Once again, the gov't in Florida is dropping the ball, just like Houston did.

[shraby]

Where are the government troop carriers? If anyone knows how to move a lot of people fast, it's the army. With a convoy of army trucks, they could take a lot of those cars off the road and preserve gas for others.

[dchill]

1. Just two things they know little about:

Government and military procedures.

[juxtaposed]

2. What I've heard is they are running school buses.

[Hoyt]

3. I think I'd take my chances in a local shelter to being hauled off to

a shelter. I do think our military, certainly National Guard, should be better prepared for these disasters.

[GulfCoast66]

4. Please. This is a reality based site

So we are going to position a couple of divisions of combat troops across the south each year to evacuate people?

And how many Americans are going to hop on an army truck with nothing but the clothes on their backs. I sure as fuck will not.

I hate governor skelator, but he is doing a decent job in this situation.

This is one situation I want even a right wing dick to do well. Because if he screws up people die.

[shraby]

5. Not each year, you would have to admit this is an outstanding reason to do such a thing.

Hurricanes like this one don't come around as a rule. Irma is exceptional, and don't forget there is a cat 3 right behind Irma called Jose. Jose is fully capable of caused more widespread damage, especially when Irma has weakened everything.

All forms of transportation is a priority right now.

[GulfCoast66]

9. I really respect your passion and concern for we DUer's and all people in hurricane country

Your passion speaks well for you and I appreciate it.

However, unless your profile is incorrect, you are from Wisconsin. Correct?

How would you feel if next year you have the blizzard of the century barreling down on you and a bunch of we Floridians who have never seen even 6 inches of snow start telling how you are fucking up the whole situation?

We are handling this as well as possible. Even governor Skelator is doing a decent job.

This storm is going to suck. But I do not see a lot to criticize in our response.

Have a great evening and keep we Florida DU'ers in your thoughts. And all Floridians for that matter.

[Texasgal]

10. You are indeed in my thoughts!

Having just dealt with Harvey I can sympathize. These armchair quarterbacks do not have a clue as to what needs to happen.

I hope you are safe and get through this well. We Texans are thinking of you. :group hug:

[GulfCoast66]

22. We gulf coast folks

Liberal or conservative are a breed apart from most Americans. Hurricanes will do that for you!

I really appreciate your thoughts for us.

Take care.

[FLPanhandle]

33. +1

Well said.

[Phoenix61]

39. So true.

Short of limiting the population density in coastal regions we are doing all we can do.

[onenote]

15. if you check the maps, Jose is not likely to come anywhere near Florida

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2+shtml/001116.shtml?cone#contents

[jaysunb]

6. Florida is a State. Houston is a City. n/t

[Thinkingabout]

7. Have you ever participated in a hurricane evacuation? Not like the picture some

seems to be getting. In Florida you are talking about evacuating a entire state. I tried evacuating Houston before Rita was expected to arrive, left at 1 AM and took 4 hours to go 40 miles. People spent more than 24 hours on the roads, gas was not available, it was a night mare. Now there are zip codes they recommend to evacuate, works better.

[Zen Democrat]

13. I remember that trip up 45 as the Grapes of Wrath evacuation.

A scourge to my brain to remember that caravan to hell: the intense anxiety everywhere, cars stalled out of gas, all exits blocked, just a slow wretched cattle drive up I-45 from Houston to Dallas in 103 degrees of heat even hotter on the highway with no a/c because of the gas issue, dogs running along the highway at a faster pace than the cars, people sheltered from the hot sun under overpasses with hot, crying babies, a bus load of seniors died in an awful fire, it was one of the worst things I've ever experienced in my life.

[Trueblue Texan]

34. A lot of people died in that Rita evacuation

My sister almost died and a newborn nephew almost died of dehydration during that evacuation. I read that more than 300 total died in the evacuation. Just too many people to move. Houston already has a terrible traffic problem on a regular work day. Evacuations can be deadly in that area. I think Houston made a good call. I'm sure Florida made the right call to evacuate, I just hope they've lined up the right support for evacuees along the way.

[Sgent]

20. I evacuated for Hurricane Gustav (I think) and it was hell

I spent 11 hours in a car, to go from New Orleans to Meridian, MS -- a trip that by google takes 3 hr. I then spent another 2 1/2 hours on the road (at normal speed) to get to my hometown in N MS where I was staying with friends.

This is with full contra-flow, with 5 interstates leaving a city of 1.5 million. (I-10 E, I-10 W, I-12, I-55, I-59) and I took the least busy one -- I-59.

I can't imagine how long / what it would be like if you tried to evacuate everyone from Miami.

