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Update from Freeper at Houston via email
email | 9/22/2005 | dvan

Posted on 09/22/2005 8:40:03 PM PDT by dvan

Hello, family and friends,

They are predicting that the thing will move to the east slightly at landfall, and we will be on the clean side. Hollis fixed our generator today, thank God. Told him that now I won't have to kick his butt for a while. (Standing joke(?) around the fire department is that I can and will kick everybody's butt if they get out of line, ha ha. Sheesh, my 90 some pounds and whose Army? )

Fire department had a meeting in town with the power company this morning. They said that if the worst senerio happens, it will be at least two weeks before they restore power here.

The traffic around here has been terrible with all the evacuees trying to get out of Houston and Galveston; they were crawling and some have run out of gas on the road. Even the backroads were crawling. The poor people have been on the road all day. One told us that it took him 14 hours to get here from Pasadena. Normally, it would take 45 minutes. Tomorrow morning, we are going to fill the coolers with ice water for people and regular water for pets and go out to I-10 and see what we can do.

Good news for these folks is that tanker trucks are coming from Ft. Hood escorted by the DPS, as we speak, to fill all the stranded cars along the highways and the Houston mayor is sending out hundreds of buses to pick up stranded people who want to be taken to shelters. They can NOT be left on the highways when this thing hits.

Will try to give y'all another update tomorrow before packing up our computers. Keep praying! Love to all,
Name withheld by dvan


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: evacuation; houston; hurrican; rita; storm
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This is an update from last night's prayer request. Apparently it hasn't been all that easy to get over 1 million people evacuated. To where? With what? Also considering that approximately the same number had to be evacuated from Lousiana.
1 posted on 09/22/2005 8:40:04 PM PDT by dvan
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To: dvan

I'm staying put in Houston... If you're in an evacuation zone you should leave, but allot of people in Houston who were not in one chose to leave. I think that is just an overreaction. Ridiculous to be stuck in traffic for 10 to 12 hours...


2 posted on 09/22/2005 8:43:47 PM PDT by ruschpa
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To: dvan

I got a call from my Mother and Step-Father this evening. They evacuated from the Houston Area - left there at 3AM, Arrived in Pine Bluff, Arkansas after 9:30 PM - some 18+ hours after thier departure from the Houston area. This drive normally takes them approx. 8 hours. Most of the time was spent crawling down the highway between Houston and Marshall, Tx.

They too reported many stranded autos (out of gas) and stations on the highway being closed. They called it a real nightmare.


3 posted on 09/22/2005 8:46:38 PM PDT by TheBattman (Islam (and liberalism)- the cult of Satan)
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To: ruschpa

My uncle stayed in Bay City during Hurricane Carla (name retired.) He had built his own house and wanted to see how it held up (it did.) He said that this was the dumbest thing he ever did in his life.


4 posted on 09/22/2005 8:47:26 PM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch ist der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: dvan

Thanks for the report.


5 posted on 09/22/2005 8:49:04 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: dvan

My prayers go out to all those who are staying. I wish you wouldn't but then, it is your choice!


6 posted on 09/22/2005 8:50:33 PM PDT by ladyinred (It is all my fault okay?)
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To: dvan

These hurricanes are a wakeup call that we need wider interstates in and out of these large cities for evacuation purposes. Not just along the coast but all over. We almost need another Eisenhour style effort to deal with these mass evacuations. It would cost a lot of bucks but that's a primary purpose of government - to build roads.


7 posted on 09/22/2005 8:53:59 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: plain talk

Most metropolitan areas don't have a highway system extensive enough to readily handle everyday traffic, let alone an emergency evacuation. Imagine trying to get out of NYC or Chicago or D.C. Houston has to be better than those bottlenecks, even though it's a mess now.


8 posted on 09/22/2005 9:04:24 PM PDT by randita
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To: dvan

My son is in Katy (West Houston) - I suggested he stay until the path of the hurricane was known and then, if needed, go to were it isn't.

He's sitting at home getting calls from friends and neighbors that panicked and took the media's panic-mode-run-like-hell-advice and now they're stuck here and there.

The only areas that should have been evacuated first were the Galveston and all the way up through to the Port of Houston and the entire bay. Include Texas City, Kemah, etc.

