Rita just went Cat 5!

[RadioNate]

we had lines for gas in SA last night. The local gas station was also out of ice and water. Unfortunately people in TX know where all the oil refineries are.

I should warn people - they will all be hit. I think I heard the stat that 30% of the country's oil refrinies are in the path.

I think we'll avoid a big hit but I'm worried about the H-G area.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

There were lines out into the street last night for gas here in Lewisville -it was crazy. I went to Walmart and the water was almost gone, people were buying the same things I was - non-perishable food, batteries, flashlights - it was so crazy and surreal.

Everyone prepare and stay safe.

OH GREAT....

My dh thinks I am bananas for wanting to prepare. Remember we just moved here from Missouri in April and have no idea what to expect.
So do you think we could be without power here????
If I prepare, what should I get????

 

[Lisa F]

OH GREAT....

My dh thinks I am bananas for wanting to prepare. Remember we just moved here from Missouri in April and have no idea what to expect.
So do you think we could be without power here????
If I prepare, what should I get????

IMO it's always a good idea to have SOME level of readiness for disaster even if you are not in the path of a hurricane or some other imminent disaster. In TX, an ice storm could knock out power for days during the winter and tornadoes are not unheard of.

We always have 10 gallons of bottled water (just two of those big 5 gallon jugs) that we keep just for emergencies. Lots of batteries, a battery powered radio, flashlights and electric camping lanterns, canned food and a non-electric can opener. When we lived in MD our area was hit by a tornado (very rare) and we were without power for a full week, that's when we picked up a lot of this stuff. Here is a list made by the Red Cross... I don't think you need to go out and buy EVERYTHING on this list today but it's a good idea to have most of this stuff around in general.

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_3_,00.html

 

[RadioNate]

Here's what I did.

We may get some rain and flash flooding (which is common here) and maybe some loss of power. With Rita moving north and closer to Galveston rather than Corpus or Port Lavaca we'll likely only be touched by the outer bands on the west side of the storm. This is good news except we really could use the rain.

I have 2 cases of bottled water, and some extra flavored bottled water to boot. We got gas and 1 20lb bag of ice. We have a full ice maker and 1/2 of a 7lb bag of ice. We also got a new propane tank for the gas grill (I know I know, gas grill in TX). I debated getting some charcol too and might have if we were in more of a risk zone. I have 3 loaves of bread and lots of pb&j, apple sauce cups and fruit cups. This is 4 3 adults and 1 child.

I also have tons of batteries, a battery powered radio and dug out the corded phone. I also checked to see how many candles and battery powered lights we had.

I was really more prepairing for a loss of power more than anything else. The gas was because I'm sure prices will skyrocket early next week. I was in Memphis for the storm that no one heard about (still bitter) with had 100mph sustained winds with 120mph gusts and we were out of power for over a week and I don't want to go through that again.

 

[bgirldeb]

. I was in Memphis for the storm that no one heard about (still bitter) with had 100mph sustained winds with 120mph gusts and we were out of power for over a week and I don't want to go through that again.

Hurricane Elvis!

 

[dturner]

OH GREAT....

My dh thinks I am bananas for wanting to prepare. Remember we just moved here from Missouri in April and have no idea what to expect.
So do you think we could be without power here????
If I prepare, what should I get????

Well, I work in Flower Mound and my boss, who is from Wisconsin, said yesterday "Oh, we are not going to get that hurricane, we are too far inland"

That's NOT true, when I got home yesterday afternoon I was watching Texas weather on cable and the Hurricane expert said just because your not around the coast do NOT think for 1 minute that your safe - Hurricane force winds COULD continue all the way up the state - if this thing stays on track the eye will pass right through Dallas - now, it probably won't be a cat. 4 or 5 hurricane then but hurricane force winds and possible tornados is nothing to take lightly.

I made sure I had extra batteries for flashlights, got a case of water, some non-perishable food in case we loose electricity and I also have a scanner in case we loose the cable and a car full of gas in case I decide to drive farther north.

 

[RadioNate]

Hurricane Elvis!

yep! Hurricane Elivs. I almost called it that too until I figured no one would have a clue what I was talking about.

 

[wvrevy]

Just a piece of advice...forget battery powered radios and flashlights. Pick up a "Dynamo" powered device. It has a crank that you can turn to keep power to it indefinitely (in other words, no need to worry about the battery dying). We've got a radio / flashlight that we keep in our emergency kit, and another in the house that I actually use to listen to football games once in a while...lol...Had it for about 10 years, and have never purchased a battery for it.

Just do a google or eBay search for "dynamo powered" and you'll find a bunch of different products that you can use.

 

[WDWHound]

With the storm's turn to the north, its beginning to look like the Austin area will only recieve some thunderstorms and moderate winds (up to around 30 MPH). This is very different from what we were hearing last night when it looked like we might see cat 1 force winds here.

I picked up water and batteries on the way home from work. The were litterrly no D cell batteries left, and most of the bottled water and bread were gone. Even thius far inland, people were taking this puppy seriously.

