A scary situation developing in and around Houston.

The pictures coming from CNN are disturbing to say the least.

After millions of people were told to evacuate Galveston and Houston, the highways out have turned into parking lots, with fuel stations closed, and cars which have run out of gas idling their engines running out of gas on the road. The airports are packed, and people can't get out because the airport security checkpoints are backed up because so many workers didn't report to work-- apparently heeding the evacuation order and now being trapped on the highways. Today, the temperatures along I-45 north of Houston were near 100 degrees, and some people have moved only a few miles in 12 hours.

Considering how much advance notice Texas officials had, and the experience of watching things break down during Katrina, you'd think they would at least have made sure that there were enough fuel stations open (even if they had to send state troopers to operate the stations).

Let's all pray that the storm misses Houston and the surrounding area, because the thought of hundreds of thousands of people being stuck on the open road during a hurricane with no protection other than their car is truly frightening.

UPDATE: It appears as of this (Friday) morning that they have gotten the traffic moving, and the hurricane is steering away from Houston (although causing more flooding in an empty New Orleans).