Hurricane Dean

[Laurel Scott]

Newscasters are warning Houstonians to prepare for a possible evacuation due to the approaching Hurricane Dean. They are telling us to buy water and food, fill our gastanks, plan our individual evacuation, and sit tight for word from our fearless Mayor. Along the highway messages are posted telling motorists to keep their gastanks full. The government (city or state, I'm not sure) has announced that if/when we evacuate, it will be by zip code and we are to please, please only go when our zip code is called.

The Weather Channel is saying Houston probably won't get a direct hit, but even if we're on the edge of the storm, we could suffer high winds, flooding, and storm surge. Making the problem worse is that fact that the ground is already completely saturated due to the wettest summer on record. Weather forecasters have been saying for several weeks - long before word of a hurricane - that because the ground is saturated, any significant rain will cause flooding.

I'm keeping my gas tank full. I've got some bottled water - not a lot, but some. My sister Melody also lives in Houston, though in a different zip code. We've agreed that we will go together, whenever one of our zip codes is called. She's 77082. I'm 77083. We will go three hours inland to Waco, TX to stay with my sister Rachel and her husband and baby. My mother also has a house in Waco. This was what we did when Hurricane Rita caused an evacuation two years ago. During that evacuation, the three hour trip took us eight hours due to traffic, most of it spent on the section of road before the route to Austin splits from the route to Waco.

Should I evacuate, my files will be safe from flooding as my office is on the 9th floor and they will be safe from wind if the windows break as the files will be locked in heavy, metal file cabinets. My laptop goes with me. Its difficult to log on from Rachel's house, but there's a coffee shop nearby where I can access the internet. Even so, I probably won't sit at the coffee shop for eight hours a day. I won't be able to receive calls or faxes. I'll check voicemail a few times a day.

At this time, I expect we will NOT evacuate. I don't want to as (a) I have a UPL meeting Tuesday, in-person consultation Wednesday, and meeting about the pre-construction house on Thursday, and (b) I was on vacation two of the last five business days and don't want to miss more work this week; I'm actually fairly caught up on my work and most of what needs to be done next week can be done away from the office, but ... clients don't seem to like it when I'm not in Houston.

If I evacuate, I probably won't have to time to announce it first. Our fearless Mayor will say 'go' and we'll go.

[angela256z]

Wow! Be safe!

[arcoiris]

Take care!

[Laurel Scott]

My kids want to evacuate because they want to go to Aunt Rachel's house. Rachel is their second-favorite aunt (after Melody, who is pretty much helping me raise them) and Rachel has a beautiful baby girl that my kids can't get enough of. I'm trying not to get their hopes up since maybe we won't evacuate. I just called Rachel to make sure she knows we might be coming up there and as I was talking she kept saying, "Yup ... yup". She had already started making tentative plans for our arrival.

Incidentally, we'd stay with Rachel, rather than my mom, since Rachel has an enormous house with five bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths for her family of three. Lots of space.

[Pinkpig]

Glad to see that you are making tentative plans. I hope that others are doing the same. Thanks for alerting everyone here... Take care.

[nadiah_25]

If anyone does not have any place to stay...
Extended Stay Hotels have studio suites with full kitchens in all of Texas and pretty much in all the states. They also have great deals on weekly stays.... Also if you book through their web site, www.extendedstayhotels.com you can get cheaper rates...
Good Luck to everyone out there!!!!

[Laurel Scott]

Oh, and I double-checked my flood insurance today. Yep, up-to-date. Fully insured.

[ratito921]

I know that when we have hurricanes we always just wait til the last minute. The majority of the time we just ride it out. There have been a few times that we've evacuated. We stayed in the boat shop next door to our house when Isabel came rolling through in 2003. That was pretty awesome.

I know many people have their worries after what happened with Katrina, but I also think it depends on where you live and what the land is like and also the big thing is the tide surge and wind speed.

Just be safe Laurel and if you feel you should go, then by all means, GO!!! And on top of that it could be a nice break too. Even if it's only for a few days.

[princesa]

Laurel, I will say a prayer for your safety and the safety of your children.

[mnava]

Hi Laurel,

I hope all is okay. I will say a prayer for your family. Don't worry too much about clients, the safety of your family is first.

Does it seem that lots of bad things are going on lately??? Kinda scary.

[princesa]

Mexico is also getting hit with rain and storms due to the hurricane.

[Laurel Scott]

Long ago in a former life, I worked on a commune in Georgia. We got hit not by a hurricane, but by a piddly little tropical depression. It was bad enough to take the life of one of the women on the commune. She was driving back to Georgia after visiting her son in Florida and her car was washed off the road about half a mile from the commune. The car got stuck in the ditch by the side of the road. She was unable to open the windows or doors. She died not by drowning, but by asphyxiation when the air pocket in her car ran out of oxygen. She was found with a heavy object in her hand like she'd been trying to break a window.

