Back in 2005, when a lot of folks evacuated for Rita, my family went to Dallas and my co-worker and his family went to Austin. After the storm came through on Saturday morning and in wake of the horrible evacuation traffic, Mayor White announced at a press conference that people should come back to the Houston area in waves.
Last name A-D was to come back on Monday, etc all the way through the end of the alphabet coming back on Friday. We drove back home on that Saturday, the day of the announcement, and I was at work on Monday morning. There were no traffic issues coming back to Houston.
My co-worker had a last name at the end of the alphabet and called in saying he was not driving home until Friday as per the Mayor's announcement and wouldn't be back at work until the following Monday, nine days after the storm.
Meanwhile, the company gave bonuses to those the came in that week. Co-worker was mad as a hornet.
By the way, I would not have evacuated except for the two New Orleans kids we had living with us. Remember, this was after Katrina and people were scared to death of another big storm. Those kids' parents called and were begging us to evacuate their kids, so we acquiesced.
Houston had very little damage. Thoughts and prayers to the residents of the Golden Triangle and Lake Charles.