I just got in touch w/dad after many attempts, as circuits are busy. They left at 7:30am, (8:30 Fodor time) and are still nowhere near getting out of Houston. They're not even on the highway yet. They are somewhere near Mason and Westheimer.

Just want Houston and Texan fodorites to know that you are on the prayer list at St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Thomaston, GA. Drive carefully, and God be with you!

P_M: Westheimer (FM1093) is a good route to get out. Much better than I-10 right now. I think they'll make good progress further west.

I'm glad to hear that, rk, thanks.

Most of my neighbors here in Katy have decided to stay. Venturing out to the highway right now is a nightmare (as mentioned by all here). I gave up trying to get gas yesterday, as the lines were huge. There are no lines today, as there is no gas! The grocery stores are all but empty. No ice, no water, no batteries to be seen! It's all pretty crazy. Anyone thinking about leaving should probably wait a while (too late now if you are on the highway...). My neighbors are planning on going to Dallas, but will wait until later today. We are all just hoping for the best.

My sister emailed that her daughters and their families tried to get out early this morning. They went 5 miles in 5 hours and didn't even get on the Hwy. They said people were going the wrong way on roads, going across medians, running out of gas, cars overheating, etc. A total mess. They turned around and went home. But when one of my nieces got home after that long in the car, they found out their area is now under mandatory evacutation, so they got back in the car to go to her sister's house in North Houston. No telling how long that trip will take.

My family has now been driving 22 hours and they are not here yet. I called and they are still on I-10, about 3 miles from Hwy. 71. They are so tired, and I am sick about this.

I realize nobody can help us, but thanks for letting me vent.

Oh my goodness! I am sick to hear that PM. Please, please, let me know when they arrive at your house.

It really is too bad that it took this sort of thing to figure out Houston's storm evacuation plan doesn't work.

No reasonable and sensible evacuation plan will work after Katrina. I was here in 1983 when Alicia, a Category 3 storm, hit Houston head-on. No massive exodus that time. Yes, the people along the coast and in eastern Harris County needs to leave - no question about that.

But a lot of people on the roads are people in Houston or western suburbs who don't live in flood zones, whose house is new and in great shape, who is not ill or elderly. But they are all on the road. Why? It's because Katrina hit just 3 weeks ago, and Houstonians have been watching news about that 24/7 for 3 weeks, and have scared themselves to death.

That include several of my own relatives - they leave around 4am yesterday, and didn't get to Austin until after 7pm, via I-10 and TX71.

When a huge population started to follow their emotions rather than common sense, no evacuation plan is going to work.

You are so right rkkwan, so many people just did not need to leave. Live and learn, I guess. I'm sure that we'll all learn things not to do when this all comes up again....

On another thread a poster responded that "if you live in a city, you know the side roads." Well, I guess Houston woke up and said hit the 45! That would be the more logical explanation rather than sitting down and mapping out a strategy.

How many people in Houston actually has a map or road atlas for roads in SE Texas in their car?

And evacuation is definitely not without risk. Just look at the bus that caught on fire SE of Dallas. 24 people died. And they were evacuated from Bellaire, not Galveston, not Clear Lake. Bellaire! From a very established and well-built nursing/assisted living home.

I'm sorry, but I think those people don't have to be evacuated, and they don't have to die, period.

My relatives have just arrived. It was a 27 hour drive. I'm relieved they made it, as it's very dangerous to drive while drowsy.

rkk...You are absolutely correct.

Not arguing that hysteria isn't rampant, but this should certainly be a wake-up call that just establishing evacuation routes isn't enough -- you need traffic management (I didn't see any state police presence in any of the TV coverage), fuel management, etc. etc.

But having said that, I don't think it's fair at all to condemn the fleeing people, no matter where they came from. A category 5 hurricane is a lot worse than a category 3, and it's not just images of Katrina but of, for example, Homestead Fla after Andrew that remind us what wind can do, never mind rain, never mind spin-off tornadoes.

You can't ever be sure what a hurricane will do, but we do know that Rita has a lot of rain, too, and 22" of rain would be catastrophic well inland, never mind storm surge. Similarly, no one ever expected the eye of Hurricane Fran to remain intact as far as 200 miles inland, either, but it did, and there were gusts up to 100 MPH, tornadoes and microbursts that did tremendous damage far away from landfall.

Finally, when you have enormously destructive events like this (including icestorms, earthquakes, etc.), infrastructure just collapses, even if your home is in one piece and your yard is dry. You can face weeks without water, power, decent sewage removal, food supply to the stores, gas to the gas stations, etc. etc. etc.

If you really want to stick around in a pre-industrial world waiting for help, or if you have no choice but to stay, that's not necessarily a better or smarter option than fleeing.

Well said, Cassandra. I agree 100%.

Well, I wouldn't mind at all if citizens and taxpayers of the whole United States decide that evacuation of whole metropolitans of 4-5 million people is the way to go.

That will mean billions of dollars to widen freeways, expediate upgrading of US59 to I-69, etc... Hey, I'm for it, if that's going to be the standard procedure when a strong hurricane approaches.

And how about keeping a whole fleet of fuel trucks all along the evacuation route to give people free fuel? Who's going to pay for the upkeep of a fleet like this when Rita is the first time in TX history such a evacuation happens?

Unfortunately, Katrina hit only 3 weeks ago. We don't have the time to even imagine the process of doing that.