. Earth Science News .
Lessons From Hurricane Rita Not Practiced During Ike

The reports shows that significantly fewer people evacuated during Hurricane Ike than during Hurricane Rita, but a large portion of the population left areas that were not under an evacuation order. Photo courtesy AFP.
by Staff Writers
Houston TX (SPX) Mar 14, 2009
A new Rice University report released yesterday, exactly six months after Hurricane Ike slammed the Texas Gulf Coast, suggests that people did not practice the lessons learned from Hurricane Rita.

According to the study, 75 percent of Harris County residents say they would evacuate if a Category 4 hurricane threatened Houston. This is a significant potential increase over the 24 percent of residents who left during the Category 2 Hurricane Ike.

It's also a significant increase over the 52 percent of Harris County residents who evacuated in 2005 during the Category 4 Hurricane Rita but found themselves stuck in miles-long traffic jams on highways or stranded as the storm approached.

"Essentially, this study shows that people didn't learn from Hurricane Rita," said the report's co-author Robert Stein, the Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of Political Science at Rice. "Had Hurricane Ike been a severe storm - a Category 3 or 4 - more people would have evacuated, and we would have experienced roadway gridlock."

The reports shows that significantly fewer people evacuated during Hurricane Ike than during Hurricane Rita, but a large portion of the population left areas that were not under an evacuation order.

"The timing of evacuations showed no improvement over the experience during Hurricane Rita, when roadways experienced paralyzing gridlock," Stein said.

"People evacuating from hurricane Ike all left too late, potentially creating the same conditions that existed during Hurricane Rita had a larger population evacuated."

The report details the results of surveys that assessed people's experience before, during and after each hurricane's landfall. The surveys were conducted in the weeks immediately after each storm - Sept. 29-Oct. 3 for the Hurricane Rita survey, and Sept. 23-Oct. 24 for the Hurricane Ike survey.

The report is intended to enable policymakers and leaders to be more effective in getting their constituents to comply with evacuation orders.

The report also found:

+ Local television weather reporters were the most-relied-upon source of information for both hurricanes.

+ During Hurricane Ike, the Weather Channel was the second most-relied-upon source.

In non-evacuation zones during Hurricane Rita, 40 percent of residents evacuated. These "shadow evacuees" were largely responsible for the road congestion. During Hurricane Ike, that number fell to 21 percent. Evacuees during Hurricane Ike responded correctly by taking fewer vehicles and slightly more people per vehicle. This was particularly true for people from areas under an evacuation order.

The release of this report coincides with a free public forum at Rice University March 12 featuring Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett discussing the leadership challenges they had to overcome to guide Houston through the disaster.

"Leadership in Crisis: Guiding Houston through the Storm" will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. in Sewall Hall, Room 301, on the Rice campus, 6100 Main St. Stein and report co-authors Leonardo Duenas-Osorio, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, and Devika Subramanian, professor of computer science and in electrical and computer engineering, will be available to take questions before and after the event.

Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Rice University
Full report
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Main Federal Disaster Relief Law Has Fallen Behind Modern Threat Levels
New York NY (SPX) Mar 14, 2009
In new research published in the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, New York University Professor Mitchell Moss explains that the cornerstone Federal disaster relief legislation, the Robert T. Stafford Act, is dangerously out of date, and must be reformed to provide for rapid relief after a catastrophe.







  • Lessons From Hurricane Rita Not Practiced During Ike
  • Main Federal Disaster Relief Law Has Fallen Behind Modern Threat Levels
  • Indonesian mud victims demand compensation
  • Building collapse kills 11 China rail workers: state media

  • Gore optimistic for new climate deal in Copenhagen
  • Carbon Sinks Losing The Battle With Rising Emissions
  • CSIRO Takes Kitchen Table Climate Change Talk Global
  • Czech minister slams president over climate change

  • Satellite Spies On Tree-Eating Bugs
  • CALIPSO Finds Smoke At High Altitudes Down Under
  • Satellites track leaf beetle infestation
  • NASA presents a Webcam view of Earth

  • ACCCE Commends Western Governors For Supporting Clean Coal Technologies
  • Broadband Wireless Research Gets Green Light
  • Revealing New Apps For Carbon Nanomaterials In Hydrogen Storage
  • MIT Battery Material Could Lead To Rapid Recharging Of Many Devices

  • Malaria Immunity Trigger Found For Multiple Mosquito Species
  • Better drugs encouraging AIDS complacency: Nobel doctor
  • Hong Kong bird tests positive for H5N1
  • Hong Kong bird tests positive for H5N1

  • Protein Big Bang
  • Tropical Lizards Can't Take The Heat Of Climate Warming
  • Environmental group defends Canada's seal hunt
  • Animal-smuggling bust nets 72 people in Brazil

  • Yellowstone Alga Detoxifies Arsenic
  • Australian oil spill '10 times worse' than thought: official
  • Chinese plastic bag hero takes campaign to parliament
  • Smog raises risk of dying from lung disease: study

  • Mind-Reading Experiment Highlights How Brain Records Memories
  • 'Peking Man' 200,000 years older than thought: study
  • Girl has six organs removed in surgery
  • Swedish chimp plans ahead for attacks

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement