A Troubling Sight

Not comforting at all.

Now, just imagine all these people were fleeing a biological attack. Or worse.

Think a new way of evacuating an American city is in order?

Yahoo describes the mess:

It was envisioned as the anti-Katrina plan: Texas officials sketched a staggered, orderly evacuation plan for Hurricane Rita and urged people to get out days ahead of time.

But tangles still arrived even before the storm's first bands. Panicked drivers ran out of gas, a spectacular, deadly bus fire clogged traffic, and freeways were red rivers of taillights that stretched to the horizon.

In an age of terrorist danger and with memories of the nightmare in New Orleans still fresh, the Texas exodus raises a troubling question: Can any American city empty itself safely and quickly?

Thousands of drivers remained stranded Friday to the north and west of Houston. Many were stuck in extreme heat, out of gas — as gas trucks, rumored to be on the way, or at least buses to evacuate motorists, never came.

They were frustrated, angry and growing desperate, scattered and stranded across a broad swath of the state as the monster storm bore down.

"It's been terrible, believe me," said Rosa Castro, who had driven more than 17 hours by Friday. Her sister behind the wheel, seven children in tow, the car was idling on less than an eighth of a tank of gas.

Castro was hoping to get gas from a lone Shell station that had opened north of Houston. But her car was at the end of a miles-long line.

"I wondered why so many people in Katrina didn't move in time, and now I'm in the same situation," she said. "All I have is cash, clothes and God."

If Rita struck earlier, or a terrorist attack had occured, many of these people would die. Hours of waiting and no relief in sight? This is not the lesson America needs to teach our enemies.

Can the people that tax virtually 35-40% of our salaries (on average) please get their sh!?t together? As I seem to recall, "...insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare..." are in the preamble to the US constitution. Maybe the bureacrats in the State and Federal government(s) need a civics course.

The United States is not a third-world country. When it comes to handling hurricanes, can we please stop acting like one?