Here is our Hurricane 2005

2006 and 2007 didn't bring any mentionable storms, so I didn't have to use this 'blog' section. I have already received a few emails about the storm that is coming to us, so I will provide updates here.

Lost power at 0300am on Saturday morning. Power back at 6:00pm last night (Monday). Longest 3 days without power ever. Starting running out of fuel, and they said that we could expect a week or more with power. No power means no gas pumps. Sunday morning, I decided we need to be desperate in order to keep the generator running. Since cars are now designed to prevent siphoning of gas, I decided to cut a gas line on Matts car to get some fuel. Of course, I cut the line that is hardest to replace and more difficult to obtain. Oh well, one of the lessons I learned is to have enough fuel 7+ days. I had enough fuel for 4. I will also get a device to make siphoning possible from the cars.

No damage to the house. Lots of trees down and lots of fence damage. Thank goodness neighbors are cooperative and helpful (since it was THEIR trees). Between the 7 of us, we had both backyards cleared in about 5 hours. Would have taken 2 days if we each did it on our own.

I will post some pictures sometime, but right now we are busy repairing/cleaning hospital so it can reopen later this week.

Simply: What we went through here the last 5 days is NOTHING compared to what we went through with Rita 3 years ago. Short of a Cat5 coming up the freeway, we will not leave. By the storm got to us, it was a Cat3 and moving right up the freeway. No damages to the house. Cat4 is only another 20mph windspeed. Cat5 would probably require we leave, but we would leave at the last minute. We can't complain because at least we have a damage free home. That is more than the Galveston/Bolivar Peninsula people have. That devastation was overwhelming and it will take years for Galveston to be anything like it was. Unbeleivable.

All is well, and thanks for your concern. Cell phone service is still disrupted and was out Sat and Sun.

Getting a lot of wind here.....more than before. Lots of damage from trees falling down and branches flying. So far, no major damage to the house. If the eyewall comes here and we still have power in the subdivision, we may venture out for a little bit. We should have at least an hour in the eyewall unless it changes directions.

They are reporting already a million people without power in the Houston/Galveston area! The Utility Companies are also making announcements on TV that people should expect 2 weeks for all power to be brought back up.

Had out first power outage for a couple of minutes, but it came back. Unbeleivable. Eye is supposedly coming onto Galveston Island, which means the worst winds are probably 2 hours away. The storm is moving 12mph, and we live 38 miles from Galveston. We're almost 1/2 way done!!!!!!!! Kids quit playing video games and are now out here with me waiting to do what we need to do. Lisa has been asleep since 10pm.

Winds are at least 75mph out. Gusts must be higher than that. I can't beleive that we still have power. I have the generator ready when it does go out, though. Took the kids out in the street and noticed all the branches in the street and around the neighborhood. Won't be able to get good pictures until morning....will upload them if I still have power and internet services. Kids were in the street and a gust came that was at least 75....if not more. Almost knocked us all down. I am not sure how the video will turn out because I was filing through a large zip lock baggy. We came in because any branch flying through the air would have caused us some serious damage. All is well at the moment, even though there are blown transformer lights all around (with the associated pops) and the lights flicker more and more. TV shows the ocean is over the seawall in Galveston. That is really bad.

The weathercasters don't know what to think of the big empty spot near the eye wall. They think it might be good because it will allow a respite from the winds and rain, but they also think it might be bad because it allows space for the hurricane to grow. We'll see. It's pretty windy out and branches everywhere, but we amazingly still have power....but who knows for how long?

Lights flickering more and more. Power probably soon to go out. They report over 300,000 people without power so far so I guess we are lucky. Some branches are falling from trees, which is probably how power will go out. Nothing has landed on the house yet. Things are ship-shape and we are all well. Kids have been outside and seem to be enjoying themselves. Hurricane winds (75mph+) aren't expected in League City until after midnight. Lots of rain now, but of course, it comes and goes as the feeder bands pass through. We're hoping the eye comes over us so we can get some calm videos and videos of the stars. They say if there is lightning, we might actually be able to see the eyewall from the inside. How cool would that be?

Lots of towns around us are reporting loss of power....so I assume that we may be next. Power companies are reporting that some 110,000 people are already without power. Some of the strong gusts dim the lights a little bit. Winds still around 50mph with occasional gusts that must be a little more than that. Everyone OK. Kids playing video games and I am watching the weather and taking some videos outside (sorry Mom, I just have to). We'll keep you updated as much as we can.

