So glad I moved away from Galveston two years ago. We lived on the island for over 30 years and decided these storm threats were just too much of a hassle and decided to retire more inland, near Austin. Suuuuuuuuure glad we did, now, I can tell you. This one's going to be a bad one. Afraid the surge is going to whip around the back side of Galveston and devastate it from behind; this would also flood Houston even worse than T.S. Allison die! I pray not.

Hope all our long-time friends got out safely, though I feel bad for them in all the traffic snarl ups. We offered refuge to several friends, but no takers yet.

I thought Houston learned a lesson during Hurricane Allen, when the roadways got all snarled up. Said they would open them up both sides for future hurricanes. Looks like they forgot! I felt so helpless in Allen sitting in the traffic jams that I just knew it was going to make landfall and there I would be sitting in my car. You couldn't change lanes, get off the road or anything. Right then and there I decided I was leaving the coast as soon as I could! Haven't regretted the move one bit!

Texas has handled the evac pretty well, but they should have opened all those lanes to outbound one day sooner. They better learn that lesson this time! So glad to hear the roads in Houston have finally cleared up.

Let's all pray the landfall is not as severe as they are predicting.

Yes! I'm gla dtoo!!!
They say the whole west side of the island will be under water.


OUR PRAYERS OUR WITH YOU......

Looks like Galveston is going to miss the worst of it.
The latest track puts it hitting the LA/TX border, putting Galveston on the "good" side of the storm.
Forcast models are predicting it to hit Cameron, LA by the time it makes landfall, with the east side of the eyewall hitting Lake Charles, LA as it moves north.
Predicting storm surge all the way up to I-10 (Lake Charles).
Lake Charles is 40 miles SW of my location.
Right now, we're getting light to moderate rain, and wind gusts to 40 mph.
We're expected to get steady winds from 70 to 80 mph, here, with a possibility of up to 25" of rain.

Sitting here waiting for the electricity to go out.

I will be praying for all those in Rita's path.

tg1911 - stay safe.

Rigel

My uncle is being evac'ed from Houston, that is very sad. But, there is a ray of hope, they are either coming here to Tucson, or they ar egoing to Pheonix. This information is according to my cousin, who called just 20 mins ago.

Houston and Galveston got lucky this time. Hope the state emergency team learns from this one just how early they must open all traffic lanes outbound for future evacs and how much gas they need to truck in. Otherwise, I think they did a fantastic job evacuating so many off the coast, especially those folks in Beaumont! I have friend who is a circuit judge there. They just finished building a fantastic, huge new home in Orange, near Beaumont. Hope it weathered the storm well.

There'll be lots of lessons learned from this one and Katrina. Hope the officials learn how to do it even better next time and learn from mistsakes made in these two. Because there's one thing for certian, there will be other storms.

I know a guy who stayed in Galveston to try and protect his boat. Can you beleive it? He made the decision to stay when Rita was a Category 5. No one survives a Cat 5 storm, especially on the shoreline like him. I could not convince him. Well, as you know it turns out that Galveston was missed by the worst of it, and he survives, but I think he was an idiot and I told him so. Lucky, and that is all. It was not a prudent decision.

Now he is bragging about what a good captain he is, because he survived 'the big one'. I am telling you, he has not seen a big one yet. Maybe the next one will get him.

I like what the Governor of LA said "If you are going to stay behind and ride it out, do us a favor and write your social security number on your forearm in indelable ink".

Albert Frankenstein

Science is scary!

I love that!

Also about your friend,


I had a friend who lives in Charleston, SC. Some of you will know about Hugo, South Carolina's big hurricane. When it came through, he went to the harbor and SANK his big fishing boat. When the storm was over he came back and "hauled" his boat back up and NOTHING was hurt!

This summer I have noticed that I am very glad to live in Michigan. I used to think it was really bad because of the winters and i wanted to live down south. But i have noticed they get hit by floods, hurricanes, and also some earthquakes and tornado's. in Michigan we only have to fear tornado's and the Michigan winter.

Most of the boat owners in Galveston think sinking the boats IS the safest way to protect them. They don't get battered around in the wind and don't get picked up and plopped elsewhere. They just haul them back out of the water upon return to the island and have found boats weather the storms just fine under water.

So the guy who thought he'd weather a category 5 was just not using good judgement. Better to lose a boat than your life! You can replace the former, not the latter!