Rita's Coming for a Visit
- Thread starter Eve
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diehardbiker
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The good news is that Rita probably will go down to between cat 2 and 3. Better than cat 5! But the bad news, it will STILL hit Texas and Louisiana's heart of oil refineries. Because of cat degradation, there will be less chance that gas price will hit 5 dollars.
Eve or any texans, I'd like to know your thought on this one:
Houston officials ask residents to stay
HOUSTON - After days of telling people to get out, officials here switched Friday to telling them to stay put if they hadn't already left - with Rita threatening landfall southeast of Houston as early as Friday night.
And efforts accelerated to get those stranded on evacuation routes off roadways and into last-minute shelter.
The huge traffic jams north and west of Houston had eased by early Friday, officials said, but dozens, even hundreds of people were still parked beside the roads, having broken down or run out of gas.
Up and down the coast, officials made final preparations, opening a safe-haven in a school in Galveston, busing out the last special-needs residents in Orange, 80 miles to the east, on the Louisiana line, positioning crews and equipment to respond after the storm.
At 1 p.m. Dallas time, Rita was centered about 175 miles southeast of Port Arthur, moving northwest at near 10 mph, and forecasters said it could weaken further become coming ashore.
The weakening was good news, but officials said the storm was still very dangerous, particularly if the expected 15 to 17 foot storm surge on the east side of the track materialized.
For those still in their homes in Houston, "people should prepare to shelter in place if they have not evacuated," Mayor White told a Friday morning briefing.
Last-minute shelter was being made available "for those most at risk" who were still at home, and there were plans to pick them up, the mayor said. He declined to announce locations out of concern he'd set off a stampede.
The risks of evacuating were tragically illustrated early Friday when a bus carrying elderly residents of a nursing home in Bellaire, a suburb inside the Houston city limits, exploded in flames, killing 24.
Investigation of the accident near Wilmer, south of Dallas, was incomplete, but early indications were some problem with a wheel caused a fire, and oxygen tanks being used by evacuees fed the flames.
Along evacuation routes closer to Houston, after a night of delivering water to people stuck on clogged roads, officials shifted to trying to deliver some gasoline as traffic jams eased Friday morning.
"We are dispatching gasoline on a lot of trucks, sheriff's vehicles, and garnering all the gasoline we can get to these people," he said. Transportation to shelters was being made available for those unable to refuel, the mayor said.
"People won't have to spend the night in their cars during the storm. There will be shelter sites available," Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said.
The judge also said officials were positioning crews and equipment to respond after the storm. He said predictions were Houston's bayou system could handle expected rain, and help will be available if people are stranded after Rita passes.
"If after the storm, there's a need to pull folks out and put them in temporary shelters, we'll be able to do that," Judge Eckels said.
In Galveston, winds and surf started kicking up Friday and high water was reported on the west end of the island before noon Friday. Officials opened a safe-haven at Alamo School in Galveston.
It's not a shelter, said Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, but it offers protection from the storm with some food and water, though no medical care available.
In Orange, the Orange County Emergency Management Coordinator, Chuck Frazier, said the last bus carrying special-needs residents out of town left at 9 a.m. Friday and he was moving the Emergency Operations Center to higher ground.
About 80 percent of county, surrounded by water - Sabine Lake on the south, Sabine River on the east and Neches River on the west - could go under water in the storm surge.
"We're telling people as you leave town, look over your shoulder, because you won't see the town the same again," Mr. Frazier said.
"For all our planning purposes, this current forecast track is absolutely the worst case scenario," Mr. Frazier said. Still, "We think we've done about as good a job as we can do of emptying the county," he said.
Across the region, citizens removed or tied-down loose items in their yards, filled bathtubs, saved ice in bags and made other preparations for power and other utilities to fail even if their areas escaped the worst damage.
Several companies were helping deliver gasoline on the roadways, Mayor White said, and individual citizens were helping each other. "We have been remarkably assisted by good Samaritans out there," he said.