50mph winds have started. House creaks a little bit with big gusts, but we have heard those before. When Rita came through, the winds ere in League City were 75mph and there were a few fences down and some branches down, but no other damage. The 100mph winds are only supposed to last about 2 hours sometime mid-morning. The power lines are whipping around, and the cable line into the house is really moving. I suspect that the cable may be the first to go.

Winds have picked up to 30-40 mph with a few bigger gusts. Hurricane force winds are to show up sometime around 6:30 or so. All is well at the moment.

The storm is supposed to be a direct hit on Galveston, give or take 20-30 miles one way or the other. Considering the storm is 350 miles across, a 30 mile difference in the landing of the eye of the storm wouldn't really matter any. Galveston is being hit hard, as many of you have probably seen on TV, and the worst is yet to come. Most communities will withdraw their emergency services personnel into shelters at 10pm tonight, and will not come out until the main part of the storm is over, probably somewhere around 6am tomorrow.

We have constant clouds now. Up until about an hour ago, there was intermittant sunshine. Some sprinkles, but no real rain yet...but it's coming. We're supposed to start seeing real weather sometime around 8-9pm. We'll have some pictures as we can.

I will continue updates as condition/information changes. At some point, we expect to lose power. While I have a generator, I will not use it for computers or internet services. If you need to reach us, please consider using text. Once the power goes off, we may be kind of busy as that means the storm will be worsening. Also, once power goes off, services and remaining population will be using cell phones as primary means of communication. Yesterday, it was very difficult to get calls in and out because of overload of the cellular systems.

Not any change in track of the storm. Most of Galveston under water and some of the areas east and west of the seawall have houses already that are underwater. TV is reporting people on roofs in the Crystal Beach area waiting for Coast Guard to arrive and rescue them. Frickin' idiots decided to stay and ignore all calls for evacuation. This is the area on the otherside of the Ferry ride. Already 10 feet of water over the roads there.

IMPORTANT: We were watching The Weather Channel and saw something scroll across the bottom of the screen stating if you live in a ground floor dwelling, you would face certain death. Well....we watched for it to come around again, and it stated that if you live on a ground floor, single story dwelling ON THE COAST LINE, you would face certain death if you were still there. That is correct. A 25 foot storm surge would put the water over your house and you would have no where to go. Yes, certain death would occur.

1. The elevation of our house is 30 feet with no major water around us. We are not even in a Cat5 storm surge area.

2. We are in the middle of a subdivision. Even 130mph winds will be slowed down due to trees and other structures, so the winds hitting our house will be well below the wind speeds they are recording/reporting. I would rather stay in a house without a roof than to make that 18 hour drive somewhere.

We still have sunshine and some clouds. Winds are 20-25 and steady, so the storm is getting closer. Everything is put up and put away, so we are ready.

The storm track really hasn't changed much. It still is supposed to come in right at Galveston and up the bay. It will be an interesting experience starting this afternoon. We'll a little anxious, but we have all the tools to be safe. The good thing is that the intensity is not supposed to by over a Cat3, or if it is, it will be for a short period of time. Home damage is not supposed to occur with that intensity. Also, by the storm not being to the west of us, we will miss the worst surge, rain and wind.

Watching the news, Galveston is already getting the surge. The Strand has standing water in the streets already. The water is almost over the seawall. Landfall is not expected until 2am tomorrow. At our house, we still have sun and clear skies. The wind has picked up a little bit. We aren't expecting any rain to show up until the feeder bands come through around lunch time. Of course, we'll update as long as we are able to.

A little shift in the track now moves it over Galveston Bay. What that means for us is less wind and less rain. If it tracks another 100 miles to the east, then we will have very little impact. Of course, it is only doing this because I almost have all the windows boarded up!!!

No real change in track of the storm. Is predicated to land in Freeport, TX, which is about 45 miles east of here. That makes it very bad for us. We are all hoping that a rightward shift comes and it will be 45 miles on the OTHER side of Houston. Then we aren't on the 'dirty' side anymore. Hospital almost empty, and most of us will be able to leave around 2pm. Michael and I will start with the plywood and preparations. Matt is over at a freinds house helping him because he sent his family away in advance of the storm. Putting plywood up on a 2 story house can not really be done by one person.

