I might have jinxed it... I just saw a pic on dad's cam go dark wait, now it's solid black... I think it's living on the UPS supply right now. All I can see is the faint outline of the boards and a green glow in the backlground(maybe a transformer popping). I hope it stays on!
The lights at the Reese's house are not on any more that is for sure and I getting intermittant drops in the picture now.
Ok this is riding the storm out. THings are creaking and groaning and hitting the house and all hell is breaking loose!
I've had some power blips and the computer has cut off at least once. It looks like Dad's cpu is still online at this point, not sure how long that's going to last with the way things are on this side of town. Stay tuned...
Well we are having the some pretty heavy winds here now, and the power has blinked a couple of times. Good 'ol UPS is saving the 'pooter right now, if the same is happening at Dad's I don't know how long the cams and weather data will survive.
Just got back from R's house... the lack of wind and rain so far coupled with sheer boredom enticed me to go over there. Well that and the fact that he had Key Lime Bluebell! YUM!
Anyway they say the storm is still coming I guess we'll see around midnight or 1am. It's been losing it's punch rapidly so that's pretty good. I guess the next trick is to see if the plywood hold up to the 100MPH winds that alledgedly still coming.
Well I was hoping for more east but it appears to be zeroing in... I found another neat hurricane deal over at digg, but I'm not sure how valuable it is for real time use. Have a look googlemaps + hurricanes
Dale and I left at 3:30 am Wednesday morning and arrived in San Angelo at 2:30am Thursday morning. At one point we only went 46 miles in 12 hours....almost ran out of gas...both dogs almost overheated as well as Dale and I......but all being said WE MADE IT!!! Luck was on our side....maybe we should play the lottery. We now will be focusing on praying for our families that stayed behind and the people on the freeways(aka parking lots).
SHE's Down to a 4! I'm sorry for those to the east but I'm doing a CYA right now. I know we are not out of the woods by any means but this is much better news now!
Putin' up wood Putin' up wood Putin' up wood ... sing it with me now.. Putin' up wood. Angie and I just hung as much as we have. I have almost everything covered, I was so fortunate that my neighbor had a bag of Plylox because those things worked great! I owe them big time! Anyway stopped for a bit and saw that Rita is slipping more to the east... go go go... phewwwwwwwwwpptptptp.... maybe if we all blow collectivly.
Oh yea no gas to be had anywhere! I am going to have to siphon some off for Angie I think.
Ok folks overnight the worst case scenario has begun. Rita is at 175MPH sustained winds and as of now has track directly into Houston. The roads are jammed. as you can see from the comments people are not able to get out at this point. I am going to begin cutting wood at sun up(30 mins) and take it from there. We still have 2 days roughly but at this rate I'm afraid there is not much hope for getting out of the city. My friends to the north have reached out to us and I am now seriously considering it but I'm not sure on th eprospect of actually gwtting there. With the size and strength I am afraid that we are hours away from a full city of Houston mandatory evacuation. That will only make it worse. Hopefully soon they will turn the inbond lanes to outbound.
I am looking at the Transtar page and it looks like there is some green at the bottom of 45 so maybe the end of the crud is getting here, but I'm sure first light and the new track will shock many people on to the roads.
I also am looking at the Sat Vid and with the projection points mapped on it, well the storm is still going more north! Maybe by tomorrow, I hate to send it to New Orleans, but they are more evacuated already and they need the "mud" washed out of the streets. It feels somewhat desperate.
Gee only 13! That's only 4 times as long as normal! Glad they are safe! I'm hearing horror stories of traffic conditions out there.
Also you guys need to be aware that the storm post landfall is going to the DFW area in at least one prediction. Get gas, money and plywood!
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gvill
My family and I left Baytown, I-10 and Garth road at 6:30 am. We finally couldn't take anymore,,,the girls were suffering from the extreme heat..so after 7 hours on the road, we decided to accept a friend's hospitality and we pulled over on Frye road and we are going to hunker down in Katy. Hope it all turns out well..for everyone!