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said that just as Houston responded to victims of Katrina after it struck Louisiana and Mississippi, "We now have the opportunity to help each other… far beyond the capability of government to ever serve that kind of need."
Frank Gutierrez, Harris County Emergency Management Coordinator, said: "We just finished running the entire corridor of every evacuation route and taken everybody [who would go] to shelters," Mr. Gutierrez said about 2 p.m. Friday.
At mid-afternoon, there were still about 240 people who had refused to leave their cards. They were going to be given one more chance later in the afternoon.
"We've run every freeway. We've picked up everybody… We've taken them to shelters. Now we know where they're at, and we can help them more than at their homes."
He said preparations were underway for after the storm passes.
"We're going to work to get the community back in the shape it needs to be in…," he said. "We're prepared... We'll continue to rescue if we need rescues until it gets dangerous for our first responders."
Source: Houston officials ask residents to stay
Houston officials ask residents to stay
HOUSTON - After days of telling people to get out, officials here switched Friday to telling them to stay put if they hadn't already left - with Rita threatening landfall southeast of Houston as early as Friday night.
And efforts accelerated to get those stranded on evacuation routes off roadways and into last-minute shelter.
The huge traffic jams north and west of Houston had eased by early Friday, officials said, but dozens, even hundreds of people were still parked beside the roads, having broken down or run out of gas.
Up and down the coast, officials made final preparations, opening a safe-haven in a school in Galveston, busing out the last special-needs residents in Orange, 80 miles to the east, on the Louisiana line, positioning crews and equipment to respond after the storm.
At 1 p.m. Dallas time, Rita was centered about 175 miles southeast of Port Arthur, moving northwest at near 10 mph, and forecasters said it could weaken further become coming ashore.
The weakening was good news, but officials said the storm was still very dangerous, particularly if the expected 15 to 17 foot storm surge on the east side of the track materialized.
For those still in their homes in Houston, "people should prepare to shelter in place if they have not evacuated," Mayor White told a Friday morning briefing.
Last-minute shelter was being made available "for those most at risk" who were still at home, and there were plans to pick them up, the mayor said. He declined to announce locations out of concern he'd set off a stampede.
The risks of evacuating were tragically illustrated early Friday when a bus carrying elderly residents of a nursing home in Bellaire, a suburb inside the Houston city limits, exploded in flames, killing 24.
Investigation of the accident near Wilmer, south of Dallas, was incomplete, but early indications were some problem with a wheel caused a fire, and oxygen tanks being used by evacuees fed the flames.
Along evacuation routes closer to Houston, after a night of delivering water to people stuck on clogged roads, officials shifted to trying to deliver some gasoline as traffic jams eased Friday morning.
"We are dispatching gasoline on a lot of trucks, sheriff's vehicles, and garnering all the gasoline we can get to these people," he said. Transportation to shelters was being made available for those unable to refuel, the mayor said.
"People won't have to spend the night in their cars during the storm. There will be shelter sites available," Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said.
The judge also said officials were positioning crews and equipment to respond after the storm. He said predictions were Houston's bayou system could handle expected rain, and help will be available if people are stranded after Rita passes.
"If after the storm, there's a need to pull folks out and put them in temporary shelters, we'll be able to do that," Judge Eckels said.
In Galveston, winds and surf started kicking up Friday and high water was reported on the west end of the island before noon Friday. Officials opened a safe-haven at Alamo School in Galveston.
It's not a shelter, said Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, but it offers protection from the storm with some food and water, though no medical care available.
In Orange, the Orange County Emergency Management Coordinator, Chuck Frazier, said the last bus carrying special-needs residents out of town left at 9 a.m. Friday and he was moving the Emergency Operations Center to higher ground.
About 80 percent of county, surrounded by water - Sabine Lake on the south, Sabine River on the east and Neches River on the west - could go under water in the storm surge.
