Linda - some good news - they now have I-45 widened to 4 lanes up into Conroe - so that's very good progress. I know they will continue past Conroe. The Rita evac did gridlock just north of The Woodlands as I-45 narrowed to only 2 outbound lanes. They continue to work on Hwy 290 toward Austin which will also help. A lot of people didn't heed the advice to fill up their tanks early in that week, so they ran out near Houston. I hope the lessons learned by the state will help future events, i.e. get that northbound highway widened ASAP!, to get the contraflow started many, many hours earlier, and those huge electronic highway signs now to remind folks to fill up their tanks ("Hurricane Forming in the Gulf - Fill up your Gas Tanks"). I know they opened contraflow on I-10 very early on for this LA evacuation which helped them greatly.
I think a lot of people in/near Houston evacuated who didn't really need to, but many were afraid because of watching Katrina damage. I was probably in that category, but we wanted to head to the family lake house on Lake Conroe to batten down there. It took us 14 hours to get there. It wasn't fun...
We were living in southwest Houston for Allison's direct hit in '83 - it was a Cat 3. It was bad, but would not have been worth leaving for. If I lived in Angleton like your brother, I'd probably have a different view. Each storm is different, so we'll all have to pay close attention.
I'm very impressed with the way Louisiana handled their evacuation, so I hope all of us in harms' way in the future will benefit from the newest lessons. God bless anyone dealing with Gustav!
Who is Fleeing Gustav?? Who is Staying Put?
Good to know. Sister's family are far enough in NW Houston they didn't think it was necessary to go. DD is a doctor, always busy, needed to work and then waited too long to get gassed up, no gas anywhere. so they stayed. My grandson was NOT impressed by what they saw! It was not bad there, so yes, obviously they didn't need to go that time. Back when Allison hit, my sister's family lived in another part of Houston. They lost power for quite some time and no phone for weeks (they had no cell phone then) after the hurricane. I was really worried then because I couldn't reach them and no way to find out if they were okay.
Yes - Rita was very light in most of Houston. Interestingly, we had very high winds and some rain at the lake for Rita. We lost power for about half a day. We were glad we came up to secure anything that would have blown. The dam at both Lake Conroe and Lake Livingston were seriously damaged by those high north winds on the back side of the storm - they estimated 75-80 mph. Both dams cost millions to fix and took 6 months. The level of lake Conroe had to be lowered 6' to fix it, and it took almost a year for it to be restored to usable levels.
Glad we now all have cell phones so we can keep in touch when electricity is off - at least until we run out of battery power :)
We haven't had a cell phone since 2002, when DH became disabled. When we had a bad ice storm the winter before last we were pretty much without power or phone and unable to drive out for days. It did occur to me then it would be nice to have one because of DH's health and the dangerous ice I had to walk on when I went outside, but for the most part I don't miss it. We live in a bad area for cell phone reception, so many of them don't even work here.
Mayor of NOLA was warning not to depend on cell phones because often the cell towers are down first. No way to win.
Christi
No way to win.
Phyllis any luck in contacting Becky??
cell phones so we can keep in touch when electricity is off
No cell here either... I had one and broke the contract (with no penalty) due to lack of service.
also for those of you on digital phone...if you lose power and have an invertor or UPS as long as your router is getting power and the cable is still working you'll have phone.
After Allison, many phone lines were also down in Houston. I was once without a phone for weeks myself near San Antonio after a big flood. Flooding took out some major phone cables.
lilsista59 I've tried calling beck5711 three times so far today and left her a message but no reply yet I am going to try her again yet tonight and see if she picks up I am wondering if she is spending the day with mom to make sure she is settled in and doing okay.
You couldn't get thru to the next door neighbors after Rita in Houston on a cell phone for 4 days due to the overload of users--and we had no effects from Rita at all
We're about 20 minutes from Tyler going toward Texarkana, I just hope the elec. doesn't go out. We'll die without ac, and everytime the wind blows it does.!!
We're out in the country and all these little roads out here get flooded, so here's hoping they won't. Hate being stranded.
Pam is about 10 minutes from me, so I hope she doesn't get rained in. If the ac goes out, I'm planning on getting to her house to stay (Ya'll keep that to yourself, she doesn't know!!) Maggie's only about 15 minutes, so if Pam doesn't answer the door, I'll head to her house. he he he
well better pack your bags then as the news tonight said between Tyler and Longview will get it and they are already setting things in place for the power companies if power goes out..I"m keepin an eye on it since I drive a school bus and really don't want to be driving in high winds.
any bets on how many accidents occur during the rain? seems like there is always at least 1-2 every time it rains here
Oh, there'll be a lot of nuts getting out in it. So, probably lots of fender benders and sliders.
Did they say what time to expect it? It's quiet here now. You know, calm before the storm.
I think Becky will be fine as she is in Ennis Texas, right next to Dallas, and I don't believe they are expected any bad weather there. I believe she is probably just spending alot of time with her mom, as she is in a brand new place and getting her comfortable.....Didn't know the weather would be so rough here though Phyllis.....I was planning on driving in Tyler tomorrow for a Dr.s appt...
well one station says we will get alot of wind and rain and the other says we will get the edge of it so not sure now what to expect..but they say Tuesday afternoon evening for it to make it here.
