Superscout, my theory was correct!

[82Rigger]

Approximately 40% (24,000) Galveston Islanders elected not to evacuate
and "stick it out" through the hurricane.

Between 10 P.M. last night and 6 A.M. this morning (still ongoing) there were 1,204 calls to Galveston emergency services 911.

"Help me! Help me! Ya'll need to come out here through the 100 mph winds
and 11 foot storm surge and downed power lines and shit flying through the air and save my ass!"

Brice, you can rest easy knowing there are no Darwin Award applicants in Dripping Springs.
They're all somewhere else!

[Keith_Hixson]

New Orleans and Galveston, Steve why would somebody build there in the first place? Galveston Is An Island only a few feet above sea level, whoever built there in the first place should have known better, same goes with much of New Orleans in that it is under sea level. If you were land challenged like the Dutch it is understandable but in the U.S. on the North American Continent, it has never made sense to me. Same goes for places in the State of Washington, like Ocean Shores and Long Beach Area. Someday something disasterous is going to happen in places like that.

[82Rigger]

Keith,

Ya gotta remember that both New Orleans and Galveston were established cities long before there was any knowledge of storm surge and its danger.

[Packo]

If we go by your theory....why the heck would anyone live in California? Especially when we all know the "big one" will destroy it? I hear people say that if we choose to live in Hurricane prone area's...it's our tough luck and insurance companies shouldn't insure us and raise everyone else's rates. Never hear that about eathquake or volcano prone people...just us coasties.

Pack

[SuperScout]

[Incoming call to 911 Center] "Help me! Help me! Ya'll need to come out here through the 100 mph winds and 11 foot storm surge and downed power lines and shit flying through the air and save my ass!"

[Reaction in 911 Center, on-call operator to fellow first-responder] "Hey, Billy Bob, while you're up, will you git me 'nuther cup of coffee? Ah got me this idgit on the line, all fired up 'bout some wind and rain thang."

Billy Bob, not very happy because his son's Friday night football game got cancelled, replies, "Jest hang up, probably some dang ghost. All the smart people done left 24 hours ago."

My new book, "Rescues for Dummies," will charge the rescuee a $500 fee for any first-responder who shows up after the rescuee has been given a mandatory evacuation order.

All things considered about hurricanes: I'll take them over the Left Coast's offering of mudslides, earthquakes, race riots, urban blight, brush fires and coming soon to a beach near you, a tsunami that has Whup Ass written all over it.

[Keith_Hixson]

Galveston and New Orleans have been hit many times even in the 1800's with storms. The population was less back then but the light bulb should have come on. We have people in Washington demanding to build in flood zones. I have a friend who is a planner for Yakima County here in Washington. They require new construction to be above the 100 year flood highs, yet they have folks insisting on building near rivers that flood regularly in the flood zones all over the state. Yet when the floods come or the storms come they want to be rescued. Why don't folks have "common sense"?

Keith

[82Rigger]

Keith,

In order to understand this, you will have to view it through the eyes
of someone living in the nineteenth century.

The knowledge wasn't there for the "light bulb coming on" to illuminate.
They were just "storms". You had storms no matter where you lived...New England, the Upper Midwest, or the Gulf and Atlantic coast.

Until the early 1800s they weren't known to be cyclonic. They were assumed to be straight-line winds like squalls or thunderstorms.

They were Acts of God. They came with the territory...like Indians.

There was no U.S. Weather Service until 1875. Between 1875 and 1900 only TWO major hurricanes hit Texas. There was no wireless communications, so little was known about how hurricanes tracked. It was believed that all hurricanes
recurved to the North somewhere between the 75th and 85th lines of longitude.
The tropical storms that hit the Gulf Coast were thought to have been "born" in the Gulf and moved north over the coast.

Storm surge was not understood at all.

You also have to weigh in the commercial importance of New Orleans and Galveston in those times. In their own eras they were key to the economy of the United States and to Texas. A "boom town" with good paying jobs and successful business is going to attract people...in the same way that the very rich volcanic soil at the base of a volcano attracts people.

[Keith_Hixson]

Steve,
I understand that but there comes a point after awhile were people should catch on. Even today they want to build on flood plains. No wonder we need laws to protect folks from themselves.
Juneau, AK was built in one of the most act snow avalanche zones on earth. They just built a bunch of concrete barriers to divert the snow.
But staying when you know a hurricane is coming just doesn't seem to bright.

Keith

[82Rigger]

Good Reverend,

In your last post we are in one hundred percent agreement.

There is NO EXCUSE FOR IT in these times.

Here where I live, new condos go up every year on the beach, LESS THAN 100 YARDS from the high tide line.

The owners dont care what happens to the people in those condos, as long as they get their money.

Even in Galveston, small businesses were going up OUTSIDE THE SEAWALL!

I'll bet they ain't there now!

[Gunner Carvo]

Originally Posted by Keith_Hixson

Galveston and New Orleans have been hit many times even in the 1800's with storms. The population was less back then but the light bulb should have come on. We have people in Washington demanding to build in flood zones. I have a friend who is a planner for Yakima County here in Washington. They require new construction to be above the 100 year flood highs, yet they have folks insisting on building near rivers that flood regularly in the flood zones all over the state. Yet when the floods come or the storms come they want to be rescued. Why don't folks have "common sense"?

Keith

Yakima County should be wiped off the face of the earth anyway. I spent 17 of the first 20 years of my life trying to get out of there.