I don't have much time because I have a lot to accomplish yet. This storm, which started as projected to make landfall at the Texas/Mexico border, has continued it's rightward shift. It is now projected to land east of Matagorda Bay, or around 50 miles from here. Considering the hurricane force winds extend 90 miles from the eye of the storm, it could be an interesting few days. Models continue to indicate that there may still be some rightward movement of the anticipated track. 8 of the last 10 major storms have shift to the right just before landfall. With hurricanes, if you have to be in the middle of one, you want to be on the western side of the eye. less winds and less rain. Right now, we would be on the "dirty" side, or the side with the large storm surge, winds, tornados and rain. (relax Mom...hypotheticals....)

Our hospital started evacuating patients tonight, and will continue throughout the day tomorrow. It's not so much because of the winds or storm, but because of the severe flooding that occurs around the hospital. The hospital is surrounded by Bayous that drain into the bay, and if the water overwhelms the bayous, then the hospital area can flood.

More on this tomorrow....probably late afternoon. I still expect to see a shift to the right, but the shift would have to be about 100 miles for us to be out of the main impact.

Sorry for missing an update. We have been rocking out at Rock The Bayou. The track of the storm is to take it way east of Houston, somewhere mid-Louisiana, but that can change slightly. As far as Houston, we are not expected to see any winds or rain until late Monday night or Tuesday morning. Those, too, can change. I'll update again in the morning. As far as the concerts....as long as the winds are low and the music is playing.....we'll be here. We may end up doing some work at the house after midnight Monday, if needed, but it appears highly unlikely that is the case.

The storm has taken a turn to the west a little bit. It's projected path is to land in mid-Louisiana and then turn towards the Houston area. Somewhat ominous, but then again, they can only realistically project 72 hours with accuracy. It is projected to land sometime Tuesday morning. My brother, Scott, is down here for the 4 day Rock The Bayou that gets over Monday night around 1100pm. We'll be able to get home and do some preparation if needed. He might end up staying a couple of extra days, but we'll see what happens.

Still not a lot of change in trajectory of the storm. Still considered to potentially be a Cat3 hurricane landing somewhere in Louisiana/Mississippi. News channels are now starting to panic people by talking about evacuation. Of course, right at the end of the story, they insert a very quiet "if needed". People who don't know better take their word and trust what they say.

Let 'em evacuate!!!!! At least it isn't scheduled to arrive until Tuesday morning. All this can change at any time. The only thing reliable is the 10am Sunday position.

People here are just crazy and already panicking. Certainly the storm is worth watching, but there is already a rush on water and gas. At this point, I am not even sure we will get wet. You can see from the tracking map that it is supposed to go east of Houston. Then again, they only have confidence in forecasting up to 72 hours. After that is pure speculation. The thing that is interesting to note is that the computer models are all starting to centralize for a landfall somewhere at, or just east of, New Orleans.

Of course, I will update this as updating is needed. The ROCK AND ROLL GODS are looking favorably at Houston at the moment!!!!!

AUGUST 5 1700 - Boring!!! No matter how much the news reporters tried, there was no drama to this storm. 3 inches of rain. No wind damage. I'm laughing at all the neighbors that spent yesterday boarding up their windows. Oh well....a good drill for the "real one" I guess.

AUGUST 5 0700 - The storm has really shifted track and is now going east and north of us. It will still cause damage and flooding in the areas that it crosses, which will be 60 miles or so away from us. Hospital is still empty and quiet, with a lot of people twiddling their thumbs. The newscasters are too dramatic, as they were making "breaking news" of 23 mph wind gsusts, which we can get with an ordinary/daily thunderstorm. It is raining a little bit now, but unless the storm stalls, we shouldn't have too much flooding and I can go home early in the afternoon and take a nap.

AUGUST 5 0430 - Over the last few hours, the storm has tracked a little to the east. Just means a little less water if it stays on it's current course. I'll update throughout the day as I can.

AUGUST 4 2100 - Got everything into the shed and the generator set up and ready to go for Lisa and the kids tomorrow. She doesn't have to go into work. No change in track or intensity of the storm, just speed. Now it is supposed to come ashore sometime around noon tomorrow. Rains and winds are supposed to start around 7-8am or so. I will post tomorrow as I can, and as power allows me to. Certainly I would catch you up as power comes back and I am able to post. Going to bed now.

AUGUST 4 1700 - Just got home to work and starting to put things in the shed. [see picture at end of this segment]. It's already crazy. Arguments at long gas lines when there is normally gas pumps open all the time. Good thing gas is only 3.77/gallon. I had the boys fill their cars last night and I did mine on the way to work.

