Rita and the McDonald's postmortem: why couldn’t millions and millions be served?
• To reiterate, there is no gasoline in Houston; some stations might be resupplied tomorrow. With Houstonians ignoring official pleas to stay away and returning to the city already, let’s hope so.
• My institution is adequately staffed and I was waived off for Saturday and Sunday. But my condo building is without power and I’m staying with a friend in the Houston Heights. We drove around for a bit tonight on the off chance of finding a decent meal. No dice. Everything is closed. So we came home and had Ramen noodles. We’re hoping a grocery store is open tomorrow.
• Fearing Rita’s potential destruction, more than 2.7 million people fled the greater Houston area. The resulting traffic congestion was a nightmare. Drama queens in the media wonder what this says about our capacity to evacuate a major city in the event of a terrorist attack or other calamity. I can tell them what it says. It says shit happens. It says we might take it in the teeth. It says some things you just have to reconcile with the God of your understanding and then let go of. It says grow the hell up. For there are things even the mighty Leviathan cannot do. One of these things is to move suddenly millions of people from one place to another without delay or hassle.
Did we learn from this experience? Might we now improve on our procedures in case such a large scale egress is ever again necessary? Yes, of course. But in no event is the evacuation of one of the Nation’s largest cities ever going to move with the speed of the drive-up lane at McDonald’s. That fact could produce unavoidable tragedy. This time it produced only inconvenience. Grown-ups know the difference — and are grateful.