Hurricane Rita II
Thursday we froze extra water supplies and started cooking food. A brief trip into town proved that the city of Houston has rolled up the sidewalks. Nothing was open. Any supplies you had not already gathered, you would have to figure out a way to do without. My sister-in-law left Clear Lake Wednesday night at 10, heading for San Marcos. After 15 hours, they'd made it as far as Brenham (which is normally a 2 hour drive and well short of their destination). They tried to come back as far as my house, since the freeway was open coming into town (according to the news anyway) but were stopped by authorities one exit up the freeway, turned around and again headed north. After 24 hours, they finally reached safety. As of 1:30 a.m. the storm was predicted to hit slightly to the west of us, sparing us the worst of Rita.
Friday we tried again to scout for supplies. One convenience store was in the process of boarding up the windows when my uncle ignored the "Store Closed" signs, went inside and negotiated for coffee and sugar. At home we cleaned the house, hung quilts over all the taped windows (trying to keep the house cool if we lost power), filled the tub and washer with water, packed pictures and important papers in an igloo cooler, secured the garage door with c-clamps and parked the extra car horizontally in the driveway up against the garage door. The front gate we "locked" by pushing a cement block up against it. And the wait began.
Rita steadily altered course throughout the day, heading for Port Arthur. We were told to expect winds up to 80 mph and heavy rains. Between 1 and 5 a.m. we did get some fierce winds and a little rain, but nothing like we expected. The power blinked on and off during that time, but never went out completely.
This morning I went out to check out the school and neighborhood. A few limbs were down and it looks like we had a leaf blizzard. I saw one street sign that lost the part with the street names on it and a couple of twisted mailboxes. But for the most part, everything looks secure, albeit deserted. I've found one Texaco store open. A Big Lots store next door to my school had the roof cave in. Pretty much, I'd say we've been lucky.
I've heard from friends in Florida and Oklahoma that the city is remaining closed til Wednesday because there will be no gas or grocery supplies in the city for a while. My friend Leslie left me her car and a set of keys to her house when she evacuated and called to let me know to go to her house and get whatever groceries I might need, so I think we will be more than fine. We have power, internet, water, A/C and Direct TV. If we could shop and eat out, this time off would be a vacation. As is, we are stir crazy, totally suffering from cabin fever and anxious as hell to get out of the house.
Friday we tried again to scout for supplies. One convenience store was in the process of boarding up the windows when my uncle ignored the "Store Closed" signs, went inside and negotiated for coffee and sugar. At home we cleaned the house, hung quilts over all the taped windows (trying to keep the house cool if we lost power), filled the tub and washer with water, packed pictures and important papers in an igloo cooler, secured the garage door with c-clamps and parked the extra car horizontally in the driveway up against the garage door. The front gate we "locked" by pushing a cement block up against it. And the wait began.
Rita steadily altered course throughout the day, heading for Port Arthur. We were told to expect winds up to 80 mph and heavy rains. Between 1 and 5 a.m. we did get some fierce winds and a little rain, but nothing like we expected. The power blinked on and off during that time, but never went out completely.
This morning I went out to check out the school and neighborhood. A few limbs were down and it looks like we had a leaf blizzard. I saw one street sign that lost the part with the street names on it and a couple of twisted mailboxes. But for the most part, everything looks secure, albeit deserted. I've found one Texaco store open. A Big Lots store next door to my school had the roof cave in. Pretty much, I'd say we've been lucky.
I've heard from friends in Florida and Oklahoma that the city is remaining closed til Wednesday because there will be no gas or grocery supplies in the city for a while. My friend Leslie left me her car and a set of keys to her house when she evacuated and called to let me know to go to her house and get whatever groceries I might need, so I think we will be more than fine. We have power, internet, water, A/C and Direct TV. If we could shop and eat out, this time off would be a vacation. As is, we are stir crazy, totally suffering from cabin fever and anxious as hell to get out of the house.
posted by TrisaTx at
12:37 PM
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