{"id":217,"date":"2005-09-24T15:27:19","date_gmt":"2005-09-24T19:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/metasj\/2005\/09\/24\/persimmon-forecast-rita-locally-a-cate"},"modified":"2005-09-24T15:27:19","modified_gmt":"2005-09-24T19:27:19","slug":"persimmon-forecast-rita-locally-a-category-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/2005\/09\/24\/persimmon-forecast-rita-locally-a-category-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Persimmon forecast : Rita locally a Category 0"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Our persimmons <\/span>in Houston<\/span>
\nare heavy, and fall off in the slightest gust of wind. Any serious
\nstorm is enough to ruin the year’s crop. None fell off this morning; it
\nwas just like a strong thunderstorm<\/span>. 
\nElsewhere : sporadic trees and branches were down elsewhere in the
\ncity, with a localized gust of 70mph; one high-rise lost a few windows; 300,000
\nare without electricity.<\/p>\n

Galveston<\/span>,
\ntoo, was largely untouched.  East Texas had it worst; but Beaumont
\nescaped destruction.  No towns were flattened, or even mauled;
\nthough some houses lost roofs and some buildings suffered heavy damage.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there was extensive <\/span>highway gridlock<\/span>,
\nwith people on the roads for over 24 hours<\/span>; some deaths from
\nheatstroke, many people running out of gas b\/c of the stalled traffic
\nand leaving on their A\/C in the 100-degree heat. I wonder if people used up the breakdown lanes…  Yesterday at
\n6pm, there were still people stranded on the road w\/o gas, despite many
\nlocals (in addition to official FEMA efforts) making sorties to bring gas and food to those poor souls.  Here is a typical evac experience<\/span><\/a> from Dwight.<\/p>\n

The
\nunofficial evacuation orders were too broad (‘everyone in the hundred
\nyear flood plain!’), too thorough (‘everyone get out of the city’
\nrather than ‘everyone get to higher ground’), and too individualist
\n(‘everyone to his\/her own car!’). <\/p>\n

The standard evac orders were fine — here is the canonical Galveston\/Houston evacuation map<\/a>.
\nNote that even the “C” evacuation zones, for Category 4\/5 hurricanes,
\nonly come into Houston as far as the East 610 Loop (to which point the
\nship channel extends).  However<\/span>, <\/p>\n