Dealing with "Zombies" in the Mid Eastern Seaboard

[Murph]

I'm starting this thread for dealing with "zombies" (aka disasters, etc.) in and around the Mid Eastern Seaboard area. Which would include MD, DC, VA. Given the Nation's capitial is here there are some special considerations for this area that need to be discussed.

(Mods move this thread as necessary, there's no real sub-forum for it.)

[Sergeant Shultz]

Thanks for starting this thread, Murph.

Where should we begin? To start, I'm wondering if anybody has the DC city evacuation plan? I remember this a plan publicized several years ago that used enforced escape routes depending upon where one is in the city (ex: those in NW must evac along route A, those in NE must evac along route B, etc), but cannot find it anywhere.

Vehicular and pedestrian traffic in an emergency situation in the metro area is one of my top concerns. Anybody else get a not-so-warm feeling from the Primary Day storm and its effects on the region?

[Murph]

I've been in and on the Beltway on a "good" day of traffic, and I still wanted to rip my hair out. Now if people were doing a mass exodus of the area for some reason I can only imagine that things would come to a complete grid lock in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.

I'm guessing a large majority of that traffic would be coming out my way too.

The only thoughts I have on how one might be able to deal with it would be if you were able to travel light enough to ride a motorbike or some sorts. Because of the situation I'd wouldn't recommend a street or dirt bike, but maybe a dual-sport. You'd be able to lane split, and take it off road around any wrecks if necessary.

I would like to see an evacuation plan if anyone could get their hands on it.

[Sergeant Shultz]

I've been in and on the Beltway on a "good" day of traffic, and I still wanted to rip my hair out. Now if people were doing a mass exodus of the area for some reason I can only imagine that things would come to a complete grid lock in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.

Ohhh boy, do I have some stories along those lines. 11 Sep 2001, a couple of complete shutdowns/roadblocks during the Johhny Muhhamed sniper attacks, and the recent "An ice storm is coming. Nah, there's no need to salt the 50 bridges at the I-95/Beltway interchange" fiasco. I've seen the local highways and roads in emergency situations and it's not pretty.

11 Sep taught me that it is quicker, easier, safer, and better for my sanity for me to walk home from work or to be prepared to bug in at my office for some time until I can safely go home. The roadblock fun and the ice incident reinforced those notions. The lesson is that if TSHTF, don't rely on the roads. Not rocket science and not an uncommon notion in preparedness forum like this, but I don't get the impression that many others in the metro area feel the same way. People are tied to their cars and that's probably true in every urban location.

I think you're right about a bike. Back in 2002 I seriously considered a fold-up bike to keep in my car's trunk so I could ride home in any situation. Since I'm a runner and I've never worked more than 15 miles from my home I've gone the cheap route and decided that I can just run home if need be.

Enough of that. Where's the beef? Here it is...

I present the official Washington, DC, Evacuation Plan. They simplified it a bit in its final version. Now there's just one dividing line: PA Ave.

The City's Site:
http://72hours.dc.gov/eic/site/default.asp

The Plan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/02/04/GR2008020400347.html

Accompanying article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/03/AR2008020302923.html?sid=ST2008020400386

Quotes from the article:
The new guide bluntly outlines the difficulties of a big evacuation. Most people in the area are expected to flee in their cars. But even in a typical evening rush period, a majority of the designated evacuation routes operate at 120 percent of capacity or more, the guide says.

Some designated passages out of the District are not considered evacuation routes by neighboring jurisdictions. For example, MacArthur Boulevard tapers from six lanes to two in Maryland, where it is not considered an evacuation corridor, the guide notes. . .

The guide was compiled as many local governments were expanding their evacuation planning and preparing potential shelters. Northern Virginia has been drawing up a detailed regional plan. . .

Local governments remain divided over revealing their evacuation plans to the public. Montgomery County, for example, does not plan to publicize its evacuation routes or shelters, saying it wants to maintain flexibility depending on the crisis. The District, in contrast, is publishing guides for each of its eight wards, detailing evacuation routes and shelters. . .


"Six and a half years after 9/11, we should be further along than this. We're still not ready for prime time." - Rep. Tom Davis

Thoughts?

