High Tide, High Tempers and the road to recovery.

Well this is purely a RL rant. From watching the news almost constantly it is profoundly clear that the after this Hurricane tempers are starting to flare. My prediction for the next week is utter chaos... literally.

Residents of the Island are not being allowed to enter their homes, obviously the city is unlivable-no water, sewage system, or electricity. So unless you have a lot of bottled water, don't have problems shitting in bag, and lots of candles then this doesn't apply to you. Anyways the city officials admit they made a mistake in allowing some people to view their homes yesterday with hardly any restriction.

Yesterday: The day starts off with the announcement that only emergency personal would be allowed on the island, then at 12 a 'look and leave' policy was accepted and a FLOOD of people from all over the South East TX area rushed to the island to see their homes. Effectively clogging up the only means of entry on the island, the causeway. So this line lasted well into the night and people were turned away eventually and told to come back at 6 am. Well... this is where the city majorly screwed itself. Stick to your plan and don't be flakey. Either tell people they can come or can't. Its that simple. Don't tell people to come and check on their homes and then cancel that decision halfway through. Much less tell them to come back the next morning when you decide to not allow people on the island indefinitely. This undoubtedly angered an already frustrated group of thousands.

However, during a disaster of this magnitude no one can expect the city, county, state, or federal government to automatically poop out a solution of perfection. Frankly I believe they are doing all they can do, but the line of communication is definitely broken. People all over the news are saying one thing, then its canceled by another official and hour later. So I blame the media!

Today: Tempers are running on an all time high. The seemingly organized, and hopeful county press conferences have turned into a yelling match fueled by heated debates over the policies of the city and the way they are dealing with the problem of allowing citizens to return. I was shocked and disappointed to see how low people can sink. Arguing whose right and whose wrong doesn't matter at all and gets us no where. After all the Hurricane wasn't the city's fault and a lot of people are searching for someone to blame for their losses. Who better then the 'officials' who are now dictating the place where they used to call home?

I feel VERY uneasy about the future week or so. If this continues in it's current direction I can picture a flood of angered, irrational Galvestonians pushing their way through the police barricades and flooding the city turning it into a pit of utter chaos. Honestly i doubt that would happen, but they way people are acting I wouldn't be that surprised. What I am worried about is lodging. When questioned, city officials say FEMA will pay for every ones hotel for a month for the people of Galveston, since no one is allowed to their homes. However, once you go to the FEMA website and look at the list of hotels for TX, most DO NOT allow pets and are ALL booked. Out of the places I called, i didn't speak to one real person. The repetitive message I kept hearing was, "All rooms are occupied by rescue officials, indefinitely."

Sooooooooooooo where exactly are people without a home supposed to go if a shelter is not an option(most are already full). Especially all those people who left their hotels to see their homes, spent hours in line, and were turned away without any consideration? It just seems like so many people are falling through the cracks.

I realize that everyone who is working on picking up the pieces is probably doing their best. However, you can't evacuate 57, 000 people, tell them that they can come home to assess damages, turn them away and expect them to all find a place to stay. Like I said earlier, communication is the biggest problem and if everything was clearly defined there would be less of a problem in my eyes. At least people would know what was going on. Although I don't think any one person knows the whole story...

Granted this is only the problem with Galveston, where I live. I'm not even sure I can process the other problems that are running rampant at the moment in Houston, and surrounding areas. Currently 1.5 million people are still without power, however water is returning to places in Houston. I think...