The track of the storm hasn't really changed much since this afternoon. It is still projected to land on the west end of Galveston. All that means is more rain for us. The NW side of the storm is usually called the "dirty" side because it gets more of the rain and more sustained winds. I need to report to work at 0430, or whenever the rain starts, in order to beat the flooding. It will be an interesting day at the hospital, because for every 1 patient that was discharged today, 2 were admitted. They had hoped to be at 35% capacity before the storm arrived, but now it looks like it will be at 85% capacity instead. It's not a big deal because this storm should blow through by tomorrow night, with some lingering rain for a day or two.

AUGUST 4 1100 - The track of the storm has moved the center just a little south of Galveston. All that means is that we will still get a lot of rain. Winds are expected to be anywhere from 35-70 mph. At 75mph it becomes a hurricane. These are sustained winds, and not gusts.

We'll go home tonight and put up the stuff in the back yard (chairs, plants, etc.). I'm not planning on boarding up windows because the storm should not only NOT be that severe, but it is also supposed to pass through and be gone by early evening. I will have to be at work early in the morning, but Lisa and the boys will be able to ride it out at home. In the rare chance that electricity is lost (very rare chance) then they will have our generator to run some lights and fans and such.

AUGUST 4 0830 - We had our disaster preparedness meeting at work and will be implementing our disaster preparations (redundant, isn't it?). The storm is projected to be a tropical storm and possible a Catagory 1 Hurricane. Not much difference between the two, however. Winds and storms really isn't the concern, it is the flooding. There was a lot of rain through here last night, so that the ground is somewhat saturated. Reduced staffing and emergency preparedness because of flooding. The hospital sits between a few bayous that regularly flood with heavy rain, making it difficult to get in and out.

AUGUST 3 2100 - Saturday, when I watched the noon weather forecast, the weatherman said it would be HOT (98) and sunny with no chance of rain until Wednesday. NOW they say that there is a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch. That set quite a few things in motion.

September 19th 0700 - I knew that a lot of you guys (uhhmm ... Dad!!!) would get all nervous about the hurricane that is predicted to visit Galveston this weekend. I thought that I would be able to keep you up to speed with some entries into this web log (BLOG). I will enter things in here a few times a day, and certainly as news and events change.

September 19th 1530 - I stopped at Lowes on my way home from work to pick up some batteries for our flashlights and radios. The line for plywood sales was at least 2 dozen carts deep. Lowes was unloading another FULL truck of plywood. The guy said "Sorry, these are already spoken for." I just bought some batteries and a couple of rain jackets. I bought some cheap 2x4's in the event that I needed to shore up our fence. I am not planning on boarding up any windows (at the moment) because (a) we don't know for sure where this thing is going to land and (2) we are far enough inland that we shouldn't get the horrible winds (3) I have houses around us and (IV) we only really have one window that faces the east and south, and we need it replaced anyway.

September 19th 1615 - OK - so people are starting to get all freaked out over this. I guess with what happened in New Orleans and Mississippi that some caution and jitters is to be expected. Galveston announced a voluntary evacuation starting tomorrow. They will have buses running out of town and are encouraging all the people who do not have a quick way out of town to leave. I guess that it's better than waiting until Thursday .... when landfall location can be predicted ..... to start getting everyone out. STORM SURGE - a category 3 hurricane would cover Galveston Island. A category 5 hurricane MIGHT get water up to our door .... because where we live and the slight elevation increase of our subdivision. I just hope that there aren't 150mph winds because we don't carry hurricane insurance. That has me a little nervous.

September 19th 2045 OK - so now people are really starting to get into this shit. Any other time the last 3-4 years and people would be flocking to Galveston to watch and surf and stuff. "Paranoia will destroy ya". Mayor White has said that Houston is not an evacuation destination and people should drive further north. Do you guys in Iowa have any room? We'll send you some of the Galveston 'Natives'. Governor Perry has ordered any and all Texas National Guard to return from Louisiana to be deployed in this area in advance of the storm. The Galveston school district will decide tomorrow whether to close the schools for the rest of the week. The latest map shows that it will land somewhere in the San Louis Pass area ... which puts the worst parts of the storm right on us. Then again, it's Monday night and the storm isn't supposed to get here until Saturday morning (at the current rate of travel) so we'll have to see. Lisa said that she might have to help evacuate the facilities where she takes care of patients and go with them to Dallas. We'll know more about that in a day or two. Now ..... back to Football!!!!

