Lessons of a Hurricane Which Isn't Even Finished Yet

Even if you don't know Mike personally, you should still read his blog entry on his family's harrowing encounters with.....Texas traffic.

Judging by Mike's experiences, I think the New York times may have a point. I'll use their own words:

If Katrina exposed what happens when many people have no cars to escape danger, Rita seemed to show the other side of the coin. The authorities are going to have to become much more sophisticated about developing evacuation plans that do not put every family on the highway in its own vehicle. But the car-obsessed American public is going to require a lot of education before many will accept the idea that they should flee disaster via mass transit.

I'm not sure how the logistics would work and, after Katrina, I think people are justified in not trusting the government to provide them with proper mass transit, especially if those people happen to be poor and minorities. But still, the concept of being stuck on the side of the road out of gas when the hurricane hits you doesn't sound too great either.

On an entirely frivolous note: wonder if people are going to stop naming their babies "Katrina" or "Rita" for awhile. Wouldn't it suck if your name was already Katrina? I think this would be one of those times when someone named Katrina Diane Smith should start calling herself K. Diane Smith.