"We're telling people as you leave town, look over your shoulder, because you won't see the town the same again," Mr. Frazier said.
"For all our planning purposes, this current forecast track is absolutely the worst case scenario," Mr. Frazier said. Still, "We think we've done about as good a job as we can do of emptying the county," he said.
Across the region, citizens removed or tied-down loose items in their yards, filled bathtubs, saved ice in bags and made other preparations for power and other utilities to fail even if their areas escaped the worst damage.
Several companies were helping deliver gasoline on the roadways, Mayor White said, and individual citizens were helping each other. "We have been remarkably assisted by good Samaritans out there," he said.
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said that just as Houston responded to victims of Katrina after it struck Louisiana and Mississippi, "We now have the opportunity to help each other… far beyond the capability of government to ever serve that kind of need."
Frank Gutierrez, Harris County Emergency Management Coordinator, said: "We just finished running the entire corridor of every evacuation route and taken everybody [who would go] to shelters," Mr. Gutierrez said about 2 p.m. Friday.
At mid-afternoon, there were still about 240 people who had refused to leave their cards. They were going to be given one more chance later in the afternoon.
"We've run every freeway. We've picked up everybody… We've taken them to shelters. Now we know where they're at, and we can help them more than at their homes."
He said preparations were underway for after the storm passes.
"We're going to work to get the community back in the shape it needs to be in…," he said. "We're prepared... We'll continue to rescue if we need rescues until it gets dangerous for our first responders."
Source: Houston officials ask residents to stay
Eve
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Like I said, you can't wait until the last minute and then expect everythign to run smoothly. By yesterday, it was too late to consider evacuating. The highways were a standstill. People were not able to get gas and were becoming stranded on the sides of the road. I would rather weather out the storm in Houston (which is further inland than Galveston, Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange, etc) than get stranded on the side of the road in my car. I doubt that Houston will be nearly the tragedy we saw in NOLA simply because it is further inland and not dependent upon weakened leavees.
The bus was a terrible tragedy. My mother drove past it on her way home from visiting my aunt. According to the news, that bus company has a history of safety violations, but it sounds like the brakes were simply overheated from sitting in traffic for so long.
The bus was a terrible tragedy. My mother drove past it on her way home from visiting my aunt. According to the news, that bus company has a history of safety violations, but it sounds like the brakes were simply overheated from sitting in traffic for so long.
The*Empress
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why everybody going to Dallas, why they couldn't go to Mexico or somewhere else... ?
Eve
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Thanks for your thoughts Reba (yeah I know I need to clean out my PM box, just havent gotten around to it yet *procrastinating*). All of my family evacuated from Galveston, Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange, Lake Charles, and Houston areas earlier in the week when it was first announced that there would be an evacuation. They didn't sit around and wait until it became more of a problem to evacuate. They are currently spread out across the state with various other family members, including my brother and my parents. Happily, they are all accounted for.
Yesterday I received a frantic call from a friend whose brother was stranded near Huntsville while evacuating from Galveston (he waited too long to evacuate). I contacted my father, who is a city goverment official in Texas, and asked him to contact the necessary people to get my friends brother some help. Luckily in the meantime, a local minister came by and gave her brother enough gas to drive to Huntsville and join the rest of his family.
I told my friend that God obviously has a plan for her brother, if he wasn't killed by cancer before, he wasn't going down in a hurricane now.
Yesterday I received a frantic call from a friend whose brother was stranded near Huntsville while evacuating from Galveston (he waited too long to evacuate). I contacted my father, who is a city goverment official in Texas, and asked him to contact the necessary people to get my friends brother some help. Luckily in the meantime, a local minister came by and gave her brother enough gas to drive to Huntsville and join the rest of his family.
I told my friend that God obviously has a plan for her brother, if he wasn't killed by cancer before, he wasn't going down in a hurricane now.