Here in Houston we dodged the bullet last night. It is now 8:54 am local time and I am on the northwest side and we got plenty of wind and a little rain so far. Thanks for your concern.

It was more like a strong front coming through on the west side but I'm sorry for the folks further east. We really did dodge a bullet.

Tigertate,
They moved 2.8 million people in less than 36 hours, that is a monumental task, but it worked.

I know of no other state that could pull that one off and I might suggest that those Texas Police officers did not take their patrol cars and scamper for safty like the LA cops did, and btw those DPS agents would probably shoot you in the back if you challanged them, they wouldn't be my pick to start a fight with...

Sorry you were inconvienced.

if you want to see how NOT to do it get nagin&blanco to write the book.now there videos of OKNG handcuffing homeowners,taking their guns{no receipt},finally NRA got injunction to stop.friend got 6 israelis to guard their houses& cops tried to get them to surrender their AR15s/glocks.didnt work.looters might need food,plenty around, not $800 dresses,$400 shoes.thank you houston for helping out,just dont send them back.we are now a drug free ,crime free city minus 1500 registered sex offenders,so it was not all a disaster.doesnt look like Rita hammered anything too badly.good luck to all! thanks,kim

I too am impressed with Texas' response and how well it went. Obviously with N.O. just two weeks prior they had a realization of how badly things can go if things aren't quickly and thoughtfully planned out. The restrooms on the side of the road, fuel trucks etc is very impressive by the way, I had not heard of that. And yes, opening both sides of the freeway to go North was fantastic too.

I always keep a supply of fuel on hand for a large generator that can power up and run my house if necessary. I've got a store of food, water filters, Coleman fuel, etc to make life more comfortable in rough times. Being in the country I've got an advantage and am self-sufficient (a well, septic system and my own generator to power it all if I need to). I'm not tied to city utilities, so that makes it easier for me.

My prayers are with all those along the Gulf who are going through these trying times.

I made it through the storm without a scratch or any damgae to my home. I never even lost electrical power. The west side of Houston didn't get much from Rita. But, being originally from Beaumont (about 100 miles east of Houston), I feel for the people in that area. Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange got whacked hard.

-Bob F.

Lost power this morning at 9:30, of all cotton picking things!!

needed to stay in for thursday morning to make sure our DR plans went in right (glad I stayed for that part) then tried to UA the area.. 2 hours on backroads (a well-spent youth in houston let's you learn SOME of the ways out without much notice) and only made 4 miles NW (18 miles odometer) then staring at the same stoplight for 30+ mins... on a record heat day...

I had already sent the family north (part to dallas, part to shreveport) and had planned on being in big-d.. totally underestimated the traffic...

made it home FINALLY and the storm had turned east.. I do feel for N.O.....

Called Harry as he mentioned

Lost my favorite tree in my yard (no rusty, I still haven't raked it)..


I think part of the reason the roads didn't get BAD violent was that everyone knew just about every car was "taking their valuables" with them.. that usually means a gun...

Jana got a light tap on her rear-end by a guy pulling horses... she's a good girl and did what I told her to.. DRIVE... F the little tap..

complaints

the fuel situation is exactly NOT the problem.. it was the traffic...

item one

the idiots who planned closing one side for traffic and not opening it FOR DAYS need to be keel hauled.

Opening 45 85+miles north of galveston should be a lesson learned... open it All, 45, 59, 10, 290.. from the first evac zone out.

Item 2
The mayor and chief of police of corrigan should be tarred and feathered. When Jana made it there (after 11+ hours on the road for a 1:25 drive) this little chicken sh!t town (with a 20 mph speedlimit) had all of it's traffic lights set for "normal" traffic and cops writing speedings tickets... Those lights are NOT sync'ed, and they were running "1 min, north south, 1 ,min east west"

Armchair quarter backing? Hell no.. 1 mile PAST this little hell hole traffic opened up to 70, from less than 2mph average.

<rant off>

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Tigertate,
They moved 2.8 million people in less than 36 hours, that is a monumental task, but it worked.

