Galveston leaders learned from Katrina.

[Lisa0825]

I just had a meeting with someone who was at a town hall meeting after Katrina, regarding Galveston's plans to evacuate. She said that they addressed to issue of people evacuating with their animals. and they made sure that it was widely publicized during Rita. They saw what happend during Katrina, and how many people stayed behind because of their pets, and they decided that the way to ensure more people are safe is to make sure they know they don't have to leave anyone behind.

Now, once we got to Houston, all bets were off due to the traffic nightmare there, but the evacuation from Galveston actually went well. I felt good hearing that the city council, mayor, and emergency management team took the issue of evacuating animals seriously, and I hope that other areas of the country will adjust their plans as well.

One major change they really want to the plan is to have the HOV lane dedicated to Galveston evacuation traffic, to get us out quickly. That's good news for Galveston pets too, since the traffic nightmare was as big a stressor on animals as it was on humans.

I really feel that the outrage expressed post-Katrina helped show Galveston how important it was to include animals in an evacuation plan. I know a lot of folks on DU and other sites participated in petitions, letter writing, etc. In our case, I think it worked, so hats off to you!