Got a Plan?

Hurricane Rita is working its way across the Gulf of Mexico towards Texas and Louisiana. Each day brings a new forecast of where it will land and it’s looking more and more like Louisiana will be the target once again. The city of Houston has been evacuated and that exercise has been a disaster of its own, as millions of people are still stranded in traffic jams that extend for a hundred miles or more. No gas, no food and no shelter. These two storms, Rita and Katrina, have exposed our weaknesses. This nation is not prepared for emergencies. We like to say we are and we have some of the latest high tech equipment…but when it comes to practicality, we are simply lost. It wasn’t till the Texas freeways were hopelessly tangled in vehicles that someone made a decision to open both sides of the freeway to north bound traffic, a day late! The governor said “evacuate!”, but no one looked into the possibility that gas stations might be out of fuel or closed. The Houston airport was a scene of chaos because the majority of TSA screeners didn’t show up for work. They were busy evacuating. Those that did show up acted as if it were normal for thousands of people to be in line for inspection and continued their usual work pace. Was it any better than the disaster in New Orleans of a few weeks ago? Certainly. But it was nothing to be proud of. Does any city in this country have a plan for the evacuation of that city?