[CrimsonChaos]

well in the novel World War Z, a lot of the people continued to rely on vehicles when TSHTF, and were, inevitably, reanimated inside the cars. imagine the belt filled with vehicles filled with the moaning beasties, i think a fold up bike is a awesome idea, just the matter of mashing your food when you go shopping, +1 dude

[Murph]

Wow... those plans are just sad. The only people that would be screwed harder then the ones stuck in traffic are the people who are stuck relying on public transport. Talk about bending over and kissing your ass good bye.

My new suggestion for DC residents that might need to leave the area... Personal Helicopters.

[harpo]

Sort of off topic, but does anyone remember the movie Independence Day when Judd Hirsch and Jeff Goldblum drove from New York to DC in the midst of a panic and they seemed to get there relatively quickly. Anyone who hast taken that ride knows that in optimum condtions it would take 5-6 hours. In the midst of a panic it would take days or not be possible at all.

[CavemanSam]

While those plans are inadequate, for an area like DC, it would be difficult even to devise a unified, large scale evacuation plan, not to mention implement such a task. Others may have different opinions, but I don't think the DC metro area really needs a single unified evacuation plan, but rather, an increase of awareness, preparation and planning at the neighborhood level. Many businesses, hospitals, and universities already have their own plans in case of emergencies and evacuation routes, and residents who work or go to these places are covered, but a level of redundancy that covers residential areas would be essential to help everyone. The only need for uniformity would be to ensure that evacuation plans don't over tax local evacuation routes (even though thats going to happen anyways).

Some local areas are doing well as far as preparedness is going. PG county has a really robust disaster preparedness and relief system including a large and well organized CERT program, search and rescue teams (urban, suburban, and wilderness), faith-based disaster relief groups, and a county government that is willing to talk and work with all of them. I think they've actually go their heads on straight when they say to stay off the roads. Besides a wide spread nuclear attack, and one or two other events, I don't see any other emergency scenarios that would be made better by having everyone jump on a road and run.
The majority of the evacuation routes are already running at over capacity on a daily basis during rush hour (route 1, Georgia ave, any of the bridges crossing the Potomac, etc). Being stuck on these roads during any sort of disaster isn't going to help anyone's situation.

My personal plan is to bug in. My stockpile is still inadequate, but I'm slowly working it up to a respectable level, and in my judgment, will give me a better chance than either loading up my car and getting stuck on the road, or hauling my supplies out and walking to somewhere else. In the first case, I am putting my life in the hands of the metropolitan DC road system (which has already been thoroughly disparaged here), and in the second case, I would be able to travel 20 miles a day at the most, and most of the time I would be following the same road system that I would be driving on. Your mileage will undoubtedly vary, but bugging in will give me more protection against the most likely disasters, besides nuclear attack. In the case of such an attack and in case I was forewarned, my plan would probably be to grab my go bag (or anything) and try to use local roads that may not be as packed as main arteries will be (but probably still congested) and hope for the best. In the case of zombies, I would still prefer bugging in. I have a better chance of defending myself, or better yet, not being detected in my house than stuck on the highway.

All of that being said, the biggest problem facing us in the DC area will probably be the government response, especially if any sort of martial law is set in place by the military presence that will most likely appear after an event in DC. The things to do here would be to lay low, be non-aggressive, and keep the lines of communication open. The last thing you want after surviving a zombie attack is to get killed by the National guard because of an argument or misunderstanding. DC will be given much more attention and support during a disaster. A good portion of those resources will be allocated to heads of state and politicians, but this will most likely mean more resources for the residents as well. Politicians that abandon their constituents, or anybody, will be looked on very negatively, and the machine that runs the nation will most likely want to get back into working order as soon as possible. The Washington DC area does have the misfortune of being a high risk area as well having an inadequate evacuation/transportation system, but there will be some benefits to being closeby if the SHTF.

[Sergeant Shultz]

Caveman Sam: I think your analysis is correct and that a unified evac plan is probably counterproductive and wasteful.

To add to this thread... yesterday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Govt Affairs had a hearing on Nuclear Terrorism. Some interesting testimony that's applicable to this thread.

HSGA Committee Hearings. In addition to the 4/15/08 hearing, there are several earlier meetings with interesting testimony on the national capital region's emergency plans for attacks and pandemics:
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Home

Washington Times article on the hearing:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/METRO/556828862/1001&template=nextpage

Washington Post article on the hearing:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041502969.html?hpid=sec-health

I am still working through the testimony, but there are some good points to chew over (and some are noted in the articles) about bugging in, evac on foot, mass casualty treatment / non-treatment, and SREMP and its effects on backup power sources.