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By Dan Feldstein, Staff
Houston Chronicle © 2006
June 01, 2006
Most people who looked at pictures of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina saw water filling the streets and houses.
Earl "Jay" Baker, a geography professor and evacuation expert at Florida State University in Tallahassee, noticed something different.
Yes, the homes flooded because of the failed levees. "But," he said, "the reason people had roofs to climb on in New Orleans is because they didn't blow away."
Baker tries to persuade Florida residents not to evacuate from hurricanes unless they live in a surge zone, where the high tide that accompanies a major storm may wash over their property.
On the Florida peninsula, there's not really any place to escape the wind anyway, Baker said, so residents should hunker down in place rather than create massive traffic jams.
But the catchphrase for Florida - "run from the water, hide from the wind" - should also be partially adopted here, said experts from Texas, Louisiana and Florida.
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