant wind and flood damage.

This has been explained carefully to the people of Texas, addressed by our governor and the mayor of Houston. They have had evacuations before, and that added more trauma, deaths, and impossible rescue situations. Houston and the surrounding areas have a lot of low lying areas and constantly flowing waterways.

When they flood, they the people fleeing are in panic. It isn't a controlled classroom evacuation where each child waits their turn to exit. It is full blown panic with everyone trying to save themselves and their families. So an evacuation order would have put literally MILLIONS of people on the road (pop. Houston metropolitan are 3 million, Houston proper 2.4) causing a complete deadlock of traffic. Millions would be trapped in their vehicles. Now add the people fleeing our coastlines that travel through Houston to get away; some fleeing due to their good sense, and others from mandatory orders to evacuate.

Next, add all the rest of the people fleeing all the surrounding cities and counties. What they are missing in the national news feed is that the flooding extended 150 miles around Houston. 30 minutes from my house, one of the rivers is 10' out of its "flood stage mark. 125 miles from Houston, the Colorado river is some unbelievable number of feet out of its bank, and has not risen to this height in over 100 years. People that have never seen flooding are leaving their houses and businesses as they have several feet of water in them, adding to more highway jams.

If you notice, since so many rescues were required during the last catastrophic flooding, there are very few vehicles on the streets this time. The highways are vacant. The advice to Houstonians was to "shelter in place". This has allowed not only professionals to have access to roadways (now serving as boatways) without worrying about people trapped in their vehicles in miles long traffic jams.

It is REMARKABLE that this strategy has worked so well. The people in Houston and the surrounding areas have banded together to rescue as many as possible. I have the local news on now, and they just said from the Houston affiliate that they are now receiving 1,000 calls an hour for emergency rescues.

Just as remarkable, and for those doubting the strategy, think about this:

No one saw this storm turning around three times. It is the worst tropical storm/hurricane in history at this point, and it is far from finished. Yet, it has claimed to this point only 3 deaths. It is awful to have any, but considering the circumstances it is incredible to have single digit loss of life.

I've not heard _anything_ on the news as to metro Houston's tap
water, is it safe to drink or bottled water only?

My sister lives in the area of Houston that was the hardest hit. She has one of the highest elevation houses in the higher elevation area of the floods. They had about 4' of water in their front yard/street, and about 2' in their house. Down the street, there are houses with 6-8' of water in them.. The water us receding, and some areas of Houston are opening up, despite the rain.

They have no power, no food, most people have no way to cook or heat anything,no fresh water, and there is a "boil" order in effect for any water you get that doesn't come from a sealed container. I would like to take them some supplies, but they have advised that the city wants to keep the highways clear for the traffic that NEEDS to go in and out of the city. I am hoping to be able to make it there by the weekend.

Here in San Antonio (they are three hours away, in Texas terms "down the road"), they have mounted a fleet of buses and are going to bring about 12,000 refugees to our shelters from Houston to add to the 4,000 we have from the coastal communities. That will take some time and highway, as we are still getting refugees from areas that were destroyed by high winds.

The State and Federal workers with the aid stations, hot kitchens, supplies, clothing and equipment need the roadways to be as clear as possible so they can perform their tasks. There are 6,000 State/Federal workers staging out of San Antonio now to work the coast/Houston/outlying areas as needed.

And it is still raining...

Robert