[CFC__VRWC]

Fox was showing aerials from Galveston Island that looked like there was very little damage to the area. Earlier I saw footage from Beaumont on the Weather Channel - from what I could see, it looked very similar to what I saw after Charley came through Polk County, Florida last year. If so, probably 50-75% of the power should be back on in 3-4 days, 80-90% percent in a week, with outages in the isolated, outlying areas going on for 2-3 weeks. That's a very rough guesstimate.

All in all, it'll be one heck of a mess, but not nearly the doomsday scenario the media was so clearly salivating over the prospect of.

[AFPhys]

I think you're being a bit premature. If I can read the weather charts at all correctly, nearly all of western LA has just been HAMMERED by Rita, much as Katrina totally hammered MS and AL (but the OldMedia didn't cover).

TX, especially coastal TX, seems fine, but just you wait until you hear the stories out of LA before getting too optimistic about this.

[pollyg107]

not nearly the doomsday scenario the media was so clearly salivating over the prospect of

I'm so very thankful for that. My prayers and condolences to all who are affected by the storm -- especially those who can't read this because their power is off.