September 20th 1915 No plywood to be found in this area, and none to arrive until Thursday night. I don't know what good that would do someone when there are mandatory evacuations in progress. I picked up a few things and will take care of some things tomorrow in case I don't get to come home until next week. The highways are already packed with people (from Galveston I presume) that are getting out ahead of the mandatory evacuations. If you wait, you end up in Huntsville or Corsicana (look on the map ... it's way too far away). Of course, there are no hotels in the Houston area because the Katrina evacuees have the damn things all full. I'm thinking about riding the storm out, because the current location of arrival is about 70-100 miles away. I just am uncomfortable leaving the house by itself under those conditions. There can be things that go wrong that someone could easily fix if they were here. We haven't talked about what we are going to do yet. We could end up at Lisas' Moms house, my friends Scotts house, or we might just end up at the hospital riding it out. My preference is to be here at the house .... we'll see what happens. If there is a Cat4 that is a direct path on Galveston, I would certainly leave. I guess I will try to find out more tomorrow. If I am not able to enter back into Galveston County, then I will likely make my last posting tomorrow night.

September 20th 1830 Now the weirdness is exaggerated .... I hope. Lets see, where do I start with all this crap? First, I found out that starting Thursday morning, the on-call staff have to stay at the hospital for 24 hours at a time. The hospital is going into "disaster mode". It hasn't been decided yet whether it will evacuate all of the 368 patients, or ride it out. They are already canceling all the elective scheduled surgeries and procedures, and are discharging as many patients as they can. My guess is that this will not occur until Thursday morning ... when they have a better idea of where the storm might actually go .... which can be from New Orleans to Brownsville ..... a 1200 mile gap! Since I am on-call Thursday ... I have to stay at the hospital. I'm a little nervous about being able to catch up to Lisa Friday morning, because Galveston County (including League City) has initiated a mandatory evacuation starting Thursday at noon. (The city of Galveston starts tomorrow at 6pm). If I can't re-enter, or if Lisa has to leave on Thursday .... I don't know what we will do for sure.

The school districts in the area have all cancelled classes until Monday .... which the boys are happy about. However, they are not aware, nor concerned with, the inconveniences that might lie ahead.

September 21st 0730 I went to the store and found that they had a bunch of water so I bought some. Got some AA batteries (already have plenty of D) and some canned stuff and breakfast bars and things that could hold us over a few days. I still haven't heard about the hospital evacuation. If they have all the patients evacuated, then I will not have to go into work tomorrow. I am sure that they will evacuate .... but how long will it take is what I don't know. I will know more about that in a few hours, I hope. I'm boarding windows with what I have, and taking the other property precautions and preparations. That should take most of the day. I have to get it done because I have to assume I will be at work all day tomorrow. We still aren't sure where or when we will go somewhere. It depends upon Lisa and I and the patients that we must take care of. Fortunately for us, we have relatively quick access to departing to the West. Maybe we'll just drive 20 minutes down the road and stay in a tent or something. Remember .... we are 30+ miles from any water. We live in the way northwest portion of the county that is under evacuation orders. If we lived 1/2 mile to the west, we wouldn't have to evacuate. I don't want to be so far away that I can't quickly get back to the house to secure things.

September 21st 1515 Lisa found out that she has been released from work as soon as she is done today. Apparently all is well at the locations that she works. We will finish up taking care of things around the house tonight, and then decide where we will end up. Again, there is a very remote possibility that we could stay put, if the hurricane is projected to land another 45 miles south of where it is projected to land now. Hurricane force 4 winds are expected to extend 80 miles from the eye of the hurricane. Matagorda (current estimate for landing) is about 100 miles away. If it goes 45-60 miles further, then we get tropical storm winds ... and those aren't that bad. We still have some options open to us: (1) an apartment that Tonya won't be at for awhile starting tomorrow (2) friends in Sugarland (3) Lisas Dad in Brenham (4) Lisas Mom in College Station (5) friends in Austin. I am just nervous about going that far away when I could possibly be able to get back here Sat. night or Sun. morning (in time for FOOTBALL!! ! ). Anyway stay tuned .

September 21st 1240 We're in the process of moving everything that isn't bolted down into the storage shed. Come to think of it, the storage shed isn't bolted down either! Oh well. .. at least there won't be as many projectiles ..... just one big one. The storm is still tracking a little further south, but that isn't stopping the evacuations and preparedness. NOAA has come out to say that the counties on the coast to the south of us will have catastrophic damage from Rita if it stays at its current intensity and track. They are looking at Corpus Christi now as receiving problems as well. I think the next tracking map and hurricane update comes around at 4pm Central time. I will post the updated map accordingly. Not many of the neighbors have left. Some have. Some are still doing the same thing on their property that we are doing on our. I wish I bought some plywood a couple of years ago. Oh well. ... a project for this fall.. .. assuming the house is still here. I added a few photos ... and I am sure there will be more to come.