That would have taken the first 24 hours (most made it out of those areas without much delay). I have a sister, nieces, nephews in the Kemah, NASA area who calmly packed up and with some neighbors did NOT go north out of Houston as the media and govt directed ... They drove south west - They're down in the valley (far south Texas).


9 posted on 09/22/2005 9:07:32 PM PDT by hombre_sincero (www.sigmaitsys.com)
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To: TheBattman

At least people are getting out of there!

In New Orleans, people were left to die by incompetenet dimocrats, Naggin Nagin and Blanko Blanco.


10 posted on 09/22/2005 9:14:13 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: dvan

we are in the woodlands area (just north of houston) and are staying put. people are "camping" along I-45. one store is open and it is out of everything. there is no water to be found (here we go again).


11 posted on 09/22/2005 9:15:30 PM PDT by zjackiez
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To: hombre_sincero

I just received an email from relatives in Houston. They're staying put, too, because they say it's impossible to leave now.


12 posted on 09/22/2005 9:16:16 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: ruschpa

My personal opinion is, if you are not in the surge wall area, and you are not near a levy that can break, you may be just as well off as long as you are well protected from flying debris and caving ceilings.

Remember, New Orleans got worse after the hurricane because it flooded after the levy broke. The MS gulf coast took a direct hit from the surge wall from the gulf.


13 posted on 09/22/2005 9:27:27 PM PDT by auntyfemenist (Show me your papers...)
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To: dvan
THIS GUY IS IN THE HOUSTON AREA, IS STAYING THERE, AND IS POSTING ON HIS BLOG
14 posted on 09/22/2005 9:46:17 PM PDT by doug from upland (Doug from Upland - FR troublemaker since 5/97)
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To: dvan

Never heard a person who rode out a major hurricane say they where glad they stayed. And according to some reports, this one might stall, and you could be stuck listening to a freight train roaring in your ears for a couple of days. Get out now!!! Traffic jam is a picnic in comparision.


15 posted on 09/22/2005 9:58:13 PM PDT by HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath (My Homeland Security: Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper)
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To: doug from upland

The blogger has left the building...

(at least the link isn't working)


16 posted on 09/22/2005 9:59:14 PM PDT by madison10
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To: madison10

The link just worked for me.


17 posted on 09/22/2005 10:00:36 PM PDT by doug from upland (Doug from Upland - FR troublemaker since 5/97)
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To: doug from upland

Just linked for me, also. Before it had an error & said I couldn't have access.


18 posted on 09/22/2005 10:10:36 PM PDT by madison10
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To: dvan
We are NW of Houston in Cypress and decided long ago that we were gonna stay and ride it out. We started making preps on Tuesday. Panic was already in full force. Wednesday the shelves were being emptied. Luckily we got all we needed.

An inlaw left Baytown this morning (thur) at 6am, at 8pm (14 hours later) they finally gave up on the trek north to Dallas just south of the Woodlands (about 30 miles N of Downtown Houston). She had 8 people (including 2 toddlers) in a Grand Am. They started with a full tank and were down to 1/8th of a tank when they got off the highway.

Since they couldn't get back to our place and couldn't find any gas, we helped get them to a friends house in Conroe via back roads.

They had stopped at a Drury Inn,so to make things easier we called and asked the front desk if we could send them a fax with the directions to our friend's house. They readily agreed to accept the fax. She also mentioned that her parking lot was filled with stranded evacuees.

They got the directions and 30 minutes later they had all piled out of car and were safely in a home with people they barely know.

At one point during the afternoon we clocked them at a whole 4 miles a hour!!! This evac has been the disaster before the disaster.

Lesson: If you must leave, do it early and stay off evac routes where possible.

Cell phones are GREAT!!!!
19 posted on 09/22/2005 10:26:07 PM PDT by tonyinv (hunkerd down and waiting for Rita.)
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To: ruschpa

Where I live, in Florida, they make it very clear (via local EOC and Jeb Bush's office) that if you are not in an evac zone, you shouldn't leave.

They spell it out and say the roads can't handle everybody leaving...and then when they do call for evacuations, they stagger them. Barrier islands first, so the bridges don't clog. When that clears, then inland residents go.


20 posted on 09/23/2005 1:11:36 AM PDT by dawn53
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