"Mobile homes" flipped

Whether to go or stay is a tough decision. Also when to go. What would you do?
Houston freeways are clogged at a normal rush hours. When would you go?
Many people are unable because of health or economic reasons to evacuate.
Second guessing anyones decision is foolish.
Send some money to the Red Cross instead of insulting those who stayed.

Yes, easy for those "commandos ". I am a native of the discussed area. Went through the Rita evac. Never again. 18 hours from Houston to San Antonio. Normally a leisurely 3hr drive. Saw a lot of meanness and folks trying to prey on others.

Saw folks with utility trailers loaded with big screen TVs and one small cooler with beer and soda. Most of the 3 million here are clueless about survival/evac items.

I left with family with food, pioneer tools, diesel, gasoline,water, ways to purify water, first aid and emergency medical supplies, etc, etc. I did not own a RV at that time.

Those that were stuck with their beer and big screens wanted my water, food, gas. Traffic was moving at 1 to 2 mph on average. Some folks were stuck on the interstate highways for 8 hrs straight without moving an inch. They ran out of gas on the road.

They left with no provisions. They had no experience or knowledge of how bad it could get and expected the government or others to provide for them.

My wife and I altered our rules after that.

We will stay for a Cat 2 storm. If there is a hint that it will be a cat 3 and hit within 100 miles of us. We will leave. That means we will leave up to a week before land fall. It means a good chance that I will leave for nothing because it will probably miss us.

Life changes though. MIL lives with us now. I travel for work. Away from home all the time with a visit every 3-6 months. MIL unable to travel. Health prevents nothing more than a trip to doctor. That 10 mile trip is an all day ordeal.

S&B is in an area that I know has no record of flooding in the last 100 years. We stock food,water, other supplies during the off hurricane season. Before season starts we check generators, store 100 gallons of gas in the separate storage area. Gas is prepared for long term storage.

Battery stockpiles are updated with fresh items. Documents and evac items are always ready to grab and go.

This is not easy or cheap. I afford it because I we do not go out every weekend for dinners and movies. We choose to allocate our disposable income to be ready for a downturn instead of on entertainment. I guess we are ants instead of grasshoppers.

I am a native of this area. I know what to do and if I need to leave an area fast then that Rv may just get left behind. I use hurricane Humberto as an example. It was a TD in the morning. Weather service said worst case a TS by late night. Landfall during the night. Was not supposed to do anything. Was 90 miles south of RV as a TD. Went to bed at 9pm it was a TD.

Woke up at 2AM with RV rocking hard. 90mph winds and eye of hurricane 12 miles south of RV. I was stuck and had to ride it out.

By time they know where it will really go it is almost too late to leave.

If I was going into snow country I would talk to a native from that area. Not a person from the city's in New England area that depend on the government to tell them what to do.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) was surprised at how fast Harvey developed. Here's a rough timeline:
Wednesday, Aug. 23rd: 10:00 am tropical Depression Harvey had winds of 35 mph. Later Harvey was upgraded to a tropical storm. A statement was issued that Harvey was likely to bring multiple hazards, including heavy rain, storm surge and possible hurricane conditions.

Thursday, Aug 24th: The NHC first issued a storm surge watch/warning for the Texas coast. This was followed by a warning of tropical storm winds for the coast on Friday morning. A hurricane warning was issued. At 1:00 pm Hurricane Harvey had winds of 85 mph. The warnings got more severe as the day progressed, including a prediction of up to 30" of rain. By the end of the day the NHC was predicting Harvey would become a Cat 3 hurricane.

Friday Aug. 25th: Harvey hits the Texas coast. At midnight Harvey was upgraded to a Cat 2 hurricane. By 2 pm it was a Cat 3 storm. By 6 pm with the eye 45 miles off the coast Harvey became a Cat 4 storm with winds of 130 mph. At 10 pm the eye made landfall.

My point here is that Thursday was a day of huge change. If someone was either working or not paying attention to the news that day they could have very easily been caught unprepared. I'm appalled at the callous attitude and ignorance of some posts. Not surprised, just appalled.

The best thing to do in that case is to close the slide and reopen it in New Mexico.

One thing I noticed many of the trailers had their slides out.

I was caught in a bad wind at Meteor Crater RV park several years ago.


My trailer was rocking some but after I pulled in the slide most of the rocking quit.

rjxj wrote:
Blah blah blah. Haul it away when a storm is coming or shut up.

RJXJ,

I guess that you don't know that a lot of people that live in 5ers do not have any means to move same. That is not just Texas. There is a local company that will deliver and hook up a unit on your site for a fee. And they do a dozen or so a year and move at least as many to new locations. They will even rent tires and repack bearings to make the move work.

Matt

TomG2 wrote:
What some are forgetting, or never did know, is that not everyone in Houston had a nice shiny pickup and trailer sitting at the curb, fully stocked, and ready to roll. I tow my home behind my pickup and I would have been gone last Wednesday. Maybe one percent of the three million had my option. Aren't you people aware of what is going on? There are disabled people with nobody to look after them that are stuck in their drab little apartments. Oh, I get it, "Leave them behind because they are not as smart as me". That is the message some are sending. Glad they are not in charge of anything but a few words on the forum.

X2. It's easy to sit behind a keyboard and say, "Oh, they should have just left! I would have, so they are completely at fault and deserve no sympathy." Critical thinking is dead...

mgirardo wrote:


In my opinion, 12 years is a long time to figure out how to safely evacuate that many people. Harvey isn't the first storm to hit Houston and it won't be the last. The city of Houston and the state of Texas need to figure out how to safely evacuate people. With as much notice as they had with Hurricane Harvey, they should have been able to make it happen.

-Michael

In those 12 years did the weather forecasters ever "Cry wolf" over a blizzard, tornado, or hurricane? "Evacuate" is the easy part of the equation. Where do you put all these millions? Ongoing medical care? Even at 20,000 people per hour leaving, it would take 5 days to evacuate and are you going to take care of them on the other end?

What some are forgetting, or never did know, is that not everyone in Houston had a nice shiny pickup and trailer sitting at the curb, fully stocked, and ready to roll. I tow my home behind my pickup and I would have been gone last Wednesday. Maybe one percent of the three million had my option. Aren't you people aware of what is going on? There are disabled people with nobody to look after them that are stuck in their drab little apartments. Oh, I get it, "Leave them behind because they are not as smart as me". That is the message some are sending. Glad they are not in charge of anything but a few words on the forum.

rockhillmanor wrote:

""Houston area officials who urged people to stay home before the storm may have been remembering that the city government was strongly criticized after the disastrous evacuation before Hurricane Rita in 2005.

In the hours before Rita struck the Houston area in September 2005, government officials issued an evacuation order, and some 2.5 million people hit the road at the same time, according to the Houston Chronicle.

In my opinion, 12 years is a long time to figure out how to safely evacuate that many people. Harvey isn't the first storm to hit Houston and it won't be the last. The city of Houston and the state of Texas need to figure out how to safely evacuate people. With as much notice as they had with Hurricane Harvey, they should have been able to make it happen.

-Michael