Have Y'all Noticed Hurricane Rita Heading Your Way...?

[Warren_L]

Rick, we're about 50 miles inland from Galveston.

We went to Wally World this evening to flesh out the pantry and pick up a few things. That place was nuts! It was strange to see some isles were almost totally empty, yet others were filled to the gills. Of course no plain old water was to be seen. The camping dept. was also cleaned out. Fights and arguments in the isles....we finally decided we could make do with what we had and left. Took 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot!

I have no doubt this is gonna be a bad one. Even if it hits south of us we're on the dirty side of it. But I can't believe the near panic we witnessed tonight. We overheard stories of things 'they' had heard on TV, everything from expect no electricity for up to a month to Baytown would be wiped off the map. Of course everything you hear on the TV is true, right? :11: Oy Vey!

We have to evacuate my father-in-law from the nursing home in Pasadena tomorrow by noon. The rest of the week is going to be interesting.

I work in the financial services and listen to CNBC (amongst other things) all day and the media in general is really hyping things up. But things are looking pretty serious from what everyone has been saying. So.... everyone in the area, get yourselves to a safe place and with some luck, we're all hoping that all the hype turns out to be just hype. Be safe.

 

[Rick Murchison]

If I were in Texas right now, anywhere along or east of US 59 from Houston to Beeville, I'd be buttoning up and heading for the hills.
70mph in San Marcos is reasonable. When Opal hit we had over 90mph sustained in Montgomery, which is about the same distance from the Gulf as San Marcos - and Rita could potentially get even bigger than Opal.
The only good news I see is that the Gulf isn't as warm close to the Texas coastline as it was when Katrina came across, so Rita should peak in the next day or so and then weaken. I still see it getting there as a Cat 3 wind-wise, and huge in its wind swath diameter.
This is really a really really big storm. Take it seriously.
---
Just as a side note, over the years I've noticed that whenever someone tells me why they are not evacuating, they will (unknowingly) quote someone who died in the 1900 Galveston storm.
Rick

 

[Uncle Pug]

Don... seems like your openning post was well placed.

 

[DandyDon]

Don... seems like your openning post was well placed.

Well thanks, I didn't want to encourage a panic, but then - I did want to suggest to my SB friends getting a head start on the preparations and possible evacuations. Houston and Corpus Christi have a lot of experiences with Cat-1s, but it seems that this will be at least a Cat-3 when it hits Friday night.

 

[blueeyes_austin]

Our forecasters say we may get 70mph here but I would be surprised as far inland as we are but I guess we will see..

Dee you know my offer still stands..bring the dog... oh and of course Beast and come on lots of room at the Riley house

People I work with in Jackson lost power for a week and had hurricane force winds.

There's no reason why San Marcos/Austin can't see the same.

 

[Dee]

Well, we've decided not to tough this one out.

We'll be going to Dallas to stay with friends, probably leaving tomorrow. My father-in-law is taken care of so it'll just be us and the dog.

Thanks Ann. We flipped a coin and Mary Sue lost! Hopefully we'll just have a nice few days with friends and come home to pick up a few limbs in the yard.

 

[Firefyter]

Well, we've decided not to tough this one out.

We'll be going to Dallas to stay with friends, probably leaving tomorrow. My father-in-law is taken care of so it'll just be us and the dog.

Thanks Ann. We flipped a coin and Mary Sue lost! Hopefully we'll just have a nice few days with friends and come home to pick up a few limbs in the yard.

We're hoping the same thing for ya Dee, we'll be praying that everything's good when you get back home. Be careful on the way up tomorrow, I can only imagine what I45 is gonna look like. That 3 hour trip is likely to be just a wee bit longer, so leave early and drive careful.

 

[Debraw]

I heard earlier today it was 8 hours out of Houston to Dallas on I-45. Also heard if you go on I-45 Thursday it could be as long as 20 hours. What kind of numbers are those? It's hard for me to believe but not impossible I guess. I flew my step daughter from Houston tonight on the 9pm flight. It's still delayed and not expected to land until 10:30 or so now. The rest of her family is planning on staying there, we invited them but they refused. Even has their landlord came to board up their windows and sandbag their yard. My parents are also staying in Houston. It took me 7 hours to get a hold of them this afternoon because all the circuits were busy. I begged them to leave but they also refused. Looks like Dallas will see a lot of rain starting Saturday and all day Sunday. If we lose power, we can fire up the grill. We went to Sam's tonight and there was no water. The checker was saying that people were buying water by the pallet. May end up closing the shop Saturday if there is a lot of rain and wind expected. All eyes on Rita....

 

[Natasha]

I'm sticking it out. I have hopes of getting on my plane to Bonaire from IAH on Saturday. I'll take any prayers I can get. I'm 27 miles north of Galveston.

 

[DandyDon]

I heard earlier today it was 8 hours out of Houston to Dallas on I-45. Also heard if you go on I-45 Thursday it could be as long as 20 hours. What kind of numbers are those?

From the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Houston occasionally has been called the blob that ate southeast Texas. This image does not apply to the city of Houston (largely confined to Harris County) but to the spread of population into neighboring counties. Houston and the surrounding web of smaller cities, towns and suburbs have been slowly knit together by urbanization to form what is commonly referred to as a metropolitan area. Houston becomes a common identifying feature for those living in the area, even for those living in the remote suburbs.

Houston–Baytown–Sugar Land Metropolitan Area: Population 4,741,677

Now, how many cars can you park on I-45 between Houston and Dallas?