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Houston can learn from this New Orleans trick to save your car from flooding
Houston could benefit from this tactic used by the city of New Orleans to save cars from flooding.
Ahead of Hurricane Ida’s landfall this weekend, the city is opening up parking on medians throughout the city to allow drivers a chance to move their cars to higher ground before evacuating.
Medians and other public areas are called “neutral ground” in New Orleans.
Typically, it’s illegal to park anywhere on neutral ground, much like medians here in Houston. But with heavy rains and flash flooding imminent in the Big Easy, city officials there will allow residents to move their cars to the raised neutral ground starting at noon Saturday.
A preemptive measure in New Orleans, an act of desperation in Houston.
New Orleans will allow parking on “neutral ground” ahead of Hurricane Ida’s landfall this weekend.
Twitter / @nolareadyWhen the streets flood in Houston, drivers often maneuver onto the median eventually. But because of how quickly some roadways flood here (by design), it’s usually done as a last-ditch effort to avoid trekking into treacherous waters.
In some neighborhoods, streets flood so homes don’t. In those situations, your driveway is the best bet to keep your car from flooding.
But for countless Houstonians, there’s sometimes little protection if you live in an apartment complex or if you’re forced to park on the street.
Allowing the public to park on the median ahead of a predicted flood would be a good-faith gesture to drivers everywhere who have once lost a car to any number of Houston’s recent floods.
What other ways could Houston mitigate flood problems? Let me know on Twitter: @jayrjordan