HOUSTON AND HARVEY In 2017 Houston was the fourth largest city in the United States It had a population of more than two million people and a population density of approximately 3 500 people per square mile 2 6 sq km The mayor of Houston THIS IS A CITY OF HOPE AND OPPORTUNITY AND THIS IS A CITY THAT WILL COME BACK STRONGER THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN OF THAT I HAVE NO DOUBTS 6 Sylvester Turner was concerned for the safety of the city's residents However he decided HOUSTON MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER against issuing a mandatory evacuation order Government officials can issue mandatory evacuation orders to urge residents to leave a danger prone area in the event of a perceived upcoming emergency The purpose of a mandatory evacuation order is to get people to safety before a hurricane or other type of disaster strikes Houston's mayor had last issued a mandatory evacuation order in late September of 2005 Hurricane Rita a strong storm that had developed over the Atlantic Ocean was about to make landfall on the southeastern coast of Texas Houston was in the path of the storm
More than three million people attempted to evacuate Houston and the surrounding region This was the largest mass evacuation in US history at that time An endless line of cars clogged the main highway out of the city The traffic jam was more than 100 miles 160 km long Cars stalled in the road as they ran out of gas which made traffic even worse Passengers sat idle in temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit 38°C many choosing not to use air conditioning in order to conserve gas More than 100 people died during this evacuation some from heat stroke and others from traffic accidents or car fires Fewer than ten people died from the hurricane itself While the evacuation had been intended to save people it ended up putting many in danger Turner did not want to repeat that mistake with Harvey Because there had not been much advance warning about how intense and destructive Harvey could be the mayor and other government officials did not think there would be time to organize a safer more effective evacuation effort But Ed Emmett a Texas county judge assured the public that even though a mandatory evacuation wasn't issued emergency teams would be well prepared to help people
MORE TO THE STORY VOLUNTARY VS MANDATORY EVACUATION Houston was not the only city or town within the hurricane's path that decided not to issue a mandatory evacuation order Joe McComb the mayor of Corpus Christi Texas issued a voluntary instead of a mandatory evacuation order Under a voluntary evacuation order government officials warn the public that an imminent event is potentially life threatening but officials do not require residents to evacuate Under a mandatory evacuation order residents are ordered to leave the area The government provides rescue services to help evacuate residents But according to Texas law if someone decides to leave too late the resident is required to pay for the cost of the rescue McComb was aware that requiring emergency workers to try to evacuate unwilling residents would also put many rescue workers in danger He said about his decision It can be a real tug between your heart and your head We all know we got one goal in mind keeping people alive
stay safe during the storm When a hurricane comes you know to get people out of harm's way you know where the storm surge is going to hit So we have a very defined process for moving people out of storm surge he said EVACUATION AND POVERTY Another barrier to evacuation was poverty In Houston 22 5 percent of people lived below the poverty line Since 1980 the number of high poverty neighborhoods in the area has doubled African Americans and other people of color within the area were most likely to be affected by poverty and unemployment Cars and survival supplies are often needed to evacuate Some people did not have cars or could not afford public transportation Some people who did have cars could not afford gas or necessary supplies In addition many did not have home insurance or else their insurance plans did not cover flood damage Some stayed to try to protect their homes Others stayed to protect their families or provide assistance to people Hundreds of people volunteered for rescue missions and relief efforts Emmett and other government officials
