Okay, folks, check in here with your storm stories!
Present & accounted for here in College Station!
Barely got wet here - nice breeze & dark clouds currently.
I stayed up all night, full of coffee. My winds probably peaked at 60 mph. Just small tree debris everywhere outside.
My electricity has blipped off 3 times, about 10 seconds each.
Now I'm pooped and I'm gonna have a Bloody Bubba, make breakfast on the grill and get some sleep.
Prayers out to those to the east that got the worst of it.
Bloody Bubba
Beer
Worcestershire
Tabasco
Lemon pepper
V-8
Mix it all up and drink.
Morning Howlin,
Checking in from the I-45 and West Road area. About 4:30 we had serious wind gusts and I got really worried about then. The power blinked a couple of times, but seems to be just fine, of course I have an HL&P service area directly behind my neighborhood, so that helps. :-)
We're still having some serious gusts of wind and light rain at the moment. I sure hope this thing doesn't stall!
Checking in. Just lots of wind and rain. Came through it without any problems. All utilities working fine. I have a screened in porch, it got a real beating...blinds are more or less in tack. No fallen trees...in fact, I slept through the worst part of the winds and rain. ;o)
Sooner Gal checking in from Copper Lakes near 290 and Barker Cypress.
We were very fortunate. Winds of 40 mph at the most, no apparent damage other than a few small tree limbs down.
We haven't even lost power, although we have had a few "blips".
BTW, can I vent at how Chet Edwards is such a jerk. When I was younger, I used to think he was 'dreamy' with his baby blue eyes...now, he's a partisan hack. What a jerk. FNC got a hold of him in Waco and he went on and on about all the 'red tape' trying to get the abandoned VA Hospital opened for evacuees. My dad said "HE's the red tape!" lol < /rant>
Talked to my sister Alexis the Bengal Kitty.
Don't know when she'll be able to get back on the computer because my son "rode the storm" out with her at her house and he's a computer nerd.
Lots of leaf debris but that's it. They're both ok!
All in good shape here, Lost power at 2:30, generator doing good job, no comercial power for 2 or 3 days probably, trees down, family is safe, got lots of food and water and plenty of Ammo.
I was in NW Houston. We had a little wind and rain, but nothing much more.
The only excitement I had was driving home on the tollway in my small car. A wind gust caught me off guard and moved me into the next line. I "white-knuckled" it the rest of the way home where.
For anyone checking in to see if there is power in SW Houston, I live near Bissonnet between Fondren & Gessner (near Braeburn Country Club). I DO HAVE ELECTRICITY! But, I understand there is a power line down at Gessner and Braeswood.
Currently, I am calling liquor stores to see if anyone is opening today. I would dearly love a Bloody Mary.
Hope everyone else is OK.
And, thanks for checking on us. I love this website!!!!
Truth is, I'm disappointed. We really need some rain and we didn't even get that after all the dire predictions.
I have talked to friends in Jasper this morning and they say it looks like a war zone. The residential areas are hardest hit because that's where the trees are. The trees on the courthouse square are gone. My friends have downed trees but none on their houses. One has a neighbor across the street with 3 pine trees on his house. No electricity and only have cell phones--when they work. One has a covered bridge (she likes them and her husband had it built for Christmas one year) on their land that normally is dry; rain water runs under it. It has water almost to the top.
Less than a 1/2 inch of rain and only a fast breeze. No loss of power. That was it. We really lucked out.
I am back, no damage to my house. Lucky.
Checking in!!!! Sorry for being so late, but I lost power from 9pm last night and just got it back about 30 minutes ago. No exciting stories, though. Besides the power going out, it was for the most part uneventful. Windy, but not horribly so, and not so much rain, either. I slept through it for the most part, and never felt alarmed or anxious. I feel really, really, lucky. No great hardship, I am just worried about those to the east and trying to catch up on what is happening with them.
I'm glad most of the Houston area was relatively untouched.
Prayers for those who were in Rita's path and are trying to get their lives back in order.
jpsb checking in, lost communications for a while but otherwise AOK.
My husband was upset with me when I didn't leave Houston early on Wednesday--the traffic was a nightmare by that afternoon. He decided we'd go to Jackson, MS, and stay with his oldest son and his family, so we got here early Thursday morning.
I didn't realize how difficult it would be to drive off from everything you own!
We had very little traffic troubles at 11:30 at night. We drove through Beaumont and Lake Charles--not realizing they were going to be hit. We'll have to go home through Shreveport. It seems we're gonna have to take back roads.
Two friends who stayed in the Crosby area checked our house and said everything was perfect, but there's no electricity. One friend said she saw broken windows on the main street of our neighborhood, though. She said her un-insured barn took a big hit, but she and her five kids were fine. Looks like we may still need to find a generator.
Hubby & I left Thurs morning at 2 am and only got 34 miles outside of Houston in 9 hours. One hour was spent waiting in line at a gas station to get half a tank of gas. Shortly afterwards, we realized the attempt to evacuate was futile and turned around for home. After being gone 10 hours, we arrived home and had a helluva hurricane party with my 26 yr old son and two of his friends, who also tried to leave but couldn't.
My son spent 3 1/2 hrs driving ONE AND A HALF MILES before getting back to his house! This was a huge fiasco and we were all grateful to get back home and have Rita miss us. Thanks to all of your for your prayers and concern.