Posted on 09/24/2005 7:28:28 AM PDT by Howlin
Just made it back from Home Depot. I45 & Beltway S. to fix my downed gate. I have never seen more generators in all my life.
As of noon Today, a friend just south of Hobby Airport was still out. Ran him a couple jugs of gas and some oil for his generator.
Within the last hour, I heard Reliant Energy on the radio saying that at the worst of it, 700,000 customers were without power, and as of now 400,000 of those have had their power restored, and they're working hard on restoring the rest.
Our power kept on throughout everything (as did most of the neighborhood), except for one five-minute lapse, but the street behind us is still out, and we know someone near Hobby Airport who hasn't had power for a while so today we gave her all of our emergency stockpile of ice as well as one of our insulated coolers.
All in all, though, Houston managed to dodge most of the storm (just barely -- the weather radar images kept showing the edge of the rough weather skimming the Houston metro area, primarily in the "greens and blues" bands of the weather radar image, while the "yellows and reds" kept swinging very near but never took a major swipe at the city. It could have been *much* worse if the hurricane had swung just ten or twenty miles more westerly. which is a tiny deviation for a 200-mile-wide hurricane.
Hello!!! I am back home. I rode the storm out at work, in The Woodlands. We got about 40 to 45 mph winds and enough rain to uproot a couple of small trees and made a few other trees tip over a little bit. We really dodged a bullet I think. I am glad to be home so I can sleep in my own bed. We didn't loose any electricity at work, but apparently we did at the apartments, and a few areas in Conroe do not have electricity. All I saw in coming home from work up 45 was a couple of signs that fell down.
Great to see you and thanks so much for checking in. Our list gets smaller!
That's just great, Willie. I'm glad it all worked out for you and your family.
The government telling people how to use common sense! :')
Thank-you...
Right now I'm doing my best to develop a "survivor's guilt" attitude...
We thought we were doing the "right thing" by evacuating Mom & everybody early...
and as it turned out, THEY had to hunker down through the worst weather while we stayed here, virtually unscathed and had a party, watching football and drinking beer...
LOL! but (((sigh))) too...
How were WE supposed to know the storm would shift direction like that???
Just the same, we can't let mom know what a good time we had...
She's gonna be the one with all the good stories to tell...
Was your MIL on a vent? It may not be her but check out Kentuckyhttp://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/12717202.htm
To everyone who was so great in helping me find my Mother-In-Law my deepest thanks. I finally located her about an hour ago at Emory University in Snellville, GA.
For anyone who had family in a hospital in an evacuated area and still has not reached them, the State of Texas has set up a patient lookup database. They can be reached at 1-877-623-6274.
Thanks again everyone and God Bless.
Went over to the family compound in SW Houston. Everything was and is fine. Returned to my house in near north Houston today. House is fine and the phone connection is back, allowing me to get over my internet withdrawls. A rather large tree against my fence line was apparently split by lightening, but it split East-West, avoiding any major damage.
We dodged a bullet. My sister and her family are trying to figure out how soon they can return to Beaumont, where they reportedly had more significant damage, but everyone in my clan is ok.
Thanks for your concern.
Thanks for letting us know. I hope your sister's place is OK, at least you know that she and her family are safe.
Family and I evacuated Houston and ended up in the storm up in Lufkin. The damage to trees and homes up there is substantial and when we left, they remained without power. Glad to be home to see a yard in need of a good watering.
does this mean we can't gits our 2K. Man, this Rita deal was more anti-climatic than Geraldo's Capone Vault fiasco. lol Well, glad to see we all made it OK.
Got up 6 am Saturday, heard it was fine, called my house and my answering machine was ON!
That meant POWER!!!
Called a neighbor and the roads were clear in the neighborhood and heard the only damage was tree limbs down and a few trees uprooted.
My house was untouched! YEA!!!!!
So we decided to get the show on the road and we did.
Petsmart opened at 7 am (Round Rock) was there when they opened was the luckily the first customer (since others had the same game plan) and I scooped up my grateful lil dogs and we were on the road at 7:15 am.
Zoomed down I35, hopped on 290 took that all the way to 36...went south on 36 to Bellville and Sealy (which intersects with I10). National guard were in Bellville directing traffic (thank goodness for these fine men and women) and at 36 & I10.
NOT a DROP of gasoline anywhere...none!
The reasoning for the 36 detour was that we were hearing that people were leaving Bryan/College Station and it was choked up at 6 and 290. We figured that the traffic coming in from San Antonio hadn't hit the Sealy area...and we were right.
Once on I10 and sailed at 70 mph until we hit Memorial Mall area (which chokes down ANYDAY at any hour it must be cursed roadway )...zipped up 610, exited Ella...and was home at NOON.
NOW at my house I have rather old and large pecan trees...one large limb in driveway, but my neighbor helped me tug it out, it missed my house and garage, and another limb is still hung up in the tree but is wedged in so that a tree trimmer will have to get it out.
Had tons of pine needles and pieces of oak tree EVERYWHERE.
My flat yard had become rather 3 dimensional...
8 (55 gal) trash bags FULL of needles and pieces of oak trees.
Literally worked in nthe yard with my hard hat on, my neighbor thought I was nuts until she got beaned by a green pecan on her shoulder, let me tell you, the 40 mph gusts that were still lingering were a welcomed breeze in the heat BUT was helping the pecans rocket down with some speed.
Was done with yard work at 6 pm, went to a local watering hole...had margaRITAs, exchanged stories with neighbors and was GLAD to be HOME!
Slept like a rock until 9 am today (I always get up at 6 on the weekends), my dogs were actually exhausted too, they let me sleep in!
Would I do it again, YEP! Did I learn some tricks...sure did, was good planning required, you bet ya!
If and when something else catastropic ever hits Houston, I hope that this trial run was the practice I will need to save my life.
Thanks again Howlin for hooking me up with GRRRR and the room, that was the first bit of good luck that made this whole adventure perfect from start to finish.
So in the end, we had a worldwind tour of Texas...scooting away from Rita and traffic.
Say prayers that electricity is restored soon to those who are without, we are actually having a heat wave and many folks are still without simple comforts.
LOL--Glad all worked out well for ya...Let's hope THAT IS IT for the hurrycane season!
G
Welcome back! Got you checked off the list
Great story!
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