Man on the street: Houston unprepared for its own hurricane

Posted on October 18, 2016

Originally Posted on The Daily Cougar via UWIRE

“I think if Houston has been experiencing flooding, they should fix the roads and try to make the pipelines better so the water does not come higher every time the water falls,” said digital media sophomore Van Le. “We should have workshops to teach people how to deal with the hurricane, to get everybody prepared with the hurricane so they have some idea what to do if it comes.” | Rafa Farihah/The Cougar
“When Ike happened, and even though it wasn’t as big of a hurricane as Matthew, it still had pretty damaging effects on Galveston, and I feel that we need to be more prepared if a hurricane on that scale were to hit Houston,” said finance freshman Victoria Avila. “Make sure you have an evacuation plan. Make sure you do whatever you can to save what you need and take what you need, before we can actually work on the bigger stuff like making the sea wall higher, because those things cost a lot of money.” | Rafa Farihah/The Cougar
"I know that in the past, when we had hurricanes, it’s been really hard for people to evacuate because there’s just so many people in the city. It’s kind of impossible or everyone to get out at once,” said pre-business freshman Varsha Ranganath. “I know the University is constantly sending out emails about different news items going on on campus. Maybe they can send emails and organize different events to get people to learn about these things that are happening.” | Rafa Farihah/The Cougar
“While everyone is sad about the effects that Hurricane Matthew has had on Haiti and the other places it has hit, I can’t help but feel like many people won’t really care until it happens to them. And when it does... I hope we won’t be too late,” said business freshman Trinity Lawrence. “A lot of people say they are sad about Haiti, but they just say that and forget about the situation. People won’t figure out what needs to be done about the situation until it happens to them.” | Rafa Farihah/The Cougar
“I think if Houston has been experiencing flooding, they should fix the roads and try to make the pipelines better so the water does not come higher every time the water falls,” said digital media sophomore Van Le. “We should have workshops to teach people how to deal with the hurricane, to get everybody prepared with the hurricane so they have some idea what to do if it comes.” | Rafa Farihah/The Cougar
“Well I feel like there should be a little more preparation on the city’s part for that, because there is only so much private homes and businesses can do,” said history junior Codi Hargrave. “Making better evacuation plans would be good, and this wouldn’t be on short notice, but build better infrastructure. I think we could team up and make some kind of organization to help victims of the flooding and hurricanes, help people rebuild their homes and businesses, donate money and time.” | Rafa Farihah/The Cougar

As Hurricane Matthew swept through the Atlantic last week, hundreds were killed in Haiti and the southeastern United States.

The tropical cyclone initially started in the African coast and gradually spiraled over to the United States, hitting the coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina and North Carolina.

This devastating catastrophe was the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Felix in 2007. Although disaster struck far from Houston, it was difficult not to ask, not if, but when Houston gets hit by a hurricane, will we be prepared?

The Cougar asked students if they think their city and University are prepared for an inevitable future hurricane. Many said they don’t believe so.

news@thedailycougar.com

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“Man on the street: Houston unprepared for its own hurricane” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar

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