People Who Ignored Warnings Now Clogging Up the Emergency Services in Texas

The National Weather Service warned people that staying in certain parts of Texas could result in certain death. The local authorities issued mandatory evacation notices, but still thousands of dummies stayed behind and now Texas emergency services are swamped with requests for rescues as people find themselves living in swamped, damaged and sometimes collapsed homes that won't have power or other services for weeks:

GALVESTON, Texas - Rescue crews canvassed neighborhoods inundated by Ike's storm surge early Sunday morning, racing against time to save those who spent a second harrowing night trapped amid flattened houses, strewn debris and downed power lines.

One team of paramedics, rescue dogs and structural engineers fanned out under a nearly full moon on a finger of land in Galveston Bay. Authorities hoped to spare thousands of Texans — 140,000 by some estimates who ignored orders to flee ahead of Hurricane Ike — from another night among the destruction. Some had been rescued, but unknown thousands remained stranded.

Only four deaths had been blamed on Ike so far: two in Texas and two in Louisiana.

President Bush planned to travel to Texas on Tuesday to express sympathy and lend support to the storm's victims. He asked people who evacuated before the hurricane to listen to local authorities before trying to return home.

Roads blocked by waist-deep water and downed trees kept many rescuers at bay as they struggled through the largest search-and-rescue effort in state history, just a day after the Category 2 storm crashed into Texas with 110 mph winds.

As you can probably tell, I have a hard time being sympathetic towards the plight of people who ignored dire warnings and evacuation orders and chose to ride out the storm. Authorities did everything they could to warn these people to get out, and even provided them with places to go and ways to get there if needed, and yet they stupidly stayed behind and now are burdening the emergency services of the state that are needed elsewhere.

The emergency people should be spending their time clearing roads and debris and restoring power, not digging dummies out of their houses. Every one of these people who have to be rescued after the fact should be fined for the expense of their rescue. These people have created a humanitarian disaster that didn't need to happen.