The scene at Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston on Sunday morning where flood water is now covering entire portions of the city
Why wasn't Houston evacuated? Why wasn't there a mandatory evacuation order for the city before the flooding started from Hurricane Harvey? Who made that call?
Those are questions people are asking as horrific images circulated of the dire flooding in the city. People begged for help from rooftops, a man was rescued from a partially submerged semi truck, and families pleaded for rescue on social media.
Relatives tell KHOU-TV that six family members - four of them age 16 or under - have now died in the flood while trying to cross a Houston bridge. A man's living room was so flooded
he caught a large fish in it, and in nearby Dickinson, seniors were photographed sitting up to their waists in water in a nursing home. You can read more of those accounts
here. The frantic calls for help continued August 28 even as civilians took to boats to assist official rescuers; for example, Houston resident Leidys Shull
told CNN "that her home is underwater, and 11 people, including children, are trapped inside," saying, "It's just hard to get help here. Nobody is here to help."
As a result of all of the devastation, city and county officials are facing questions about why the evacuation order was not given ("Just stay off the roads. I think that's the best thing...stock up on some food and games if you have kids, and stay at home," the Houston mayor told residents on August 25), but based on history and expert opinions, some argue,
the evacuation might not have helped, and could have made things worse, as occurred during Hurricane Rita.
City officials, though, urged residents to ignore social media posts predicting a more dire situation before the hurricane hit. Some think more provisions should have at least been made for the city's most vulnerable residents before the flooding or to get those in flood-prone areas out.
Comment: Wait a second! Wasn't all this gender business saying that biological sex and gender are two separate things? Despite the absurdity of the argument, it seems now the state is saying that biological sex is purely subjective!