Weathering Rita

[Sobelius]

Some family have left, some are staying. I am staying, though it's nerve-wracking watching 1.3 million people evacuate. Freeways bumper to bumper for hours at all times of day and night -- kind of like Los Angeles I guess. Every gas station with block-long lines, every grocery store parking lot full. I shopped early this week and got plenty of supplies, but there's no single supply labelled "sure-fire defense against Cat 5 hurricane". I'm not on the coast, but even being 80 miles inland doesn't make me feel particularly safe. It's like the city might get one giant pressure-washing treatment.

Best thing about all of this is that the Katrina experience left no room for indecision around here. People have been on the ball since Monday morning.

I have a slight concern for folks as far north as Dallas -- the storm may still be packing heavy winds when it hits there and my guess is they won't have done as much preparation.

Will posting with updates as long as power allows.

[Trippy]

Everybody down there please stay safe.

[HaemishM]

I'm not on the coast, but even being 80 miles inland doesn't make me feel particularly safe. It's like the city might get one giant pressure-washing treatment.

Don't expect power. We were 162 miles from the Katrina's Mississippi landfall, and we got pounded with wind damage. No flooding, thankfully. Many places in this town were without power for 4-5 days. Half that distance and it was a frigging warzone. Hattiesburg is about 92 miles from us, and they got shredded. Not to criticize your choices, but if you can leave, you should.

Good luck, though.

[Fargull]

Sobelius,

Where are you at?  Houston?

I am in Austin, and the general populus is freaking the fuck out.  Weird watching people fight over fucking bottled water.  Looking at the news it appears to be aiming far enough that Austin is just going to see some blustering winds and maybe rain.  Hell, we need rain.

If your in Houston, the biggest thing I would worry about is if the tidal surge travels all the way up, which it could if a dead on strike hits.  Have some good friends in the Pensacola area that lost their house that was about 20 feet up from the water about six miles inland as the storm surge pushed up the bay and basically became this shotgun wall of water.  Took out the first story and part of the second on their condo.

Everyone in the path is in my thoughts.

[Sobelius]

Not expecting power for several days, possibly a week, yes. Definitely expecting things to be a mess.

With some of the earlier forecast models, I can see why people in Austin and even San Antonio would have been a bit worried -- they shouldn't get more than some strong storms/winds now.

I just came back from getting cash, and the grocery store is still packed with shoppers.  Despite all the evacuating, there are still a LOT of people staying.

In Houston, yes, but not in a storm surge zone.

[Sobelius]

Storm is now tracking east of Houston and if it stays this way will put the city on the "dry" side of the thing. Still a major danger, though possibly reduced somewhat from previous tracking. This means SE Texas and SW Louisiana border region may take a direct hit and, of course, east/northeast of the landfall will have fast-flooding levels of rain.

[Soln]

good luck dude to you and your family.  Stay well.

[Merusk]

My youngest cousin is in a Houston hospital getting treatment for whatever aggressive form of Lukemia he has.  I haven't seen the guy in about 10 years, but my Uncle's there visiting right now and his grandfather flew-in to stay for a bit just Sunday.  Here's hoping things don't go to hell.

Keep yourself safe,Sobe.

[MisterNoisy]

Best wishes to anyone in the path.  Stay safe.

[Pococurante]

Several households of my friends planned to drive up this morning to spend the weekend with us in Dallas/Ft Worth.  But they're  stuck exactly as Sobelius describes.  Very nerve-wracking.  As I post this Rita is thought to be a Cat 1 by the time it hits the DFW metroplex.

One household left at 2am this morning.  By 10am they had managed to go thirty miles.

[Signe]

My sister in law and her hubby are in Pearland.  They said they intend to go to Austin until the storm is over.  My very silly brother in law wanted to stay in case of looters... sheesh.  The most he could do is poke them with a ski pole... maybe smack them with a Blackberry.  I'm sure the looters would hit the Walmart and pick up some handguns before they said, "Hey!  Let go steal Alisdair's TV!"  Anyway... I'm hoping they don't get stuck in that horrible traffic jam I've been watching. 

Good luck to everyone in that area.  Hopefully, things will go better this time around.

[Toast]

I'm in Austin, and a lot of people have been worked up about it. Most of the early projections had the eye going right over Austin with possible 80+ mph winds. Austin has never had anything like that.

Luckily, it has veered way off so we will probably see little more than heavy rain on Saturday.

