I'm seeing quite a few articles that are critical of the preparedness / response to Harvey. There are lots of questions like, "why wasn't Houston evacuated earlier?" What do the authors of these critiques see as an appropriate outcome to an event of this magnitude? So far the loss of life as been low, there hasn't been a widespread breakdown of law and order, and its too early to possibly evaluate the help or lack thereof with rebuilding. Sure, an evacuation could have been called. What would the benefit have been? The same property damage would have occurred and the suffering of the displaced may have been higher that the suffering of the evacuated. In Houston, we still remember the shit-show that was the Hurricane Rita evacuation where people sat on the roads of 12+ hours and ran out of food, water, and gas. As to the suggestion that houses should be built in 500 year flood plains, there is a cost for such requirements. It is possible to err on the side of too much caution.