Hurricanes and Galveston

I'm listening to Fox News Radio broadcasting from Houston and glancing through my copy of Isaac's Storm. And praying for anyone who didn't get off Galveston Island in time.

I've been away from LT for a while (you'll see why in a moment), but happy to find that the Disaster Buffs have been growing and posting....

I read Isaac's Storm a few years ago and found it compelling. OK, scary.... more than "suspense" novels, because this was real.

Spent much of September volunteering with the Red Cross, answering telephone calls from those affected by Gustav and Ike. The good news is, it wasn't Katrina (which is where I started this call center thing) and certainly not 1900. Not to say there wasn't damage and a few (thankfully, only a few) lives lost.... But it demonstrates that people can learn from previous disasters.

Now I cross my fingers and hope that people don't assume that because these storms weren't catastrophes, next time it's OK to disregard evacuation warnings.

And I hope that people understand that one of the reasons Gustav and Ike weren't worse catastrophes was that people were still alert because of Katrina, and they evacuated the areas more quickly and completely than they otherwise would have.

Also, Thanks so much for the good work you do with the Red Cross.

Oh, yes... It was obvious even during hurricane Rita, which followed Katrina in 2005, that people in Louisiana and Texas evacuated without complaint. Local authorities learned, too, and in advance of Rita the highways around Houston were closed in-bound, except to emergency vehicles; all lanes were out-bound. Gasoline trucks went up and down the roads, providing 5 gallons of free gas to any automobile that was running low, to prevent traffic blockages caused by disabled vehicles.