Most people have no concept at all the dynamics of a mass evacuation.

I was in Slidell the year before Katrina and we had a potentially lethal hurricane roll in that year too.
Had some cousins nearby and they called and said they were going to TX and advised I come along with them, I thanked them but turned them down.
Didn't want to abandon my friends just because I could [we were doing work in NO stadium, about 8 of us from Detroit],, And I must say, part of me wanted to find out what its like to ride out a hurricane.
The day before it hit I went out to stock up, had a very tough time finding basic items like water, batteries, duct tape ect. Was coming back from a home depots on the freeway that turns into a causeway outside of Slidell, traffic going the other way was literally bumper to bumper for miles and miles, further than the eye could see - I was literally the only vehicle going the other direction and that made me think hmmm, maybe I should call the cuz and see if I can still get out.

People were already running out of fuel and off the side of the road, I thought naw, I'll take my chances rather than get into a cluster like that. I saw prisons and hospitals being evacuated, and they made the same announcements to scrawl your social security number on your arm so your body can be ID'ed if you choose to stay.
Later that night I was by lake Ponchartrain and it must have swelled up a good 4 or 5 ft in as many hours, that made me really respect and appreciate and dread the power of the approaching system.

Was drawing a bullseye on us but luckily for us it took a last hour jog to the east and the panhandle got the worst of it.
Still pretty intense, I got stone drunk that night but recall leaning full weight into the wind and I couldn't fall down.

But from that I easily understood why the next year they couldn't simply evacuate everyone from New Orleans, no more than Houston, LA or Philadelphia. [Detroit, maybe - We have nothing but roads and freeways leading in every direction, and no where near the population density]

Wish you guys the best, so far seems like a very good example of fortitude in the face of extreme adversity, almost of a par with Japanese after their natural disasters.
Doesn't appear to have been mass looting and general social dysfunction like NO ,,, Seems like infrastructure there during Katrina just totally evaporated leaving survival of the meanest, whereas it stayed largely intact in TX.

Last edited by Skynyrd; 09/04/2017 04:48 AM.
Doug