September 21st 1130 I just found out that I do not have to go to work tomorrow. The hospital is going to be able to discharge all of the stable patients. The unstable patients and the ICU patients will apparently be grouped together and they have enough staff to stay and take care of them. Since Lisa has to work tomorrow, I have offered to be able to go in and help if they need some last minute assistance. Now ... back to boarding up ....

September 21st 1020 We're getting some boarding done with what we have. There isn't any plywood to be found in this area. Most people who have lived here for awhile already had some in their sheds that were already sized and it took them 20 minutes to put it up. I had to use 2x4 (new and used) and 2x6s. Its more expensive that way., Thank goodness I only have a

few windows facing south and east that need to be covered. All the others should be OK. I got stung by about 4 wasps that had built a nest under our porch. DAMN those hurt! The boys are already worn out as they-had to take apart the trampoline and move some other stuff around. Unfortunately, we are just getting started. The last hurricane track has it going even further south than the last time. If it can move further south over the next 12 hours, we might be out of danger ... and might not have to truly evacuate. AS LONG AS IT IS A CAT4 OR CATS COMING WITHIN 150 MILES OF GALVESTON •••• WE WILL LEAVE. (feel better Mom???). I will be taking a few Pictures with the next update.

Traffic on the interstate is horrible. Here is a picture of what it currently is. At 6pm tonight, the will make all 6 lanes of the Galveston causeway OUT only. In other words, the southbound lanes will be redirected to the north to allow everyone on the island to get out. At midnight, they wiull extend that process all the way to League City. What a fricking mess!!!!!

September 21st 1540 They just upgraded Rita to a Cat5 hurricane. Winds constant at 165 mph. The latest storm track has not been released, but is expected within the next 30 minutes or so. They say that the nice thing (if that term really applies) is that once it reaches Cat5, it will tend to decrease in intensity over the next 12-24 hours. Since it isn't supposed to get here for 48+ hours, that could actually be a good sign. I'm done outside and now getting ready to do things like making backups of the computer drives, installing our checking account information on a laptop, this program too so I can keep you informed as long as possible, and other things that we would need with us. I refuse to take the normal evacuation route, which we would have to go to Huntsville. Right now, it is a 10-12 hour drive from Galveston to Huntsville. That's about 90 miles. 90 MILES!!! If you want to see the traffic cams and other information, you can go to www.khou.com

September 21st 1715 The course has been corrected and slid slightly back towards Houston. At the moment, we are planning on going to Bryan and staying with Lisas Mom at her house. I tried to get a motel room, but they are already housing Katrina evacuees and now others from the coast. I had hoped I could find a room, but no luck. We will likely be taking off out of here at 5am in order to avoid most of the traffic. There will be a couple of more updates tonight.

September 21st 2015 Its hard to admit how ill-prepared you are for an evacuation until you try to figure out what is important to take or leave behind. 1 am just very nervous about being away from the house after the storm ... because I don't want something to stay wrong that I could easily take care of. And I don't want other people coming into my house. At least if we can prove that people STOLE things, then we would have insurance coverage ... otherwise .... any damage has to be fixed out of our pocket. Anyway, we're getting packed up and will be ready to go in the morning

September 21st 2200 OK - our last post of the evening. We are planning on packing up and leaving early in the morning. We thought about trying to take some back roads, but we wouldn't want to get stuck going somewhere we don't want to. So .... we will be taking one of the evacuation routes on our way to Bryan. We will take all 3 cars and load them with whatever we can. Lisas' car will be the animal car and my Jeep will be everything else. Wish us luck and hope it doesn't take us 12 hours for a normally 2-hour long trip. We are trying to eat a lot because we know that the freezer and refrigerator items will likely be ruined by the time we get home. Good luck to us all and pray for our house .....

September 22nd This day was kind of a blur. This is my best recall. We left the house at about 0800. It didn't take too long to get everything packed up, because we did most of the packing last night. A few last minute things like filling up the bathtub with water, turning off the water and electricity and things like that. We took off on 518 west, and got to 288 and headed into Houston. We then got on Beltway 8, and we were traveling 75 mph. Where were all the people?!?!?! We were soon to find out.

