posted
The good news, according to the folks at weather.com is that cat 5 status is hard to hold onto. She could weaken. They actually expect fluctuation, and let's hope that she's on the weaker side of the fluctuations when she hits landfall.
posted
I'll check in the morning, Thor. Hope you are able to get out safely. But if you can't, old schools used to be built with bomb shelters for the basements if you can get to one on high ground. It's also possible to walk quite far in 50 hours. Pioneer trekkers did about 15 miles a day, and that was with camping at night and knowing you had all summer to get to where you are going. I mean, you don't want to be without shelter when the storm comes, but if there are towns 15-20 miles inland, it's a possibility.
Storm- space aged monkees are so much more textural than space aged monkeys. Davey Jones was such a hot pansy.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thor -- I know they are providing ways out -- loading school buses, etc. You don't have to drive your truck if you don't have enough gas. Get on one of the buses. Let them take care of you and get you out.
(Hoping he's already out and not able to read this)
posted
I hope you can get out of there before it hits. I heard about the highway traffic jam/cars running out of gas on the news, and I worried about you.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Sorry to hear that you're still trapped there, Thor. For what little it's worth, we're thinking of you. If there's anything more concrete I can do to help you, let me know. I won't be able to access my email until about 4:30 your time, just FYI.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
You may have already seen this, but the Houston Chronicle's Rita blog seems to be the best source on transportation issues.
A post on the blog says that you can call 713-837-0311 for assistance evacuating, but it looks like that involves boarding an MTA evacuation bus. Not sure I'd want to do that, but if you don't have other choices....
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I sent two emails. The latter has some things you can use. Let me know if you don't get them both.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Why aren't they OPENING the south bound side of I-45 and giving us 8 lanes to drive north on, or at least 7 lanes???
No one is going south, they should REALLY turn all south bound lanes into north bound.
Thanks soooo much for the help and love offered.
Part of me feels like staying, traffic is just as scary. Some say it's a 24 drive for me from here to dallas.
How many tanks of gas is that????
oh man.
i'm %50, %50
on staying and leaving
I'm 99% norwegian, if it's my time to go, it is my time to go. I love God. So if I really have to Go With God, I will.
Leaving a legacy of a crazy empathetic poet who was kind, caring, honest and loyal.
Sure I smoked pot, drank beer, and kissed a few too many pretty girls, but i lived as a good man.
Ask anyone who knows me.
In most part, I have lived up to the name of Thor.
My greatest sins were committed at a very, very young age, and from there always walked a much better line when treating and dealing with other people.
A hear filled with love towards all others.
Knowing we are all God's children.
He loves every single one of us.
That is why i attempt to love every single one of y'all.
posted
Got a bicycle? You could ride 50 miles in a day easy, and you wouldn't have to worry about traffic or gas. Throw some water and food in a backpack and get the hell out of dodge, even if you have to walk. Just go go go now.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm with ElJay on this one. Better to go than to stay, at this point. Are you in one of the parts of Houston that has been given the evacuation order? What is your place like there? Is it in an apartment complex, a house, what?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Seriously Thor, it's time to go. Check back in with us when you've got internet access again, or call one of us and let us know how you're doing once you're around a phone, but go. Assuming that the storm doesn't level Houston, and I really don't think that it will, you don't want to be around to have to deal with looters.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
On that blog someone linked to, this is in the latest entry:
quote:Also, on 59 north, drivers are opening their own contraflow lanes between Splendora and Shepherd, a dangerous situation as drivers are still headed south on 59.
posted
I am worried sick about you. I just threw up.
(Granted, that was more than likely due to the fact that I unwisely ate collard greens last night -- and my body has always made me pay for collard greens -- but still. I am accomplishing nothing today because I keep obsessively checking phone and net for news of you. Please, please take pity on me? *winning smile)
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
| IP: Logged |
I've got an old friend in Conroe, about 40 miles north of Houston. He wrote to me yesterday about going to the hardware store and finding it more or less cleaned out of everything but goldfish crackers (I assume he was talking about the crackers), but didn't say whether his family was getting out of town or not. Thor, do you have any idea whether authorities are recommending evacuation for Conroe?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
Traffic estimates are posted alongside that story -- although they are a few hours old.
I think the key point the Harris County Judge makes is a good one -- there are still 48 hours or so. It's not too late.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
Non-South Texas residents -- please don't click on the link. Save the bandwidth for people who desperately need the info.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
My Mother-in-Law's old college friend lives most of the time with her family in New Orleans. Luckily they were at their second home during Hurricane Katrina.
The bad news: their second home is in Houston.
Not sure where they are headed now.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Maybe the fact that Thor hasn't posted in 3 hours means he's left. I sure hope so.
But now the storm has taken a turn toward the north. New Orleans is under a tropical storm warning. Man, I hope the newly patched flood walls hold.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was thinking conditions could be as bad as NO, but I read that Galveston has a 17 foot granite floodwall, which means they could potentially trap 17 feet of water on theirselves. Good thing theirselves is mostly gone.
I can walk 3 miles in an hour. How many hours have you got?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was hoping he had left too, but reading this makes me wonder if he'll be any safer out there than at home.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I went to Austin myself. Decided Houston may be a little too much IN harms way, I guess. I hope my brother in law doesn't mind us crashing with him till Sunday... maybe even longer.
Posts: 529 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Anyone heard from Thor? I'm taking the fact that he hasn't posted in some time as a good thing, as I'm sure that Houston still has power at this point.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have a friend who left last night to evacuate, but he found that traffic was so horrible that he probably wasn't going to make it out of the city in time. He's going to stay with his mother now, who apparently lives in Houston, but in an area where it probably won't be so bad, I guess. I think he said something about west Houston?
posted
Looking at the link in my WorstCaseScenario thread, north and west Houston seem to be safe from ocean flooding. But forecasters said the hurricane might stall in east Texas and continue dumping HUGE amounts of rain. So low lying areas there might get swamped.
posted
I hope Thor's OK. The reports this morning are saying that it is now too late to leave. Traffic coming out of the Houston areas is completely gridlocked. The highways are blocked with broken down and out of gas cars. They are trying to coordinate efforts to bring water and gasoline to people stuck on the road.
posted
It's bizarre how ineffective all these emergency preparedness plans seem to be - at least in louisianna and texas - given all the attention we supposedly gave to planning for these after 9/11.
Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I expected this sort of gridlock, given that Houston is the fourth largest city and is located near water on one side. IS there a solution?
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Sharing cars and, like Thor said, officially opening most of the other side of the highway. More road, fewer cars, more gas to go around, too.
I think there is a disconnect between whatever the emergency plans are and ways to make that plan better by gathering the co-operation of the people. Right now, everyone's on his or her own.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Hail]](graemlins/hail.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
I hope you can get out of there before it hits. I heard about the highway traffic jam/cars running out of gas on the news, and I worried about you.