The new path of the storm puts my brother in-law's mobile home about 20 miles west of the eye. He and his wife still refuse to leave and my MIL wont go unless they do. At this point, he is admitting that he may have made a mistake, but the main roads from Austin to Houston are now one big parking lot and he doesn't feel like he can get here. We are trying to convice him to take the back roads, which the radio reports say are wide open, but he is afraid of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere when the storm hits. My wife Aunt has a ranch about 50 miles north west of him, and they may try to go there with the 3 little girls. While thats not the best secenerio, its better than trying to ride out a cat 5 in a mobile home.

 

[jajuan]

There were lines out into the street last night for gas here in Lewisville -it was crazy. I went to Walmart and the water was almost gone, people were buying the same things I was - non-perishable food, batteries, flashlights - it was so crazy and surreal.

Everyone prepare and stay safe.

Oh my gosh...I didn't realize there were lines here already. I guess I better line up and get some gas. I guess I should get a little more prepared. We have PB and J and water, but not much else as far as non perishable goes.

 

[DemonLlama]

The expectation right now is that there will be 185 miles on EACH side of the eye that carries hurricane and tropical storm force winds. This is such a monster, I can't quite wrap my mind around it.

Monday at 7:00 a.m. central Oklahoma and Arkansas will be facing 35 MPH winds, just to give you a sense of how long, from landfall late Friday night, it will take to slow it down.

They are reporting that wherever it blows ashore, people should expect:
all mobile homes will be completely destroyed
all tree and signs will blow down
13-18 feet storm surge

 

[mallcat]

Worried about my cousin in Houston. We are trying to talk her into leaving, but she says she's staying. She's alone with two cats in a second story apartment.

Praying for her and everyone in Rita's path.

 

[DemonLlama]

TV is reporting that the 10 miles between the loop 610 and the larger loop around Houston called Beltway 8 is taking 11 hours

 

[dturner]

TV is reporting that the 10 miles between the loop 610 and the larger loop around Houston called Beltway 8 is taking 11 hours

I heard this morning it was taking people 25 hours to get from Houston to Dallas - that's crazy!!!

 

[lovehoney]

oops double post

 

[lovehoney]

Well we decided to leave Houston last night. (me, dh, ds4, ds1, ddog)
We were on the road by 7:00 pm and arrived at my friend's in Double Oaks (near Flower Mound - ) at 5:00 am this morning. This took 10 hours, but we stopped about 5 times for bathroom breaks and to get gas (got gas in Tomball and Bryan). We also ate at a Denny's in Fort Worth. We made much better time than I thought we would so we slowed it down so we wouldn't arrive at my friend's house too early.

It took us 3 hours to go the first 48 miles!

In case anybody is interested this was our route.
We took the beltway 8 from HWY59 to 249,
Took 249 to Tomball,
2920 to Waller,
362 to 105.
105 to Highway 6
Hwy 6 to Waco (through College Station )
35 to Double Oaks.

Now it looks like the worst of the hurricane is headed for Beaumont and Lake Charles. P and PD

 

[chris1gill]

How is anyone supposed to drive in their car for 11 hours just to go ten miles? There's got to be some different way of getting out (back roads maybe?)

On the bright side, our news in the Northeast was reporting that the hurricane may hit as a category 3 and is changing track a little bit... Hopefully that will in fact be the case, those driving times are crazy...

 

[jajuan]

Well we decided to leave Houston last night. (me, dh, ds4, ds1, ddog)
We were on the road by 7:00 pm and arrived at my friend's in Double Oaks (near Flower Mound - ) at 5:00 am this morning. This took 10 hours, but we stopped about 5 times for bathroom breaks and to get gas (got gas in Tomball and Bryan). We also ate at a Denny's in Fort Worth. We made much better time than I thought we would so we slowed it down so we wouldn't arrive at my friend's house too early.

It took us 3 hours to go the first 48 miles!

In case anybody is interested this was our route.
We took the beltway 8 from HWY59 to 249,
Took 249 to Tomball,
2920 to Waller,
362 to 105.
105 to Highway 6
Hwy 6 to Waco (through College Station )
35 to Double Oaks.

Now it looks like the worst of the hurricane is headed for Beaumont and Lake Charles. P and PD

Who are your friends? I know someone in Double Oak that was expecting company from Houston.

 

[lovehoney]

Who are your friends? I know someone in Double Oak that was expecting company from Houston.

Just pm'd you

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Many people they are interviewing on TV now who are calling in from the road are getting desperate: they have stayed up all night in crawling traffic, run out of gas, can't find any more, and just keep hearing authorities saying "get out" when they are TRYING. Lots of very angry folks who can't understand why TXDOT didn't get those inbound lanes changed over sooner.

This just goes to show that no evacuation is perfect.

I hope everyone gets out---but even though Texas has been praised the past couple of days...I'm very concerned that the maniacs will be all over it trying to say something was done wrong.

AS with all evacuations--you don't know how it will work until it is attempted, and you imrpove it for next time.

I know in NOLA that they would not fix disabled vehicles--but had maybe heard something that people were picked up or something. They did have abandoned cars on the interstate in some pictures.


All this clogging happened in Florida for the Floyd evacuations. AS far as I know it didn't happen in any hurrricane evacuations last summer. The problem was fixed for future storms.