Would you evacuate if it was "mandatory"?

mandatory?

I thought that they can't really order a 'mandatory' evacuation in Texas. They can call it mandatory, but legally its just a strong advisement- they can't legally force you out of your property in TX.
Am i wrong?

OT: By the way, Cowman, what asterisk are you looking for?

C-
 
I'd have to. I'm in a flood zone in Tampa, so there's really no sense in hanging around. About being on the "eastern side" of a hurricane...

The direction in which they spin (counterclockwise?) means that the eastern side of the eye often has more winds and storm surge, and effects that extend further out from the wall.

I've only been down here for one storm season (2004), though. I had to evacuate to a friend's apartment when we thought Charley was coming (my husband and I weren't settled in a place yet - we were in temp quarters on base). I can't even imagine the logjam on the roads trying to get out of here...:eek:
 
I'd take such a "mandatory" evacuation order with a grain of salt, in conjunction with knowledge of the nature of the storm and the local terrain. Depending on exactly where you were on the west side of Houston and where the storm was heading you might or might not be at risk, and the authorities don't know your situation as well as you do.

Case in point: Hurricane Alicia. I was living with my parents on the north shore of Clear Lake within easy walking distance of the waterfront at the time, and that was bad enough of a storm so that if the authorities were able to get the warning out in time (which they weren't), we most likely would have been in the mandatory evacuation region. As it was, we were high and dry. Lots of folks around us were flooded, but not us. We were on high ground.

OTOH, I lived in the Greater New Orleans area up until '02, and it just amazed me about the number people there were adamant about not evacuating for any approaching hurricane, no matter how strong it was, no matter that the local terrain made it such a death-trap and everybody knew it. And then those same people (who survived, that is) had the gall to complain about it after "the big one" actually came.
 
Would you evacuate if the Mayor said it was "Mandatory"?
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Not necessarily. Aothers have said, I'd make a decision based on MY circumstances.

If I have enough food, water, etc. to be self-sufficient, AND if I'm pretty sure the hurricane is not going to hit me real hard, I might stay. (Though the thought of no power, and thus no air conditioning, in Houston is pretty frightful even without the risk of injury!)

But if the hurricane is going to hit me hard, and if I'm not properly prepared, GET OUT OF TOWN.

I went through this with Hurricane Andrew in Florida. I left because I had a good place to go. No need to run the risk. My property was not badly damaged. Even so, my next-door neighbor stayed, and said he wished he hadn't. It was an awful, terrifying experience. And then he had to clean up the mess. He would much rather clean up without the trauma first.
 
Hurricanes do happen here in Northern Virginia but they wouldn't order people away for that, or at least they haven't so far. There are tornados in places around here now and there but they are too quick for much reaction. And we don't have forest fires here either. Mostly too wet. But something else bothers me.

I live not too far from the national capital and I really don't think there is a plan in place to evacuate people. Fifty years ago, there was but apparently not now. It might be that the problem (the population) is too large to deal with, or at least that's what the various local governments seem to think. In other words, they have given up. On the other hand, they may just not think it is worth it. There is an effort to have people prepared for most common evenualities, which around here is snow (yes, snow!) and power outtages.

But what ever happened to civil defense. What happened to the Emergency Broadcast Network? It certainly wasn't on the air on 9/11 nor on the day of the Air Florida crash, for those who remember that. But if you had to evacuate this area, you would have to deal with five million people and their cars and we don't handle it that well at five o'clock every afternoon.

I'm not sure I could even get back home, assuming that emergencies can happen at any time. I could walk, though. It's only twenty miles.
 
I'd evacuate BEFORE it was mandatory.

I hate traffic, and if I can read a day or two ahead of the pack, that it's gonna be a bad one, I'd be gone and inland as soon as I could pack both trucks and gas them up.

A cookie-cutter house that is insured is not worth dying over. I'd take the few sentimental items I have, leave everything else that is insured, and find somewhere safe and out of the way to hole up.

'Nuff said.
 
I hate traffic, and if I can read a day or two ahead of the pack, that it's gonna be a bad one, I'd be gone and inland as soon as I could pack both trucks and gas them up.
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That's all fine and good given ample warning. I hate traffic, too. But sometimes, like with my Hurricane Alicia example, there just isn't that much warning. Only 3 days from forming up as a Tropical Depression in the Gulf to a Cat 3 hurricane and moving inland. And most of that time it spent as a weak-ish storm, the final spin-up and dash inland took just a few hours, before that it was anybody's guess where that thing was going -- it was meandering. There wasn't even enough time to get the warnings off before it was on top of us, much less time to evacuate the heavily populated lower coastal regions like where I was.

All in all, it is one of the good things about moving to the Atlanta area -- the tropical stuff usually has blown itself out into a good rainstorm by the time it gets to us.
 
+1, gb.

Yeah, you can't read them all.

But... when the weather man says its gonna be bad, and you've got lots of vacation, why not take off for some R&R? Granted, the weatherman can be slow or wrong sometimes, but other times he's right on.
 
The more I think about this, the less I like the idea of a 'mandatory' evacuation. I mean, if somebody's too stubborn to leave, why not just inform him that help is definitely *not* on the way and leave him?
 
Coastal Regions

I think coastal regions are more likely to order 'mandatory' evacuations. I live about 700-800 miles from the nearest coast and several hundred miles from the nearest major fault line. Barring a major hazardous materials accident or massive terrorist attack, I don't really see my area being ordered a 'mandatory' evacuation. I would however evacuate at any time I believed it essential to the safety of my loved ones, mandatory or not.
 
I live in Miami, less than a mile from the Atlantic. If a bad storm blew through, the storm surge would probably lead to some pretty bad flooding. If the storm was a catagory 3 and up, I'm leaving. As mentioned, it is pretty friggin hard to evacuate in Florida since it is a long skinny state. I would go inland to avoid flooding. As for wind damage, building codes are much stricter here than in most places.

I have a emergency hurricane box with food, water, first aid kit, flash lights, and batteries. We also have all of our important documents in one place so they are easy to grab. I am also planning to leave a couple of suitcases packed with clothes and toiletries so I don't have to run around like a chicken with my head cut off in case a storm comes.

Hurricanes suck, but Miami is such a beautiful place to live. I hope I don't end up regretting it. :o
 
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