24 Hours in Fema 3 Hours Late?

Just heard the evening press conference with Houston officials on 740 AM radio.

Apparently, supplies were originally supposed to be delivered to Reliant Stadium, the Texas state government was supposed to take these supplies to 17 'Pod' sites across the greater Houston area.

However, while the supplies were delivered on time, Texas was unable to fulfill its obligations because most of the rest of the Texas coast is a giant pile of rubble right now. Because of this the National Guard troopers supposed to transfer food and ice to 'Pods' were instead deployed to look for survivors in the wreckage of the gulf coast.

Such deployments of resources and supplies sound incredibly reasonable to me. I mean, we have our health and house and there is a mexican restaurant open with power not 10 miles away from us... lets leave the National Guard to find the people who are treading water (literally) in Galveston...

oh, 'POD' = Point of Distribution

Instead of Texas distributing the materials, Bill White (Houston Mayor) and Judge Emmett (Harris County Judge) offered to have city volunteers distribute the supplies to the PODS.

The PODS have emergency ice, water, and some basic food items.

The Net result of all of this drama? The PODS were brought online at 7 PM instead of 4 PM. This is mainly because the City received an additional 3" of rain today from another front that moved through.

Why are the press trying to tear these guys apart? 24 Hours after Katrina, the first levees were breaking... I think Texas, Bill White, FEMA, and Judge Emmett are doing a pretty damn good job so far if you ask me.

They told you ahead of time, to have non-perishable food, a grill, a generator, and some basic food stuffs. We are 24 hours after the storm. Eat some cereal, have some crackers, there is a cold front coming through, so enjoy the great weather, and quit complaining people. This is a natural disaster on a major scale. There are people who died. Get over not having cable.

90,000 body bags?

An estimated 90,000 people in the Houston and surrounding counties with mandatory evacuation orders have chosen not to leave.

They only declared mandatory evacs where officials felt that the surge would be so bad that life was unsustainable. They had everyone else stand pat so the mandatory evacs could get out.

Sometimes Texas stubbornness makes me a little sick to my stomach...

edit: Just heard that 20,000 of those people are on Galveston Island alone.. 7:20 PM

The first Taste of Ike in Spring, TX

We just got our first little murmur of Ike. A series of wind gusts is picking up, probably 5-15 mph. Nothing to be afraid of but considering how far away Ike is it's a little disconcerting.

This storm is going to cause a lot of problems...

My Hurricane Experience and Background

Thought I'd provide a brief history of my hurricane experience etc. so if you think you are just reading ramblings from some yahoo I could maybe change that to 'informed' ramblings from some yahoo.

I went to school in New Orleans from 2001-2005 receiving a degree in engineering and toughed out many TS and light hurricanes that passed through such as Ivan, Isabelle, Lily, etc.

I was in the city of New Orleans 48 hours before Katrina hit and returned to visit less than 30 days after the storm.

I currently work for an environmental consulting company in Houston and specialize in Storm Water management and control as well as permitting.

I guess I'm a professional storm nut...

This blog is being written from my home in Spring, Tx right at mile marker 68 on I-45 north of houston. That means that Galveston island is just about 70 miles directly to the south of me.

I'm not evacuating and will be riding the storm out here and updating people as long as I can keep power going to my laptop.