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Hurricane Harvey: HuffPost Tries to Shift Non-Evacuation Blame Away from Houston Mayor
NewsBusters ^ | August 29, 2017 | P.J. Gladnick

Posted on 08/29/2017 12:40:16 PM PDT by PJ-Comix

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner can be thankful that he has the magic "D" by his name. Had he been a Trump supporting Republican, he would have already been crucified in the mainstream media for urging that residents of Houston, Texas not evacuate even though there was already a high risk of severe flooding from Hurricane Harvey at the time he made his faulty recommendation. As a result, the MSM has so far been mostly very circumspect reporting about his non-evacuation order beginning with his Friday tweet:

(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: houstonmayor; hurricaneharvey; sylvesterturner
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To: DoodleDawg

Of late, Houston mayor’s term is 4 years, with a limit of 2 terms. That means that a reasonably optimistic mayor will serve 8 years - and that means there’s a nontrivial 8% chance that a “once in a century” disaster will occur during his term, and a “once a decade” crisis will most likely happen at least once. With those odds in place, and the sociopolitical consequences of being unable to handle major problems, you’d think he’d make a high priority of preparing for likely crises (like those associated with being at the end of a major hurricane zone).

So yeah, I do expect there be a plan for vacating millions of people in short order, or encouraging viable “shelter in place” preparations & servicing those who can’t. And certainly there should be plans for much of the city being underwater when the whole place isn’t far above it (just 80’ above sea level).


21 posted on 08/29/2017 1:43:38 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (It's not "white privilege", it's "Puritan work ethic". Behavior begets consequences.)
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To: PJ-Comix

People keep on electing these POS politicians who care less about the citizens that are their enormous responsibility. It is always those who are helpless and dependent who get hurt. I will NEVER forget Katrina where people walked off their jobs and this storm with the Seniors in wheelchairs in water. There is a special place in Hell for those who choose politics and selfishness before the lives of others.


22 posted on 08/29/2017 1:50:42 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: blueunicorn6
Would it have been so awful for him to say, “If you live in an area of Houston that has flooded in the past, then you should evacuate. This storm is bringing us 50 inches of rain. If you are worried that you live in an area that might flood with that kind of rain, then evacuate.”

Ah someone else gets it. Well said! It is not all or nothing. Just suggest evacuation of people in lower lying areas. This is not rocket science. Everyone in that area should know a bit about hurricanes and rainstorms and can decide whether they need to leave or not.

23 posted on 08/29/2017 2:05:37 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: PJ-Comix
As much as I can't stand Dems, I will say two positive things about Mayor Turner, since at this moment we are all Houstonians:


24 posted on 08/29/2017 2:23:27 PM PDT by SecondAmendment (Restoring our Republic at 9.8357x10^8 FPS)
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To: ctdonath2

An evacuation would have been a catastrophe with a higher death rate than the hurricane.

We learned our lesson from Rita.

100 people died on the roads, and no one got anywhere. And that was with more lead time and about a million fewer people.


25 posted on 08/29/2017 2:35:31 PM PDT by WVMnteer
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To: blueunicorn6

Exactly. Ever notice how Rat Mayors always think they’re on some global stage? Basic services get neglected.


26 posted on 08/29/2017 2:35:38 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (We're right, you're wrong - that's the end of the argument.)
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To: ctdonath2

Do you have some kind of transporter like in Star Trek.

I live here. Staying put was the right move.

The better move would be tearing down all the development along Buffalo Bayou, Addicks Reservoir, Barker Reservoir, Mayde Creek, and the Brazos.

That’s the problem here.


27 posted on 08/29/2017 2:37:37 PM PDT by WVMnteer
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To: plain talk

The entire damn city is a low-lying area.

Show of hands: Who lives in Houston Metro?

If you don’t, you don’t know the geography and you don’t know the road system. By the time the Eastern suburbs which got truly hammered, hit downtown, traffic would be stalled for three days and everyone would have drowned in their cars.

And where exactly are we getting the gas for this? We ran out of gas on Thursday night when everyone starting preparing for the storm (which we truly understood on Wednesday).


28 posted on 08/29/2017 2:40:40 PM PDT by WVMnteer
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To: PJ-Comix

The Magic “D” stands for Dumb


29 posted on 08/29/2017 2:53:01 PM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings)
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To: PJ-Comix
Time for a Privileged White mayor?

30 posted on 08/29/2017 4:00:52 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Kill: TWITTER, FACEBOOK, CNN, ESPN, NFL, NPR)
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To: PJ-Comix
The Corps of Engineers personally briefed the mayor at least two days before Harvey struck and the mayor decided to not only ignore their advice but counseled his residence against taking any action. Apparently, he didn't think that buckets of rain with little wind was a problem. I have not heard a word from the fool since. Joe Bastardi was predicting this disaster at least one week out when everyone else was focusing on Charlottesville. He is now very concerned about Galveston getting hit with the outflow from the bay. For those who want access to a real weatherman, check Joe's free daily summaries and Saturday summaries on the Internet.
31 posted on 08/29/2017 4:41:51 PM PDT by iontheball
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To: WVMnteer

The choice is not between (1) everyone trying to get out at once and (2) nobody leaving at all. The trick is to stage a controlled evacuation so as to get as many of the most vulnerable out as we can in the remaining time available.


32 posted on 08/29/2017 5:03:18 PM PDT by Socon-Econ
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To: ctdonath2

You should look up the history of the evacuation for hurricane Rita. Thousands of cars stranded on highways that had become parking lots. If Rita had actually hit Houston, thousands would have died on those highways. There are 6.5 million in Harris county alone. 4 days prior, Harvey was forcasted as a weak tropical storm. By the time Harvey amounted to anything, evacuation of all but the coastal regions was out of the question. The Houston coastal regions did not get hit that bad.


33 posted on 08/29/2017 8:12:57 PM PDT by CMAC51
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To: ctdonath2

Could you imagine the number of fatalities if people had evacuated? Harvey wasn’t even a hurricane until 12:00 PM Thursday. Thirty hours later it was a category 4.

How do you evacuate 6.5 million people in the greater Houston area? Where do they go?


34 posted on 08/29/2017 8:22:04 PM PDT by Jaded (Pope Francis? Not really a fan... miss the last guy who recognized how Islam spread... the sword.ag)
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To: KavMan

Liberals live in the big cities in low-rent apartments and hovels. The conservatives live in the ‘burbs in houses with running water. /s


35 posted on 08/29/2017 8:26:40 PM PDT by Jaded (Pope Francis? Not really a fan... miss the last guy who recognized how Islam spread... the sword.ag)
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To: Jaded

They go nowhere and die. They also block any means of assistance.

The call was correct.


36 posted on 08/29/2017 8:31:09 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west))
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To: Socon-Econ

Can I point out that the mayor of Houston is responsible for less than half the people impacted by this? And his population is the least likely to actually be able to evacuate since so much of the city relies on public transportation.

And frankly, it’s not Houston that really takes the brunt of this. You see the pictures of downtown Houston and 610 underwater, but that’s by design to a degree. Something has to flood. Better to happen where no one lives.

As PJ said, the freeways are designed to flood, because something has to flood. Rather the roads than the neighborhoods.

And that makes a full scale evacuation a suicide mission. I-10 with 10 inches of rain is a death trap.

The pictures you are seeing on tv are the suburbs. We took the brunt of this, because we build along the bayous and creeks. The areas around Barker Reservoir are not city of Houston. (At least a lot of it isn’t. The city limits get tricky there).


37 posted on 08/30/2017 7:47:54 AM PDT by WVMnteer
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