swampdiamonds replied to your post : BTW – anyone who starts complaining about ‘why…
YES, god, “but why didn’t they just leeeaave” makes my blood boil.
YES. Someone says that and I want to smack them.
Maybe because they don’t have transportation, or a relative/pets/business/something they can’t or feel they shouldn’t leave behind. (Those I know that stayed, it was because of that or because like me lived inland enough. Heck, the owner of the newborn calf Harvey- he runs a boarding kennel so he was staying- and shaking his head as so many people who were evacuating Corpus were leaving their animals at his facility) Maybe they don’t have the cash set aside to pay for an extended trip out of town. Or maybe, just maybe, they know how jam-packed crowded the evacuation routes out of town might be, especially if trying to leave the day of, with rain already coming down and the roads dangerous to drive on. And that with everyone trying to get out -regular Houston traffic is bad enough- just imagine everyone stuck in their cars as the floodwaters hit instead of their houses.
Maybe because they remembered that of the 113 who died in Texas because of Hurricane Rita, 107 were related to trying to evacuate the city (if you look specifics, most causes tied into the heat-wave before the hurricane hit).