The commune was evacuated during the storm after the police came and told us the local levees might break. We had to cross the main bridge into town one at a time because some engineers said it might collapse. While we were crossing, we had to stop because a tornado was approaching. It passed. After the storm was over, everyone from the commune helped clean out houses that had been damaged by the flood. If a house is flooded by one foot all the furniture is destroyed. I did more volunteer work for the Red Cross, processing applications for furniture vouchers for people who lost everything and didn't have flood insurance. Then I helped dig the grave for the funeral on the commune.

I learned to respect the weather. If its time to evacuate, I'm getting my kids out of there.

[aguilar1115]

A few months ago we had heavy rain and my entire property flooded for a day before the water receded. My house is on pier and beam foundation (off the ground) so the damage was minimal but it was my first experience here in Houston and I must say I was VERY alarmed to see how fast the water came and how it KEPT coming long after the rain stopped. I have NEVER seen anything like the water here and flooded streets etc so definitely it is nothing to mess with. Worse than any snow for sure (I'm a northerner!).

[angela256z]

Wow that is scary. I couldn't live in a place with crazy natural disasters. In WA the most we have is Earth quakes and I have been through three of them so I am getting a bit use to them, but Tornadoes and Hurricanes is something I would not be able to handle.

I will keep you in my thoughts. Glad you have made plans to go if needed.

[aguilar1115]

edited

[Laurel Scott]

No place is 'safe'. In Los Angeles they have earthquakes. In the Northeast there are blizzards and harsh winters. How many people die in car accidents when the car skids on ice? In parts of Washington state you live near Mr. Rainier which could explode at any time. In the mid-west there are tornados. No place is 'safe'.

[pen1137]

legend has it that in our small town in ohio, we are protected from tornados by an Indian burial ground...there have been funnel clouds and some devastating tornados as close by as 10 miles, but no tornado touchdowns here. hope i didn't just jinx it...

[mtoledo]

When Rita was approaching we left 2 days prior to the day that it was forecasted to touch land and it took us 22 hours to get from Houston to Dallas. There were lots of cars that were overheating and ran out of gas. Luckily ours didn't and we made it safe. I'm praying to God that this doesn't happen again and if it does I wish that everyone gets to a safe place.

[aguilar1115]

My parents just got a house in Cypress that they said is not in the evacuation zone. I am not familiar enough with the area (and neither are they!) to know if it's safe there. It seems that it's not far enough away from the coast....?

[cherrycandy001]

I hate San Antonio because of the heat, but as far as natural disasters go I feel at ease. Correct me if I am wrong but I think that floods are the only real threat here?!
-Candy

[aguilar1115]

I thought San Antonio would be safer because it's not as flat as Houston? I'm pretty ignorant about the geography of Texas though...I'm a Lone Star newbie even after a long lonely year. I can't seem to get used to how flat the land is here, especially after living in the mountains of Veracruz.

[arcoiris]

Long ago in a former life, I worked on a commune in Georgia. We got hit not by a hurricane, but by a piddly little tropical depression.

I remember that. There's been quite a few that have done us some damage. The worst I remember was Kate. She came ashore as a Catagory 1 or 2, not a major hurricane. She quickly dropped to a tropical depression, but she stalled out over us for 3 days. What a mess! We were already soaked from a previous storm. Trees were down, no electricity...this went on for a week. That was 20 something years ago, and to this very day you can still see the damage she did.

[Laurel Scott]

Let me think. The storm in Georgia that I'm referring to was ... um ... I think I was 21 ... so ... 13 years ago. I was in Americus, Georgia living/working at Koinonia Farms intentional community.

[arcoiris]

That was Beryl. He spawned the flooding of the Flint River and then the Albany Flood. Nasty little devil, that one. I live 2 hours from Americus. We had a few places flood, but nothing like on the Flint.

Oh, and a tornado hit downtown Americus last year (maybe the year before). Hit the hospital. That was awful.

[ratito921]

..

[Laurel Scott]

Looks like Dean is going South and Houston won't be affected. Send prayers out to those affected in Mexico.

[angela256z]

That is not good. My friend just flew into Cancun for her honeymoon on Friday. She is there for the next two weeks. i hope all goes well.

[gdalicia]

I'm glad to hear that you won't be affected, Laurel! I was reading this morning about some of the people stuck in the Caribbean...freaky. I'll take earthquakes over hurricanes anyday....:D

[angela256z]

We just got an email from my friend. She is sitting in the Airport waiting for a 4pm flight to the US. If that flight is cxl'ed or delayed then they are routed by bus to a storm shelter 6 hours inland. Crazy stuff.

[arcoiris]

"Mean Dean" is the size of Texas!!!