[FSogol]

30. LOL, people who can't get 5 coworkers to agree where to go for lunch

Think that evacuating whole cities or state are simple. They should evacuate everyone, that's what I would do!

[USALiberal]

8. Armchair DU Evacuation Experts crack me up. n/t

[obnoxiousdrunk]

11. +1. N/t

[DrDan]

14. bingo - and done with such passion - "call in a convoy of trucks - it's only 20million plus -

meet up at Disney, board your assigned truck and be driven to . . . . hmmmmm . . .. and then when you get there . . . . . well, I guess there's UBER"

ridiculous

[onenote]

16. +1

[cwydro]

21. It's pretty funny. nt

[titaniumsalute]

25. Indeed and out cup runneth over on ridiculous evacuation posts

[cbdo2007]

29. I don't know if I've ever seen panic this bad on DU, lol.

Blaming the army for not evacuating everyone, blaming cruise ships for taking people to a city with plenty of hotels, blaming governor's, mayor's, some lady staying to care for the Hemingway house, it is out of control.

[FLPanhandle]

31. It's always the ones who have never evacuated from a hurricane before too

They have no clue.

[brooklynite]

12. Um, where are the troop carriers getting the gas?

[Lisa0825]

17. .

[Baitball Blogger]

18. Scott may have little experience with Army maneuvers and capabilities, since his experience

seems to be naval. The Navy cap was the tell.

[Not Ruth]

19. Certainly people could have evacuated Monday and used some vacation days to go to NY and hear Hil

But the Gov missed the opportunity to say the words.

[titaniumsalute]

26. On Monday that storm could have veered in a 250 mile difference.

You don't ask people to leave 6 days before a hurricane because if they do and the storm dies or veers way different they will never listen to an evacuation notice again.

[X_Digger]

23. Oh fucking goody.

[elehhhhna]

24. A lot of the beige troop carriers from Desert Storm are here in Houston

[ExciteBike66]

27. I think one problem is the lack of safety equipment on Army trucks

When I was a soldier we took school buses way more frequently than other vehicles. Probably much better fuel economy as well.

[itsrobert]

28. Our military is large

Last edited Fri Sep 8, 2017, 04:24 PM - Edit history (1)

But stretched out all over the world. Better to have volunteers, private contractors, etc to pick people up in buses.

[padfun]

35. I think you mean "OUR"?

I don't know whether you meant that or not, but as it is, it doesn't make sense.

[DrDan]

41. Buses? You do realize the population here is nearly 21M?

And just where would you take all of these people? How many NFL stadiums would it take?

Let's deal in reality?

[itsrobert]

43. Well.yes.

Try tobget the less able out.

[logosoco]

32. I wonder if the gov't had not been spending a fortune fighting the drug war

and then on prisons for those non-violent offenders, if they could have created better shelters and spent more manpower on developing a better evacuation system?

I am far from the coast or the gulf, but this is what I am thinking. I guess it's too late now though.

[JCMach1]

36. 4m or so people on I75 and I95 Discuss

Our military can do little to do anything about that...

Just imagine that wait to leave the concert that just never ends

[FLPanhandle]

37. Florida interstates backup during college football weekends

That's only about 300K people traveling in different directions.

[Phoenix61]

40. Ain't that the truth

I grew up in G'ville and my parents were still there until 2 years ago when my father passed. I learned to never, ever try to go home on a home game weekend. I-75 turned into a giant 8 lane parking lot.

[teach1st]

38. I don't think Florida is dropping the ball

Even Governor Scott and Attorney General Bondi are acting like they should act - human.

They have an experienced emergency response team activated. From what I can see around my neck of the Florida woods and condos, people are behaving responsibly and being friendly. Gas stations around here have had their supplies refreshed with government help and planning. After-storm supplies and personnel are stashed strategically. I'm sure that after the clean-up, we'll find things that we could have done better. But right now, it appears that the correct buttons are being pushed and the effective levers are being pulled.

Others have remarked why troop carriers won't work. Our emergency response teams are experienced and know best practices by now. Sometimes government works...even when run by a teabagger and especially when we really need it.

[Lee-Lee]

42. "Troop Carriers"? That's funny. The Army can't even ride in the back anymore

The number of Soldiers killed or injured in rollovers had led to pretty much a ban on riding anyone in the back of trucks.

If the Army wants to ride troops in the back it generally requires the signature of the first General Officer in the chain of command to sign off on the risk assessment and then its generally restricted to on-post driving where it's under 35mph.

Loading up civilians and running down the interstate? Yeah, not gonna happen.

Now what they should be doing is getting all the HEMTT and 5 ton fuel tankers, FARPs etc set up to dispense gasoline along the way.