I am not getting out. I prayed about it last night and really have a peace about staying. I have 4 small kids and 1 on the way. My main concern is for them and was going to leave for San Antonio at 4 a.m. this morning. The only concern I had last night was the traffic. People are running out of gas and cannot find it anywhere. It will be over 100 degrees today and there are going to be a lot of cars overheat. I think this would be worse for my family.
Traffic has been a nightmare to say the least. My brother turned around after going 10 miles in 2 1/2 hours. After seeing the model go to the east more, NW Harris County will be out of the worst of it. The scariest thing was being in the dirty side of the hurricane and that was the forecast last night. Now it looks like it will go to the east. The weather forecaster said we could expect 70 mph sustained winds and a lot of rain. My house will be able to handle this. I went through Alicia and we had 55-65 mph winds in my part of town.
I am praying protection over my children.
Will pray for you as well.
Please put your location in your tag line and also sign in on the Freeper Check In thread. Thanks and good luck.
Truth,
I did the same last night but have decided to stay. I might change my mind once we get the 10:00 AM NHC report. If it is still moving east then I definitely will be staying. If it moves back our way then I think we need to make some more decisions.
I will be praying for you and your children.
Sending prayers for you and your family. I hope you have been able to get a lot of supplies! Hang in there and be sure to check in when you can and let us know how you all are.
Traffic has been a nightmare to say the least. My brother turned around after going 10 miles in 2 1/2 hours. After seeing the model go to the east more, NW Harris County will be out of the worst of it. The scariest thing was being in the dirty side of the hurricane and that was the forecast last night. Now it looks like it will go to the east. The weather forecaster said we could expect 70 mph sustained winds and a lot of rain. My house will be able to handle this. I went through Alicia and we had 55-65 mph winds in my part of town.
I am praying protection over my children.
It pains me to read posts like this....quite honestly, noone knows where this storm is going to hit...and this storm is the 3rd most powerful storm ever seen in the Atlantic basin....and houston is darn near ground zero.
You have over 24 hours before the first effects of this storm are felt. IMO, staying put is not the wisest decision. I feel for your children....
Even though you may be on the "clean side" of the hurricane, there will be numerous tornados.
See how this thing tracks, and if the roads clear up. Then reconsider. In any case, be ready to go. If you stay, be prepared for about a week without water, power and sewer services. Can your kids take the 100 degree heat for a week?
In any case, you and your family are in my prayers.
Dear truth,
I felt compelled to come out of lurkdom to offer a little advice.
Please don't make that final decision yet. This is a huge storm, and at this point you are still very much in danger. The traffic will be bad, but will improve once contraflow is started.
I was on the "good" side of Katrina, and also considered not evacuating because my daughter had already gone to Baton Rouge with my parents (I had to work). My home was not damaged, but was without power for at least 10 days.
If you think the heat on the road will cause problems, imagine 10 days without air conditioning, TV, Cable, Phone. You will be at the end of a long list of people without power, so it could even be longer. Do you have a firearm? Can you stand "Mom, I'm bored" for that long (that's the one that gets me every time).
Making a choice to stay for yourself is one thing, but do you really want to subject your children to that? You are responsible for their safety, and I hope you will remember those people plucked off of roofs in New Orleans who had small children with them. Didn't you think to yourself..."Why didn't they leave?" Be careful what your prayers tell you, because they are filtered through your human self who is overwhelmed by the thought of getting on that road.
Plan to leave, prepare to leave, and if you decide not to, then don't. Just don't back yourself into the corner of saying "now its too late and I'm not ready".
Praying for your safety whatever you decide.
(and back to lurkdom)
Omegatoo
Good luck to you! We also made it through Alicia with minimal damage. Part of our fence went down, but that was it.
I am joining you in that prayer...in Jesus' Holy Name!