hurricane musings

So firstly my sympathies to all people affected by the storms. But having looked at the pics and read the news stories I have wondered whether the authorities have turned off the speed and red light cameras in the cities and on the highways.

Slack Space 1613 This topic was started by ,


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So firstly my sympathies to all people affected by the storms.
 
But having looked at the pics and read the news stories I have wondered whether the authorities have turned off the speed and red light cameras in the cities and on the highways.
 
If not, I wonder if there are any interesting results. I have to admit that one of the ideas that flickers in my brain when looking at pics of empty city streets and highways is a combination of "Midtown Madness" and NFS "Porsche Unleashed" and "Underground".
 
I've never been through similar and so really have no appreciation of the scale of the situation. I guess the other question I have looking at the pics of Houston is "what does an empty city sound like?". With the storm coming I guess even the birds haven't stuck around. If I was a film director I would be quite tempted to try and get in there and shoot reels of film of an empty city and empty highways. Just thinking about what it took to film that short scene in "Devil's Advocate" makes one wonder.

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I live in Houston. The cameras and traffic lights remained on as long as there was power. What does it sound like when it is abandoned? Depending on where you stand - a hollow canyon to nothing at all. However, standing too long down there was a one way ticket to a Harris County holding cell. Most of the forceful winds were east of Houston so it wasn't particularly scary. But, during Alicia some years ago there was the additional sounds of glass breaking. Little pebbles were picked up by her and took out windows that were twenty and more stories up. Large panes were sucked out floated gracefully down and then smashed themselves on the street. Standing downtown at that point would get you a one way ticket to the morgue. The birds are fine. They didn't leave. What was nice, with everyone gone, was that you could get anywhere in minutes.
 
The mess was on the highways. They couldn't get the contraflow working as quickly as they wanted. So, as traffic ground to a halt, the garbage accumulated. They were unbelievably messy. The gas stations and small stores look like landfills.