rainbow4321 (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 07:08 PM
Original message
Galvestonites now being turned around on the highway
http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/ike.html
rt lower channel
I've been at work all day but was able to lurk at DU and saw that residents initially told they could "look and leave"?
What clusterf**k messed this up??
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4015728Warpy (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 07:15 PM
Response to Original message
1. They had a checkpoint to allow residents in and keep looters out
although it looks like there's little left to loot on much of the island.
That checkpoint slowed the line of cars to a crawl. Yes, it's a clusterf**k, but it had to be done that way. Maybe a better idea would have been to allow people in to various sections of the island, one section a day. People cooling their heels on the mainland would have been upset, but the whole thing might have progressed a little more smoothly.
The whole thing is very sad, inadequate supplies sent to overcentralized distribution points and the frustration level mounting daily in heat and humidity.
It's still much, much better than the disaster after Katrina.
Considering they are DUmmies, this was a civil exchange of question and answer.
Now check out their reaction from earlier today,
before being loudly warned that the mayor of Galveston is a democrat:
yibbehobba (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 01:18 PM
Original message
The f**king idjit mayor of Galveston...
The Texas Department of Transportation said today that relief workers were having trouble entering Galveston because Interstate 45 was blocked by residents trying to return home.
"Our resources are not able to get through," said TxDOT spokeswoman Raquelle Lewis. "We have National Guard sitting in traffic, we have our crews sitting in traffic, we have FEMA resources sitting in traffic."
Shortly before noon, the line of cars stretched two miles north from a checkpoint at Texas 519 in La Marque, where non-essential traffic was being diverted, Lewis said.
The flood apparently was prompted when Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas made an exception to the ban on entering Galveston, she said. Those who can prove residency may make a "look and leave" visit to the island from noon to 6 p.m. to inspect damage to their homes, but must leave afterward, Lewis said.
TwoSparkles (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 01:26 PM
Response to Original message
3. This is the same mayor...
...who told the Galveston residents that they weren't under a mandatory evacuation--that they
could leave, but they didn't have to.
There is a DUer from Galveston (JeffWilliamson, I think) who was watching her on tv, and reporting
that this Mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas told residents of Galveston to hunker down and ride out the storm
in their homes.
DUer's convinced Jeff to leave, and luckily he did.
Who is this mayor and what in the hell is she thinking?
Wickerman (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 01:37 PM
Response to Original message
4. Lyda Ann Thomas - remember the name
She may run as a Republican VP candidate in, say 2016.
And then:
marshall (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 02:52 PM
Response to Reply #4
20. She'd have to switch parties first
She's a Democrat.
Wickerman (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 04:09 PM
Response to Reply #20
55. the rest of this thread has been very enlightening
my apologies to her and her family.
After this, the DUmmie view of Galveston disaster relief changed markedly.
countryjake (1000+ posts) Tue Sep-16-08 04:42 PM
Response to Original message
64. The entire island has been "closed"...
The mayor of Galveston is doing the exact thing any intelligent city leader would be expected to do
It's clearly all FEMA's fault.
