Another thing to consider - the city of Houston is bigger than the whole state of Rhode Island and if you count the surrounding areas that are flooded, it's as big as Connecticut. Houston sprawls like a cyberpunk city, eating nearby towns as it expands. It's a huge area that's affected, just counting Houston and not the larger area.
As for the obvious comparison to Katrina - I had family from New Orleans evacuate here, and they stayed for six weeks or so before they could go back, and they both had the resources to evacuate and most of them were lucky enough to not sustain serious damage. And if you go to New Orleans now (12 years later), there are still places that haven't rebuilt. This is going to suck for Houston for a very long time.
And, to add insult to injury, our beloved legislature recently passed a law that'll make it more difficult for people to get their insurance companies to pay out unless they submit their claims in writing before September 1. Because that sounds easy.
]]>Also, wow. Just wow.
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