Thursday, September 22, 2005

Learning from Katrina

People seem to be evacuating in great numbers. I wonder if this will cause problems too. One million people are apparently evacuating or going to evacuate from the Houston area. For those on this side of the Atlantic who may not know, Houston is a big city. Bigger than Dublin (around 2m inside the city limits alone) and about 4 times as big as New Orleans. Evacuating the city is no small feat. Traffic is "bumper to bumper" for 100 miles heading inland.

One other lesson learned. People are arming themselves.

If this storm weakens substantially before making landfall then all of this will look silly and excessive. And, how many people – particularly those in hospitals or nursing homes – will have needlessly died or suffered in the panic to get out. I don't envy those who have to make these decisions.