Foo - Rita evacuation turns into traffic nightmare

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A mass evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita became its own disaster on Thursday as traffic backed up for at least 100 miles when a million people tried to flee the Texas coast.

Tempers flared in the 97 degree Fahrenheit (36 Celsius) heat at the few gas stations that still had gas, overheated cars lined the freeways and trips that normally take 15 minutes stretched into hours.

Texas officials called for evacuation of the Houston area, including the city of Galveston, on Wednesday as Rita, now a Category 4 storm with 150 mile per hour (241.4-kph) winds, took aim from the Gulf of Mexico.

In the exodus that ensued, cars moved so slowly on Interstate 45, the main road to Dallas 240 miles north, that people had time to get out of their cars, walk to nearby stores, wait in long lines at restrooms and return to vehicles that had not moved.

Evacuee Peggy Hill told a local television station she had been on the road 20 hours, departing from League City 10 miles southeast of Houston and had not yet gotten across the nation's fourth largest city.

"I was finally able to get from Beltway 8 to Highway 290, so now we're on the 290 parking lot instead of the Beltway 8 parking lot," she said.

John Griffin, 37, Houston, his wife and two young daughters turned back to Houston after several hours on the road trying to move away from the coast.

"It's an absolute nightmare," he said. "I'm worried about the storm, but you have to pick your poison -- stay and deal with wind and rain here or get out on the road and deal with what are already catastrophic conditions on the highway. I've never seen anything like this."

Ella Corder told the Houston Chronicle in a call from her cell phone she had gone just five miles in 12 hours.

"All I want to do is go home," she said tearfully. "Can't anyone get me out of here?"

==================================================================

I'm sure Alanbikehouston isn't having any problems getting out of Houston!

Just insane. If I were biking I would have gotten sooooooo much farther! I got my emergency backup plan just in case some natural disaster happens. :)

Koffee

That's why every household needs a bike for every member. Crazy, I heard there are scores of cars that ran out of gas while sitting idle during the 20-30 hour wait.

I knew this would be hairy regardless of the Contra-flow or not. You got 5.8 million people (known population) trying to leave all at once this is bound to happen. That is why on Wednesday morning, I told my wife to pack it up. She had been stressing since the first new report stating Houston could get it. Even though we left early, I didn't take a direct route. We actually went toward Galveston, and then went down the coast to my beach house in Sargent,TX. From Sargent we then went to my Brother-in-law's in Lockhart. From Sargent to Lockhart is about a 2 hour drive, it took us 7 hours. And to make matters more interesting, my rear brakes started going out with about 40 miles to go. ARGH!!!

Today my wife's parents finally left Sargent to get home in Austin. Average drive from Sargent to Austin is 2.5 hours. After 9 hours of driving they decided to just stay in Giddings for the night.

In regards to the drive home, that is going to be more interesting than the exodus occuring right now. I am rethinking a Monday return home.

I spent about one hour watching CNN's coverage of the exodus/Rita's route. That was enough. If your in Lockhart look for the guy singing Jimmy Buffet's "Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season"

I knew this would be hairy regardless of the Contra-flow or not. You got 5.8 million people (known population) trying to leave all at once this is bound to happen. That is why on Wednesday morning, I told my wife to pack it up. She had been stressing since the first new report stating Houston could get it. Even though we left early, I didn't take a direct route. We actually went toward Galveston, and then went down the coast to my beach house in Sargent,TX. From Sargent we then went to my Brother-in-law's in Lockhart. From Sargent to Lockhart is about a 2 hour drive, it took us 7 hours. And to make matters more interesting, my rear brakes started going out with about 40 miles to go. ARGH!!!

Today my wife's parents finally left Sargent to get home in Austin. Average drive from Sargent to Austin is 2.5 hours. After 9 hours of driving they decided to just stay in Giddings for the night.

In regards to the drive home, that is going to be more interesting than the exodus occuring right now. I am rethinking a Monday return home.

I spent about one hour watching CNN's coverage of the exodus/Rita's route. That was enough. If your in Lockhart look for the guy singing Jimmy Buffet's "Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season"

My wife's cousin had no problem leaving his home in the New Orleans area during Katrina (they left three days before it hit). As soon as they got the hurricane warning, they packed up and went to Dallas. There was no traffic on the highway and they got there very quickly. I guess it pays to not wait until the last minute.

it mus filter out alot before it hits here... it didn't seem all that abnormal to me.

I'm old enough to have grown up in one of those "whitebread" suburbs, where people had station wagons and Moms went to PTA meetings and the whole thing. Every stereotype = true. Just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from here.

AND.....

At least in my family, there WAS a bike for each family member! If you were old enough to pedal, you at least had a tricycle, and a real bike as soon as you were big enough to ride a 20" bike. It was just part of life.

Interesting, that vanished world. People had cars but it was generally one car, which Dad drove to work. Mom stayed home and she and kids walked everywhere. No snacking between meals unless it was maybe a tomato or some celery with peanut butter in the groove. Kids raced their bikes with each other, did footraces, etc. In fact a good day was going out and just utterly tiring yourself out, climbing trees, swimming, running around, slowing down just enough for lunch and the required 1/2 hour sitting around after it so you'd not get a cramp, then take off again. Come in again at dinner time all hot and sweaty, and have potroast.

Basically even the car-mad 1950s-1960s were more sane than how things are done now.

Interesting, that vanished world. People had cars but it was generally one car, which Dad drove to work. Mom stayed home and she and kids walked everywhere. No snacking between meals unless it was maybe a tomato or some celery with peanut butter in the groove. Kids raced their bikes with each other, did footraces, etc. In fact a good day was going out and just utterly tiring yourself out, climbing trees, swimming, running around, slowing down just enough for lunch and the required 1/2 hour sitting around after it so you'd not get a cramp, then take off again. Come in again at dinner time all hot and sweaty, and have potroast.


Not so vanished. It's pretty close to our lifestyle, except my wife drives and I take the bike to work and the kids bike to school. Pretty much everything else is the same.