Bad Night In Galveston

At some point there’s got to be personal responsibility. Society can’t immunize people against stupid choices.

Tonight on the news we reported a large number of people have decided not to leave Galveston Island. Talking to my mom tonight on the way home, she mentioned someone from Galveston on Nightline saying she’d be OK because she has a life preserver.

From Houston Chronicle: As Hurricane Ike pushed a swelling surge onto Galveston Island this morning, many of the estimated 23,000 Galveston residents who ignored a mandatory evacuation order phoned for rescues to no avail because emergency workers were called off the streets, officials said.

That’s about as scary an opening paragraph as I’ve ever read. It’s not like there hasn’t been warning. Thursday the Weather Service made a doomsday pronouncement for Coastal Texas:

ALL NEIGHBORHOODS…AND POSSIBLY ENTIRE COASTAL COMMUNITIES… WILL BE INUNDATED DURING THE PERIOD OF PEAK STORM TIDE. PERSONS NOT HEEDING EVACUATION ORDERS IN SINGLE FAMILY ONE OR TWO STORY HOMES MAY FACE CERTAIN DEATH. MANY RESIDENCES OF AVERAGE

CONSTRUCTION DIRECTLY ON THE COAST WILL BE DESTROYED. WIDESPREAD

AND DEVASTATING PERSONAL PROPERTY DAMAGE IS LIKELY ELSEWHERE.

VEHICLES LEFT BEHIND WILL LIKELY BE SWEPT AWAY. NUMEROUS ROADS

WILL BE SWAMPED…SOME MAY BE WASHED AWAY BY THE WATER. ENTIRE

FLOOD PRONE COASTAL COMMUNITIES WILL BE CUTOFF. WATER LEVELS MAY

EXCEED 9 FEET FOR MORE THAN A MILE INLAND. COASTAL RESIDENTS IN

MULTI-STORY FACILITIES RISK BEING CUTOFF. CONDITIONS WILL BE

WORSENED BY BATTERING WAVES CLOSER TO THE COAST. SUCH WAVES

WILL EXACERBATE PROPERTY DAMAGE…WITH MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OF

HOMES…INCLUDING THOSE OF BLOCK CONSTRUCTION. DAMAGE FROM

BEACH EROSION COULD TAKE YEARS TO REPAIR.

At some point there’s got to be personal responsibility. Society can’t immunize people against stupid choices.

4 thoughts on “Bad Night In Galveston”

  1. I hate to say it, but I talked to a meteorologist friend who is concerned that there might be at least one reporter death in this storm, because so many of them were stupid enough to stay on Galveston island.

    -Adam

  2. Yes, I agree that there must be personal responsibility. But there must also be some effort on the part of the government to make sure that everyone has a way out. During Katrina, those without cars, those in hospitals, etc., should have been taken care of, but many weren’t. Doing so isn’t nanny-stateism, but just good, basic governance.

    When Katrina hit, I didn’t feel all that sorry for those who had a way out and stayed, but I had a *lot* of sympathy for those who had no way out. (And don’t even get me started about those who tried to walk out and were turned back at gunpoint by the Gretna police.)

  3. In Cuba mandatory evacuation means just that. The police and military go door to door and if found you’re arrested. (According to a CNN report)

    I don’t think I’d want that here. Would you?

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