The images of daring water rescues and homeowners stranded on their roofs during Hurricane Harvey are drawing the world’s attention to Houston, Texas.
Videos by Rare
Coast Guard rescue workers pick up stranded people from rooftops in Houston, Texas, after massive flooding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey pic.twitter.com/ZUzmtyP0Pg
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 28, 2017
The storm and its aftermath are also highlighting a conflict between the conservative Republican Governor Greg Abbott in Austin and the long-time Democrat Sylvester Turner, who now serves as mayor of Houston.
On Friday, just hours before Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast at a Category 4 storm, Governor Greg Abbott urged residents to evacuate, despite the lack of an organized evacuation plan in place:
“Even if an evacuation order hasn’t been issued by your local official, if you’re in an area between Corpus Christi and Houston, you need to strongly consider evacuating,” Abbott said at a news conference.
RELATED: Babies Evacuated as Precaution Ahead of Harvey
The following day, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner contradicted the governor’s advice:
“Quite frankly, leaving your homes, getting on the streets, you’ll be putting yourself in more danger and not making yourself safer,” he said in a statement. “And so, we’re just asking people to hunker down.”
https://twitter.com/DWZ_Const_Cons/status/902065397373038592
In his address, Turner referred to the chaos Houston endured when residents attempted to evacuate prior to Hurricane Rita in September 2005 following the devastation and viral imagery of Hurricane Katrina only three week prior.
Thousands of cars were stranded on the freeways, while at least 60 fatalities ensued, including 24 elderly evacuees who died when their charter bus caught fire.
People wondering why no evacuation order. This is largely why. Hurricane Rita 2005. Dozens died IN this traffic #Houston pic.twitter.com/TAzw6KsxY5
— stephanie gosk (@stephgosk) August 27, 2017
“Remember the last time we evacuated, there was a great deal of confusion, great deal of chaos,” the mayor said. “There were people that were going to Austin that were on the road 10 to 12 hours, if not longer. There were people who ran out of gas on their way — a great deal of confusion.”
Some families reported 17-hour drives to Dallas from south Houston, and the population of the Bayou City only grew since then.
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“You literally cannot put 6.5 million people on the road,” Turner said further defending his decision to not issue evacuation orders. “If you think the situation right now is bad, you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare.”
Meanwhile, more than 2,000 water rescues for citizens trapped in their homes were performed by first responders.
As of this writing, the Houston area is expecting more rain throughout the week.
For those of you asking why Houston isn't simply evacuated. Today is on left, evacuation of Houston during Hurricane Rita (2005) on right pic.twitter.com/0P1z9ftUBB
— Ryan Wichman (@Ryan_Wichman) August 27, 2017