Hurricane Rita

[Phischy]

What's worse is the weather forcasters are saying we're in a higher than normal period so we can expect more hurricanes to hit the US anywhere from a few years to a few decades. Imagine this happening 4 to 4 times per year! Hurricane season doesn't end until Nov 30th either.

As bad as hurricanes are, at least you can run from them. You can't do squat about an earthquake. It just happens and BAM, shake rattle and roll.

I'm making arrangements if needed to drive to TX with supplies to help my folks recover. Generators, lights, chainsaws etc... Just have to make sure someone is here to take care of my tank. Ya'll hang tough.

 

[drty811]

i really feel for you guys and gals.... :mrgreen: if you want for me to hold all yuor stuff i will no charge, i have the room. JK.

ill take tons of snow over hurricanes, torandos, and earthquakes anyday....

 

[Phischy]

Just got news from the parents. They're riding the storm out. They've fortified their home and gridlock has shut the city down. Apparently it took someone they know 6hrs to get from Sugarland to Katy. They're getting a few last minute supplies but intend on staying since they don't feel like running out of gas on the highway. I hope she weakens before she makes landfall. Good bye Galveston.

 

[Chubosco]

I'm really worried about you guys. I'm praying for all of you. God Bless!

 

[mikeguerrero]

I read under www.comcast.net that as Rita has entered the gulf she has slowed down. I hope they are right.

Mike

 

[Phischy]

My pop called me at lunch, he was having a beer on his porch. The hurricane is down to a Cat 4 and tracking east. he said in Katy they're expecting 45 to 50mph winds, a far cry from getting hit with the worst of a Cat 5. So I'm relaxed now. The people about to take it are eastern houston, east texas, and southwestern lousiana.

Just keep hoping she loses steam even more.

 

[incysor]

Ok. So this is my house now.

All in all it's been a pretty relaxing day. Watched some movies during breaks, filled up water containers, and boarded up the windows.

I probably won't be back on until after the storm blows itself out.

Talk to ya'll soon.

B

 

[dragon79]

wow, great job there Neat you added pics Take it easy incysor. Hopefully, nothing happens, and you just end up removing the boards later when it dies out.

 

[djconn]

We had some Houston friends that were going to evac. to our house in San Antonio for the weekend. Well after spending over 6 hours in traffic and not even making out of the city (10 miles) they turned around and went back home. I think city officials and FEMA are really letting us all down.

These people were trying to leave two days before the storm (as requested) and can't get out. Their complaint was that officials still hadn't made I-10 one-way (west bound) which would really help things.

Phischy, my folks are staying in town as well. They said the hell with getting stuck on the road with the thing.

Most gas stations in San Antonio have long lines are most are out of gas by now. This is crazy.

 

[Phischy]

Yup, I got word from my folks, they're out BBQin' up a bunch of food and all the neighbors are hanging around. They're more relaxed now that hte storm turned east, but they're expecting 45mph winds for 6hrs and 35mph winds for 12hrs.

The news reports say all roads are open heading out of town, but my dad said that's "Bullshit". Apparently on 10 west bound 40 miles from Katy, the road was down to one lane due to construction!

So, it'll be a long restless few days until I hear back from them. They said they expect to lose power and utlities for a few days but they'll hang tough. They didn't want to get stuck on the road w/o gas. Like my brother's in-laws. Somehow they got seperated, the mother is in Lufkin and the father is MIA but somehow they know he's out of gas. Crazy! I think my mom said they don't use cellphones. Imagine.

 

[Chubosco]

God man, I am really worried about all of you and yours. Praying for your safety. God protect all.

 

[Phischy]

Looks like Houston was spared. All I know is my folks lost power for four hours in the middle of hte night and that's about it.

 

[incysor]

We're still here folks.

We never lost power. I set my alarm clock, and cell phone alarm to go off every other hour, so that I could start baby sitting the tanks if the power went out. It never did.

I got up this morning and drove around the neigborhood to check on friends, and friend's family that stayed here. Most of the damage wasn't any worse than a normal thunderstorm. We got less water in our garage than we normally do during a decent sized storm.

Here's a few pics from the drive this morning. The last two are my favorite.

Our house as I was leaving to check on folks.

Random house with a branch down in the front yard.

Random house with the fence blown down. This was the most damage I saw. I'm sure there is worse, but I wasn't wasting gas driving around randomly.

Tree down across one of the smaller streets.

The rain gauge at a friends house.

I only saw one set of lines taken down by falling branches.
All in all, we had food/water/booze etc... for 12-15 people for a week, without rationing much. We could have easily stretched it for twice that time period if it had been necessary. I spent the first few hours of the storm across the neigborhood at a friends place with about 10 friends watching movies, playing video games, and drinking. Not a bad group to hang out with during a natural disaster.

Thanks for all the prayers/well wishes guys.

B

ps. I took the last couple batches of photos with my wife's boss's camera.

Sadie is helping me to get mine fixed, so I'll be posting pics again in a few weeks. She totally rocks, and I can't thank her enough for the help.

B