Hurricane Rita and Texas Riders

jamais · Post by **jamais** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:55 pm

I"ve got all the water, batteries, and plywood that I'll need (I hope!). The cars have full tanks including the "R". Acacia, Rootin Tootin, Dallara, and anyone else I miss, I'm hunkering down in Kingwood. Well off the coast but the "Liveable Forrest" might be a curse with all of our trees.

I'll be thinking of you guys.

darthrider · Post by **darthrider** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:16 pm

I'm thinking of them too.
The last hurricane track I saw went directly over our old house when we lived in Galveston County on the mainland.
Two floods in 1979 convinced me to find a job on "higher ground" and I did.
I hope all goes well for the South Texas/Gulf Coast guys.

Post by **arkline** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:06 pm

CNN has it going ashore kinda midway between Galveston and Corpus Christi, though the projections are for landfall on Saturday which is pretty far out in terms of time. Damn, you guys hunker down somewhere safe.

darthrider · Post by **darthrider** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 2:51 pm

projections are for landfall on Saturday which is pretty far out in terms of time

Really pretty close in time when you consider having to board up the windows & doors, put the furniture up on blocks, stack all the other stuff on the furniture. Pack until the vehicles are full, both to save the clothes from ruin and because you don't know how long you will be gone. And maybe have to go try to find & buy plywood, duct tape, blocks, gasoline, water, batteries, food, ice, medicine for "emergency" prices.
Take or make provisions for animals, settle things at work, let everyone know where you are & where you're going, find a place to evacuate to, fight the traffic jams from hell and maybe still end up in "refugee centers".
Worry about wind & water damage.
Worry about looters.
Worry about your job(s).
Worry about the animals.

And then the fun really starts.
I would much rather my house burned to the ground than be flooded. It would be far easier.
I've been there and done all that, twice.
My heart and my stomach ache for the people who are trying to prepare for hell.

Post by **arkline** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:09 pm

Dave,

I guess I meant to say that the projections might have too much skim in them to be way accurate since they are for Saturday. In terms of preparation, hell that's no time at all.

As a kid, living on an Air Force base in North Carolina, I went through two hurricanes, which must have been pretty mild 'cause they didn't even think of evacuating the families. Moved the B-52s, but not the families...One of the absolute worst times I've ever spent on earth. An earthquake that lasts 30 seconds to a minute seems like it'll never end, but it does. A hurricane howls for hours and hours with no seeming let up. All the bugs in the house decided to congregate where we were sitting. The rain came down like bullets. And we were considerably inland at Goldsboro...

I just hope that Allan and the rest of you Texas riders skeet through this with no problems whatsoever.

Post by **Rootin55** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:34 pm

Thanks for the thought. Just got home, I-45 is a parking lot. 1st gas station I went to was empty, 2nd one had a line and premium only. Plan on staying at this point. From The Woodlands, I'm about 80 miles inland of Galveston and NE about 100 miles from Matagorda. When it gets inland will be when she gets about 35-40 miles from me but hopefully will be in a weakened state. The Mapsource software for my GPS sure makes it handy to figure distances as the crow flies.

darthrider · Post by **darthrider** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:54 pm

I guess I meant to say that the projections might have too much skim in them to be way accurate since they are for Saturday. In terms of preparation, hell that's no time at all.

Sorry Arkline, I just read you wrong.
Hell, I'm sitting here 260 miles away with 350 feet elevation and I still have a real stomach ache and I'm popping Rolaids as we speak.
Even with that distance, the forecast here is for 4" rain this weekend. These damn thngs are monsters. Just heard it's now a Cat 5.
We've lived in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area for 25 years now and we've only had a tropical storm related "rain event" once in that time.
I'm not worried for us at all...it's just welcome rain for us. But I'm very concerned about the people on the Gulf Coast.
Keep posting, Rootin55! Hope your power stays on.

Post by **arkline** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 4:12 pm

You guys stay away from those arroyos that are dry 99% of the time...

Four inches of rain, when you might not have had any for some time can be pretty swift at moving across the surface, rather than soaking in. And does all kindsa weird stuff as it moves. I lived in Roswell, NM for a while and they didn't have storm drains...why bother, when real rain is so few and far between. When you'd get those gullywashers, the streets would be full for half a day and the Pecos would get really wide for a couple of days and then go back to its normal trickle.

