Everything out of Houston was pretty much stopped.
People were heading my direction, which is east of Houston, directly into the storms path because they couldn't go anywhere else. Beaumont, west of me, was also dumping people and they were also going any direction they could.
The idiot Highway Patrol were directing traffic and tried to stop me from going back to the house and directed me to get in line and go north on 146. The roads were lined with cars out of gas already.
I just ignored him and drove past him the other direction. He nailed my truck with a bottle of water.
About 400 yard down the road a second Highway Patrol stopped me and told me the road was blocked and I couldn't go that direction.
I told her to move the barricade or I was going to drive over it. She moved it.
Back at the house after I got everything ready for the storm,gang bangers out of Houston were driving around looking for easy pickings.
They thought they had found it with my house and started to pull into the driveway. I stepped out from under the car port with a shotgun. They changed their minds real fast.
Other people that stayed were outside doing the same thing letting the gang bangers know there wasn't going to be easy pickings.
Yes, I know it was bad east and worst west and horrible on 45 north. I don't recall how many died on the way to Dallas. I remember there was a bus on 45 taking special needs people I think it was, going to Dallas and something happened to the bus and a person died there.
So, in your case, too, they didn't want you to leave that road, had it blocked. I couldn't believe the exits off 45 were blocked so the people couldn't get off that freeway. They could have gone to other roads, FM roads out of Conroe if they could have gotten off. They were stuck on the highway to hell with no way off.
Our town was okay, didn't hear of any looting for the five days we didn't have power.
If you were more rural, maybe the zombies thought the cops wouldn't be around there.
During those down days, cops here were patrolling day and night, checking shopping centers. They made their presence known.
That was Rita and not so many left for Ike, but Ike did a terrible amount of damage around Galveston and some places north of there. There is a hotel in the NASA area and reporters were staying there and that hotel started to come apart. That was one time reporters were in trouble.