Experts say decision on Houston evacuations was complicated

Associated Press

Houston’s mayor kept facing questions Tuesday about his decision not to order an evacuation of the notoriously flood-prone city ahead of Harvey’s arrival, even as overflowing reservoirs led several suburbs to move people out.

Instead, Mayor Sylvester Turner remained resolute in his advice to residents since the storm made landfall Friday: Hunker down at home.

Massive flooding from Harvey forced thousands of rescues that overwhelmed emergency responders. The George R. Brown Convention Center nearly doubled its expected capacity of 5,000, with people seeking refuge from the waist-deep waters that had neighborhoods resembling lakes.

“I want to say this again, because I guess it’s been missed, but you cannot evacuate 6.5 million people within two days,” Turner said Tuesday, referring to both the city and its surrounding areas. “That would be chaotic. We would be putting people in more harm’s way.”

Experts said evacuating during a hurricane is a complicated decision with major ramifications, and none who spoke to the Associated Press second-guessed Turner. Harvey intensified quickly into a Category 4 hurricane Friday, leaving the mayor and others a tight timeframe to safely move out a large number of people.

Questions started Friday when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested Houston residents get out while they could. At the time, Harvey was a powerful hurricane hours from landfall about 175 miles to the south near Corpus Christi. But the sprawling storm’s outer bands promised heavy rains for Houston, long susceptible to flooding because of its flat terrain and runaway development that has paved over water-absorbing wetlands.

Experts said Harvey presented a uniquely difficult decision for Houston officials because evacuations aren’t typically done for flash-flooding from rains, but rather from storm surge concerns in less populated areas closest to the shore.

Moving people from an inland urban center such as Houston would require at least 36 to 48 hours, experts said. But Harvey took only 56 hours to intensify to a Category 4 hurricane.