9/27/2005
The Other Costs of Hurricane Rita
The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina was horrible. It was actually caused by a worthy adversary… a real storm. I have seen some of real devastation of Hurricane Rita, and I am in no way belittling the real, physical losses sustained in East Texas and Western Lousianna. BUT, a large percentage of the monetary loss and loss of life is a direct result of the unnecessary evacuations.
The ‘mandatory’ evacuations of cities and counties in all up and down the Texas Gulf Coast four days before landfall or even a halfway accurate projected landfall location has caused millions of dollars in lost business revenues, wages, wasted fuel costs and state and local infrastructure expenditures. The unwarranted mass evactuations from as far away as Corpus Christi, wasted hotel rooms that should have been available those that really might have been affected. For the sick and elderly who succumbed after fifteen hours of being stuck in a school bus with no a/c in the midday Texas heat, there is no excuse. What is that saying “Primum non nocere”, “First, do no harm”?
Too many people feel that we cried wolf on this one. If the next one happens anywhere near recent memory, NOBODY is listening.
***Note to Houston mayor
Before you decide to mandatorily evacuate two million people that aren’t in a flood plain, give the people that actually are in the storm surge warning more than an hour to get out of your way.
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