[Sobelius]

Looting is not likely to be a problem, IMHO, because:

- most folks have had time to stock up ahead of time, and stores were able to get re-stocked enough so there was plenty to go around
- folks without transportation have been given plenty of public assistance to evacuate
- law enforcement, national guard and military are already in place
- there won't be thousands of people trapped at public shelters wondering when busses are coming to take them out

<sarcasm>
- if there is any looting, the affected areas are so far apart news crews won't be able to find them to let anyone know
- almost every Texan owns a gun and will cap anyone who even gives a boarded up shop a "funny look"
</sarcasm>

[Pococurante]

This is a very cool utility - I'm sure FSU will hate me for posting it.

According to this projection the eye may straddle the TX/LA border, head in towards Northern LA, then bounce off the Mississippi back into Texas where it will spin out.  The refinery impact will still be outrageous but at least we won't be down another major port city.

My very silly brother in law wanted to stay in case of looters... sheesh.

A good friend of mine has a similar problem, but it's his wife who refuses to leave because of looters.  And she won't permit him to arm themselves (he's certifed).

Women have strange ideas about playing the tough guy.  We guys tend to learn at a very early age that attitude adjustments are always available to kick our tail from here to Sunday... ;)

[daveNYC]

A good friend of mine has a similar problem, but it's his wife who refuses to leave because of looters.  And she won't permit him to arm themselves (he's certifed).

So what's the plan then, harsh language?  Good luck with the storm, last I checked it's only 145mph.  Better than 175 at least.

[Pococurante]

Yeah amazing isn't it.



They are going to tough it out.  Last I heard the traffic was much more sane.  I plan to put the guilt squeeze on them tomorrow.

[Yegolev]

Women have strange ideas about playing the tough guy.  We guys tend to learn at a very early age that attitude adjustments are always available to kick our tail from here to Sunday... ;)

My wife firmly believes that her anger and rage would be enough to allow her to morph into something resembling a hybrid of Wolverine and Doctor Octopus when "they come to get us".  I can only shake my head.  On the other hand, she is a very good shot with her Glock 9.

[Pococurante]

Downgraded to a Cat3 and still a half day out.  Whew.

[ClydeJr]

My wife and I decided to leave when it was upgraded to a Cat 4. Although we're not too near the coast (we live on the west side near Westheimer and the beltway), we live in an apartment and decided not to hang around. The plan was to go to Dallas to her parent's place. We left Thursday morning at 3:30 am.

• During the first 2 hours, we drove 2 miles.
• During the first 7 hours, we reached Barker-Cypress on 290. On a normal day we can drive that in 25 minutes.
• It took us 18 hours to get to Dallas.

I didn't want to get anywhere near that fiasco called I-45 so we decided to go 290 to 6 to I-35 to Dallas. We eventually jumped off 290 and hit the backroads which moved a lot faster.

We spent 18 hours in a Tahoe with a cat and his litterbox. I now have a new appreciation for the work 'catass'. Luckily we packed a lot of food and water so we didn't run out there. My Tahoe may be a gas guzzler in motion but it can idle in traffic for a long time without running out.

[Pococurante]

Very sorry to hear it.  Several of my friends had pretty much the same experience.

I grew up just a few miles from where you live now, down off Wilcrest & Briarforest.

[Sobelius]

I'm north of 290 near Antoine and West Little York.

Power went out at about 2:30 am Sat morning and was restored about 5:30 pm Sat eve.

Very grateful that the Houston-Galveston area was spared a direct hit and concerned about the Port Arthur / Lake Charles area.

I don't feel particularly good or bad about the decision to stay -- I do feel good that I took time to be prepared -- from food and ice to flashlights and gas. And even though we saw less rain than a typical afternoon thunderstorm, I'm still glad I took time to raise most things in my house to 3' above floor level just in case of flooding.

I'll spend tomorrow returning my house back to it's usual arrangment and be counting my blessings that all I need to do is haul a few downed banana trees to the curb instead of calling my insurance company about a missing roof...

[schild]

I'm waiting for them to cancel AGC because all the hotels are probably going to be giving rooms to evacuees.

[Baldric]

Damn,

Alot of people on this board live in my neighborhood in Houston.  I live off on Briar Forest and Wilcrest myself.  Wednesday after work I got the hell out of Dodge and drove to my brothers place in Dallas.  I went down FM 1093 to Highway 36 then took Highway 77 in Cameron to Waco then I 35 to Dallas.  That route took me 8 hrs and gas stations had gas the whole way.  So my advice would be to take the road less traveled and driving at night didn't hurt either.  Now, I am stuck up here in Dallas until Monday depending on how gas supplies are plus I don't want to be caught in a worse situation on the way back.

I don't regret for a moment bugging out of Houston.  If another comes our way, my only concern is that people don't take it seriously.