We got to Alt90, and it was stopped up. No movement. We might move 50 feet every 30 minutes or so. NOW REMEMBER, 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE ARE LEAVING THIS REGION, WITH OVER 1 MILLION FROM HOUSTON ALONE! We knew it would be bad because it was bad the day before. We had to make a couple of stops to let the dogs out of the car. We made a little progress staying on the feeder (access) road of Beltway8. We didn't get to 1-10 until at least 2pm. As we got closer to Hwy290, we realized that we had to do something different, because we would run out of gas at this rate, or the dogs/cats would die from dehydration (couldn't run the A/C in order to conserve fuel). Instead of getting on Hwy290, we continued on Beltway8, and got off at Hwy249. We let the dogs out for awhile. We got onto Hwy249 and things were OK for about 4-5 miles, and then it was no better than 290. It was 110 (according to the car temp gauge). People were running out of gas, or their cars were overheating, and they were being pushed to the side of the road. People didn't have water and there were no stores with any. They all got bought out the day before. Most stores were just plain closed because they had no gas or no other supplies. We exited Spring Cypress (Lisa kind of knew this area) and stayed on it back to 290. That saved us at least 4 hours of travel from not being stuck on 290. We got on 290 and it was still less than 5mph (only at times) of travel. Suddenly, around Hockley, we were all of a sudden traveling 60mph again. I thought this was great and that we made it out. WRONG! As we got to Waller, it was bunched up again.

I was off and on the brakes of my P.O.C.* Jeep (P.O.C. = piece of crap) that my right front brake overheated and started smoking bad. I thought it was on fire. We pulled over off of FM362 by Waller and the brake was WHITE hot. I had to let the brakes cool down. It was white hot and smoking. I don't think it was ever on fire. We noticed on the map that the road we were on bypassed Hempstead (we had to get to Hwy6 north). I told Lisa and Michael to go ahead, because the dogs and the cats were in bad shape. Lisa had a little less than 1/4 tank and Michael was between 1/4 and a 1/2 tank, and I had a little less than 1/2 tank. If we didn't have to sit idle in traffic, we should have enough. We were only about 45 miles from Bryan at this point. Lisa and Michael went off and Matt and I stayed behind with my car. Lisa called and sure enough, it was a backroad that ended up just South of Navasota on Hwy6. AWESOME! Hwy6 was packed, but it was moving around 40mph. Lisa continued on and Matt and I waited another 30 minutes before continuing. I arrived in Bryan at about 1030pm. Lisa had already filled up her and Michael with gas, and I filled up as well. We suspected that tomorrow might have a shortage of fuel.

By the time we got everything essential unloaded, dogs taken care of and cleaned up and wound down ... we climbed into bed around 1am.

1. Many, many people ran out of gas, and there was nothing they could do about it. Before the storm hit on Friday, they had buses going around and picking people up and putting them into shelters.

2. Pull out your map. 1-10 from Houston was like I described above all the way to Seguin. And that was with "contraflow" traffic. In other words, they opened up the 'inbound' lanes to outbound. So, in some sections of Houston, there were 8 lanes leaving town. This was nice to get out of town, I imagine, but at some point they had to be funneled into San Antonio ... which didn't have those lanes set up. SO .... reports were showing 5mph all the way to Seguin. Hwy290 from Houston all the way to Austin was the same. We were lucky because we didn't have to take 1-45. There were some people that were on 1-45 from somewhere in Houston, to just around Conroe for 24+ hours. Lisa and I both agreed that we would have turned around and come home and just taken our chances.

September 23rd We were in Bryan staying with Lisas Mom. Very generous of her. We went looking for water and ice. None .... I mean NONE .... found in Bryan/College Station. We went and got some canned food in case we needed it when we got back to the house. Spent the rest of the day glued to the TV and drinking beer. I know I said I wasn't drinking beer anymore ... but this was a special occasion. Everyone went to bed around midnight, but I was up watching the TV until about 4am and it was clear that the storm was moving further north up the coast ... so I knew we would be going home tomorrow. I fell asleep in the chair.

September 24th I got up about 0700, and noticed that not only did the storm move up towards the Lake Charles area, but it was also clearing out very quickly. I wanted to get everyone on the road and get home. I knew everyone else watching TV that early might want to do the same thing ..... so I wanted to beat them. Not everyone was happy with me for this decision ... but as the hunter/gatherer .... I made it to the dislike of others.