Hope they call off school tomorrow, Mibus! I'm a retired teacher who's spent quite a few days until 6 or 7:00 pm with kids flooded in the school with school buses and their drivers sitting in flood waters. It's not a pretty sight for anyone... Good luck.
Dallas may get some too. It's considered East Texas too. Looks like it will miss it, but those things are nuts. Can't follow directions!
It will probably just be a little puff of rain when it gets here. We'll hope!
this morning both stations I check on tv said we were not going to get the heavy rains and winds we might get gusts up to 40mph and some rain but not the bad rain
they have flood watches all around tyler area but not smith county so far....it is staying closer to the state line and Shreveport
but your right the weather does as it chooses rarely just what the weather man says LOL
The storm moved a LOT faster than they expected, and it turned farther north, so you might be dry after all in Tyler. Yayy! :-)
Must be nice to have a job that you get paid to guess what is going to happen and when you are wrong, you get paid anyway. hehe!
LOL Yep! ^_^
Yeah they said this morning it turned and is staying mostly to the east of us but we are getting rain and some wind but nothing like they thought so far.
It's been raining all night and day and some pretty good winds. Knocked over a bunch of canna's, so now I'm mad. Is it just bad right here at my house. Did it plot against me? Course we are a little closer to S'port. Pam, is it bad at your house. And Maggie?
Those cannas will grow back.
I'm on the phone with Beck5711. She's okay! Will check in later!
super to hear that !! thanks for letting us know
I know, isn't that terrible. The stuff a lot of people have gone through with this thing and I'm worried about a few canna's!
We didn't get much wind here. A drizzly rain has been pretty steady, which is fine by me. I am thankful that the Gulf was spared so much devastation this time.
I don't like to hear interviews with folks who say they are mad because they evacuated and then the storm wasn't as bad as predicted, and that they won't go the next time. This looks to be an active hurricane/tropical storm season (as forecast a few months ago) and to state the obvious: a life once extinguished can't be brought back, property and things can be replaced.
no matter what is done and what precautions are taken there will always be some that complain
happens no matter what ya do.
They may not have gotten hit as bad as once expected but it is always better safe then sorry
some seem to ignore the obvious and put more importance on material things then life itself sad to say.
Maggie-have you heard from Caren in Lake Charles. Talked to her Sunday but have not heard from her. Thought she may have been heading this direction. Let me know if you hear from her.
DD
Caren called to say they had made it to the lake and were stopping there. Everything was fine with them. I imagine they'll be headed home soon. I found the following from The Statesman:
Lake Charles cleanup is minimal
By Tim Eaton | Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 11:09 AM
LAKE CHARLES, La. — This city escaped the wrath of Hurricane Gustav, but other cities and towns east of here are beginning to assess the damage and start the repair process.
A convoy of dozens of utility trucks rolled east on Interstate 10 early this morning. As the trucks passed Lake Charles, officials here are preparing for residents to return.
Government officials, disaster coordinators and law enforcement officers counted their blessings at a meeting this morning at the emergency operations center. They said schools and courts would open Thursday. Garbage collection also will resume as normal later this week.
The cleanup will be minimal here, but officials said they’d offer resources to harder-hit areas east of Lake Charles.
As to the people who left and then were upset I think that's rather silly, we didn't leave but had everything in place to go if needed if the storm looked worse or turned and we would have done so if it had looked worse. We already have an eye ok Ike to see what he's going to do...
Some of the people in the San Antonio shelters were a bit bummed. They had put some of them into two schools....and the question is why?....when they knew the children would need the schools on Tuesday! So on Monday Tuesday they announced that those schools wouldn't be in session Tuesday...meaning, of course the schools would possibly be facing a deficit in state-mandated school days. Then they closed those shelters after that. Some of the evacuees were saying they had no way to get home. That they'd used all their money to get here, had no gas money, no nothing. Anyway, after that a big company stepped forward to offer something...gas cards, I think. But I'm afraid those people might refuse to leave next time. The city is a bit more reluctant to spend large amounts of money like they did for Katrina and Rita evacuees. The federal government was extremely slow in reimbursing them and of course, they didn't get it all reimbursed.
It's beyond the pale that peole compain cause they weren't killed or all their property ruined. Better safe than sorry. Rather stay gone a few days than take a chance, I would think. you might lose a couple days work, but the businesses would be closed to, so you wouldn't lose that either.! People continue to amaze!!! lol
No one ever knows for sure what a hurricane will do. Has it's own mind!
Just checking in to let everyone know we made it to Ennis with no problems, and just got back home.. I am sooo glad the hurricane chose another path, even though I have the "clean up" of taking everything back outside... lol.. oooohhh what a mess!!
I feel for the people that Gustav choose to visit instead, and hope everyone is ok!!
Becky!!!! We missed you dear and are so glad you are home safely ☺
Hi All, I just wanted to check in to say we were ok and to send a BIG thank you to Maggie and DdeTex! We were able to stay at the lake but just the peace of mind knowing we had other places to go had it gotten really bad was priceless! Thank you so much for your kindness!
We were able to come home yesterday morning. There was no damage to our home thank goodness! I hope everyone else faired just as well!
Take Care!!
Caren
Glad you're safely at home too Caren ☺