Watching CNN it's pretty clear that traffic still isn't moving out of the Houston area -- it's a 100 mile jam according to Miles O'Brien. Houston Chronicle says the same thing:
Thousands of furious evacuees sweltering for hours on traffic-choked freeways Thursday put a stain on what had been a generally successful response by state and local governments faced with back-to-back weather emergencies in Texas.Hmm. Who would have thought that evacuating over a million people would have caused a major traffic jam? Apparently not the head of Texas emergency services:
"This was not in the plan," County Judge Robert Eckels said, turning away from the lectern after a news briefing dominated by questions about the gridlock that resulted from the evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita.
Jack Colley, coordinator of the state emergency operations center, said the state evacuation plan included getting fuel to stranded motorists, but that the number of people coming out of Houston was a surprise.
"The number of people, the amount of cars, the amount of compliance with this (evacuation order), there's some things you can predict and some things you can't, that are unpredictable," Colley said. "We are compensating. They may run out of gas, but we're going to get them gas."
Colley said it is too early to tell if mistakes were made in the planning and execution of the evacuation.
