Hurricane Harvey
UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: AUGUST 28, 2017
Historic rainfall continues to hit the Greater Houston area, leaving communities I grew up in underwater and many fellow Houstonians still without shelter or aid. While Hurricane Harvey showers flood my hometown, confusion seems to be filling my social media timelines as well.
In times of natural disasters –hurricanes and tornadoes specifically– there are those who never had to prep for major weather events of this magnitude, let alone experience the effects of severe weather damage unique to certain regions.
“Why don’t they just evacuate?”
“The news said a hurricane was going to hit, why did they stay?”
Folks pondered those very sentiments when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, and those same inquiries are being hurled at Texans riding out Harvey. To provide a bit of perspective on the matter, allow me to answer those questions with a few of my own:
Despite meteorologists and technological advancements like doppler-radars and other devices to track tropical storms, is weather still not an unpredictable and unstoppable force capable of taking lives and ravaging cities no matter the amount of preparation?
Do we all share the same financial stability, resources and needs to evacuate a city with ease?
Are there no elderly people in nursing homes, people with varying disabilities, homeless citizens, or patients in hospitals during times of severe weather?
The viral image of elderly residents trapped in Harvey floodwaters at the La Vita Bella Nursing Home in Dickinson Texas.
Would discharging patients from facilities they’re admitted to and getting back to their families, if they’re in contact with any, be super feasible as floodwater continues to rise?
Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States with a population of over 2 million citizens. Would it be safe to have everyone in this major metropolitan area on every single freeway in town at the same time?
Would it have been wiser for Mayor Sylvester Turner to have Houstonians stuck on now flooded freeways without knowing the rate and actual amount of rainfall, leading to gridlocked traffic and possible drownings?
“You literally cannot put 6.5 million people on the road,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said during a press conference. “If you think the situation right now is bad, you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare.”
Harvey floodwaters submerged major Houston highways going towards downtown.
SOURCE/cnn.com
Rather than questioning Texans on why they didn’t “just leave”, how about researching ways to help citizens in their time of need? Here are few ways to assist those affected by Harvey:
For the elderly and Texans with disabilities