I know of no other state that could pull that one off and I might suggest that those Texas Police officers did not take their patrol cars and scamper for safty like the LA cops did, and btw those DPS agents would probably shoot you in the back if you challanged them, they wouldn't be my pick to start a fight with...

Sorry you were inconvienced.

Ray, I think you've confused the DEA with Texas Troopers. Last I heard, Troopers don't backshoot.

All in all they did a pretty good job with what they were stuck with but the fact remains that the plan needs serious adjusting now that we've tested it. There were additional ways out of my area that I'm sure will be used next time. That would have reduced the load on Houston by at least 300,000. And it was 60 hours, not 36.

As some one said elsewhere, Mississippi has the best plan in place, mostly because they've executed it so many times. In particular, they have plans in place to position sufficient gasoline resources all along the planned escape route, particularly I-55 north.

What really pisses me off are some of the officials complaining because too many families took more than one car or too many possessions and aggrevated the problem. I was in the thick of it and almost every car I saw had a minimum of three and many had 5. Vans were full too. There were the occasional Vettes with one dude in them and if it's their only car or even favorite one they have a right to try to save it.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
The mayor and chief of police of corrigan should be tarred and feathered.
jeffe

Agreed. I heard people saying great things about most municipalities on I-45, I-10 amd 290 getting traffic through their jurisdictions as quickly as possible. Corrigan has always been a shithole town and speed trap. They have one of the few remaining stop lights on 59, but fortunately not for long.

We have some leaves and small limbs in our yard, but no more damage than what a big thunderstorm might bring. Houston dodged a bullet, but really even the hard-hit areas dodged a bullet as well. Rita was a SERIOUS storm 48 hours before landfall, but fell apart quickly and didn't do nearly the damage that it could have done.

What if it came in as a Cat 5, and the Lake Livingston dam were to fail??? Scary to even contemplate.

Just made it home at 6:30 tonite from the ranchito near Kerrville. Left about noon with out little caravan of 3 vehicles and drove 65 all the way home except for two slow spots at Columbus and Sealy on I-10. Could have driven 75, unbelievable with all officials telling you not to come back just yet! What a contrast to leaving at 1 am wed and not getting to the ranch for 19 hours... and we new some shortcuts aroung the i10 parking lot that got us out to Brookshire from the loop in 45 min. as opposed to the 6-8 hrs. that it took most folks to get that far. Learned lots of valuable lessons, one being caravan with armed friends, everybody have quality hand held radios, lots of extra
gas and good maps/knowledge of the area you have to traverse. Multiple vehicle in contact with each other can run blocking manuevers to allow lane changes that all can make at once to stay togeather. NEVER rely on your cell phone, the systems overloaded and it was next to impossible to make or receive calls, good multi channel w/privacy code handhelds did the trick. Thursday, it was a zoo, but 99.8% of folks acted right and treated each other well. The fact that 90% of us were armed probably did not hurt things a bit. I discovered that evacuating large amounts of firearms can be somewhat problematical, even in a 26 ft motorhome, got to have priorities, right! Guns, women/kids and collector cars first!!! What a ride, We are home with only minor fence damage, and boys... I don't mind saying that tonite I will hit my knees and give the big guy thanks for sparing so many folks in this heavily populated area. My heart and spare $ will go to my east TX. brothers and tommorrow, I will be back at the refinery spooling it back up to make that gas nobody has right now. My thanks to all for all the prayers and concern for all my fellow Texans! Lee.

What a difference a couple of days make. I was down at the ranch on the coast wednesday and figured it was the last time I would see it in one piece. Port Lavaca was ground zero and I am only about 12 miles away. It was hard to drive away from a place that you had put a lot of blood sweat and tears into.

Now it's Saturday night down at the ranch and I just finished cleaning a limit of doves. Who woulda thought it. Thanks to the man above for giving my fellow Texans and I another chance. I am relieved that everyone made it through with minor or no damage. God Bless Texas.