Just, for Pete's sake, take it easy, you guys.

Post by **Rootin55** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 4:49 pm

Remember Allison? Never made it to a hurricane but it sat just offshore for a long time. Houston was on the wrong side of the storm (NE side) and many places got 20+ inches in a 24 hour period. I think we got 15 here and the water never got in my driveway........I keep convincing myself that it will be OK this time. As Jamias mentioned, the don't call it The Woodlands for nothing. I have many native pines and hardwoods around me.........at this point, this is my greatest concern.

Post by **Deans BMW** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:36 pm

Just talked to my Sister and her Husband who live in Lufkin , They spent last nite on their 40' sailboat in Kemah to get out their valuables and to strip off every thing top side. They left Kemah this morning for the normally 2 hour trip back to Lufkin, trip took about 7 1/2 hours, bumper to bumper at a crawl all the way with outside temps well over 100 F. Glad I am on out mountain at 6,300 ft.

All you Texas guys, our thoughts are with you.

Post by **dano** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:43 pm

Good luck to all down there--we'll be thinking of ya. I guess i really only have had to worry about snow (lots of it), but nothing like hurricanes/tornadoes, etc. wow. incomprehensible.

Post by **yjleesvrr** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:25 pm

Good grief. Rita is now a Cat 5 hurricane. This sure is a lively season. I'll be praying for y'all down there.

collyers · Post by **collyers** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:35 pm

Darth & I are up on high (350ft+) ground in DFW, but there's not much but a few tall trees between us (400miles or so) & the gulf. Flash flooding is a real danger here, many people will be stranded because of it and a few will drown in it, due to sheer disrespect of Mother Nature. Weather's been HOT, 102 today, and hotter manana. We'll get 4-5 inches of rain in an hour here if the storm remains at a tropical level. Batten the hatches down there between Beaumont & Galveston. Load your cars, your wallets, your shotguns, and be careful out there.

Bry · Post by **Bry** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:38 pm

Good luck to you guys stuck in the mess!

Hard to imagine, never seen anything like it over here...

Bry

Post by **wncbmw** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:54 pm

All you Texas guys keep your heads down! We'll be thinking of you and hope you make it through all right.

And please check in with us as soon as possible after it passes so we can quit worrying. (Can you tell I am the father of teenagers?)

Post by **Rootin55** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:19 pm

[img][img]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/Rootin55/pod_C.gif[/img][/img]

We use this at work. Hope it may give someone some information they could use. Realise of course that this is ever changing.

Didn't capture the color code wind speeds. The outer most (Blue) line has no wind speed associated with it. Counting in starting with the Green line, there are 5 lines. Here are the winds for the 5 lines:
25
39
58
74
100

Post by **Boxer** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:29 pm

And we were considerably inland at Goldsboro...

Arkline- How long ago was that?...That you were in Goldsboro. NC?

I spent about 3 years there in intel working with the B-52 bomb wing. That's where I bought my first (and last) Harley.

BigJugs · Post by **BigJugs** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:23 pm

I'm packing up the wife and kids and heading off to San Antonio this weekend. I live on the west side of Houston about 60 miles from the coast and the weatherman says we should see 100+ mph winds here. No way I'm staying with that kind of wind plus the tornados that these storms spawn.

I'm now trying to decide if we take both the SUV and my truck (to save my beloved RR)! Please keep us in your prayers!

Cheers,

Post by **arkline** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:27 pm

Boxer,

Not to take this off the current topic, but my dad was stationed at Seymour-Johnson when I was in sixth or seventh grade, so that's like, um, 1959 or '60. I can't remember if we were with the 393rd or the 509th at that time. Long time ago, for sure. Prior to that we were at Pease in New Hampshire. After that we went back to Roswell, N.M. Funny, I think all those bases have been closed now...

If there is anything you Texas guys need, you will let us know won't you? Don't be shy. We're all in this together somehow...

darthrider · Post by **darthrider** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:15 pm

Good luck BigJugs...be safe.

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Hurricane Rita and Texas Riders

Hurricane Rita and Texas Riders

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