What in the World Were They Thinking?

by Ron Ragain, Ph.D.
The Greater Houston area is dealing with the aftermath of a 500-year flood that has left several feet of water in areas that have never flooded before.  Some areas received 15- to 20-inches of rain in less that 6-hours which left all of the creeks and bayou’s overflowing their banks and inundating residential areas, displacing several thousand people and shutting down travel in much of the area.  As I watched live television coverage of this event from my non-flooded home I was saddened by the impact on the lives of so many, but initially struck by the “stupidity” of those who made decisions that put their lives at risk and in a few cases cost them their lives.  I began to try to make sense of why these individuals would make what appeared to be such fool-hearty decisions.  What could they have been thinking when they drove past a vehicle with flashing lights right into an underpass with 20 feet of water in it?