September 24th 1600 The trip home wasn't quite as bad as the other direction. Of course, the Mayor of Houston and the County Judge (essentially a County Manager in Texas) were telling everyone NOT to come home for a few days. But how do people in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, etc. hear that? We left Bryan at about 1030 or so. We took Hwy 6 to Hempstead (which was packed, but moving around 30 mph most of the way). 290 was moving about 5 mph so we decided on backroads) We then took Hwy 36 to Sealy (right at 1-10). We sat in Sealy for about an hour. There was a problem with Hwy's 290 and 1-10 getting clogged, and rescue and military convoys were being impeded by all the traffic of people returning. We decided not to be part of the problem, even though it might inconvenience us a little more. We then kept going South on Hwy 36 to FM 1462 north of Damon. We went on that road all the way to Alvin. Then we took 517 into Dickinson .... which is about 2 miles from our house. Once we got through Sealy, we traveled 65mph the whole way home. However, what would have normally been a 2 hour trip took about 5 hours.

September 24th 2030 We are home now. Got home around 1500. We are tired. No damage to the house, very little damage to the neighborhood. I do think that we were one of the first to get into our subdivision. Electricity was on and no problems with the water. Pictures and further stories to be added tomorrow. We're all exhausted and we are all going to bed. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

September 24th 2200 We certainly learned lessons from this "drill" We learned how unprepared we are, and how sometimes it is not wise to accept/follow governments' request blindly.

this particular case, had we stayed, we wouldn't have had to leave. There were only 50-75mph winds in this area. We could have traveled 20-30 miles west and only had 45 mph winds.

2. We were not as prepared as we should have been. I was about 80% prepared. There are some things to do

A. Plywood pre-cut and labeled to get onto ALL windows. This would take 30 minutes instead of the 6 hours it took to

C. Small generator to run a refrigerator and a fan and maybe a small TV. We'll be getting one of those this winter.

D. A small freezer. That way we can have 8-10 bags of ice (or more) in there during hurricane season.

E. Battery operated TV. There weren't any available on Wednesday. We were too late. We have one that will run

F. 1 gallon of water per person per day (probably 2 weeks worth) that will be tucked away during hurricane season

along with canned food or MRE's. Water purification tablets might be a good addition, too.

1. Medicines. Fortunately, we do our prescriptions at a state-wide pharmacy, so we could go into their store anywhere and

3. Flashlights and batteries, radio, camping gear, tarps, dry food, ice, water. ... we were all set on that for a few days.

September 25th 0700 OK. We got everything cleaned up last night, and mostly put away. I still have some rooms to get rearranged (moved everything away from windows) and some stuff to take back up to attic (moved down in case we lost the roof). We all were in bed by 10pm and slept straight through the night. We are sure thankful for Lisas Mom for taking us (the 4 of us, 3 dogs and 4 cats) in AS WELL AS Eva and Little Myrna and their cat. We are also thankful that no one was hurt and the property was safe, but then again angry that we left in the first place. I told Big Myrna that relatives are like fish. Sometimes you have to thrown them out after 3 days!!! Photos are loaded on the photo gallery page, and photos have additional descriptions.

September 25th 0900 Lisa had to go to work this morning, as all of the patients from the places where she is in charge of the patients were evacuated to other parts of the state and even other states. She has to check them all when they get back. She will probably have a very long day. Went to HEB to get milk. I got there just as the doors opened up. People were running around the store in a panic. I grabbed 2 gallons of milk and got out of there. It was CRAZY! I guess these people probably got home and their electricity had been off (they didn't plan) and everything in their refrigerator Freezer was rotten. No grocery stores were open yesterday .... trucks couldn't get in to re-supply anyway. Thank goodness we plan better than the common street urchin.

September 25th 1300 Most of the deconstruction is done on the outside. Its 100 degrees again today, so we are done outside for the day. We will do the inside stuff here in a little bit, but it shouldn't take too long. I was told that the hospital is opening up today, so I need to go into work in the morning. As of right now, the boys do not have school again until Thursday. This helps with people thinking that they need to come back to work, and also saves in fuel consumption. Without buses running, they think that they can save 50,000 gallons of gas a day ... which will certainly help the re-supply efforts.

September 25th 1500 Working on putting things away on the inside of the house and cleaning up a little. Life is returning to normal slowly. I am actually enjoying some football and a beer .... and unfortunately for my waist ..... even more beers today (or is the plural of beer just beer? Or is beer already plural? Oh well). I still have these thoughts about all the things I need to do to avoid what we went through the last few days.