Insanity Continues

The storm has passed, but the invisible wave of insanity which engulfed the Houston metropolitan area (and presumably covered about 1000 miles to the east) for the past week has stalled and threatens to dump the largest volume of crazy seeds on the area in recorded history. Many of the infected individuals, fearing the worst, escaped to all parts of the State of Texas as well as neighboring states, with some reports as far away as Missouri. It is hoped that this condition is not communicable, but females seem most likely to contract symptoms, and it is feared that they have no natural defenses. Infected individuals can be easily spotted as they drive hours at a stretch but go nowhere, buy things they don't need just because they are available, are generally argumentative, cry for no apparent reason, and have glazed eyes that seldom blink. More rare symptoms, but even more dangerous, include the desire to talk on the radio, aruge with callers who may have on site reports that differ with their prepared scripts, and/or predisposed to watch out for the welfare of animals at the expense of their children and significant other (see the definition of "reportacunt" on wikipedia). It is hoped that this malady will eventually run it's course, but authorities warn that some of the more seriously infected individuals may have to be insitutionalized or eventually put down.

The Day After The Day After

All quiet on this front today. Slept in air conditioned comfort last night, lulled to sleep by the screeching reportacunt taking calls from people who were safely back in their homes and arguing with them that they were not safe because they did not have water, electricity, roofs over their head, municipal mosquito control, open schools, no gas, traffic gridlock, raging suburban wildfires, no medical attention, etc. When the caller would say they had power, got home in 1 hour after spending 48 hours going there, didn't carewhen school reopened, did not see any fires, and owned a can of Raid flying insect spray, she would dismiss them and go on to replay of MayorBoss Hoggwhite telling people to stay away - the government knows best, etc. If I never have to listed to those reportacunts on 740AM again, it'll be too soon. Gotta work a couple of hours. More later.

All Back to Normal (whatever that is)

To recap, power went out for good about 9 PM last night and was out until late afternoon today. Wind blew pretty hard all night long, but there was very little rain. Slept through most of it as I think I really needed the rest. Left the front door open and latched the screen, and the temp was not too bad. Tried to catch up some on the radio this morning, but the reportacunt was still screaming about how well this evacuation was planned and how everybody in elected public office should really pat themselves on the back for a job well done. Galveston took a pretty good shot and seemed to come out in pretty good shape. Except for the power outage, there were no apparent problems locally - water service continued, highly visible police protection, and no traffic or other apparent things out of order. Did not leave the house except to shoot a few photos until this afternoon, and the roads were clear. Bay was sucked dry and water was very off color. Radio interviews with various local officials (other than Houston and Harris County) indicates very little damage throughout the area. Seabrook invited all citizens to return contrary to the dictates of Houston's MayorBossHoggwhite, sho later advised citizens not to pay any attention to the small time elected officials in the various surrounding municipalities. There is still no gas or other retail activity, but it would appear that stores could reopen if they can get supplied and staffed. In fact, there is a lot of pressure to get business activity going again, but it's hard to do if the citizenry is forbidden from returning home. Shelia Jackson Warthog managed to show up and blather on for a while about something, but hopefully no one was paying any attention. I did appreciate one bit one the radio when the reportacunt was quizzing a Kemah official about conditions at the Boardwalk where a huge flood was apparently expected by the media even though the water was going out - not coming in. The Kemah official, when asked about the activity at the Boardwalk, told the reportacunt that the only activity down there was the media looking for the flooding - thought that was pretty good. Out of space on this report, so will close now. Should have a few more stories as people return and tell of their adventures on the highway. More later.

Blown down bananna tree - how hard is that?

No property damage after Rita - only a few small branches and leaves blown from trees. Water level out of collecting pond.

Wind blowing from the west, probably 30+mph. Water level now aobut 2 feet below normal due to Rita sucking water out of the Bay.

Morning Update

Made a quick walk around this AM. Water in Lake is low. No power, but no downed trees or broken glass, etc. Operating on generator power, to keeping this short. Got pictures, but will download them later when I get better power. More later

Rita Arrives

Getting pretty breezy here now (probably around 50-60 mph gusts), with a little rain thrown in. Power was down briefly again but came back up after a few minutes. Think I will bed down here soon. Trying to listen to radio reports, but the reportacunts are driving me nuts - talking about everything except the storm situation. Radar shows one of the stronger bands coming through here right now. Eye is about 70 miles east of us, and looks pretty good to go into Beaumont area. That's all for now.

Evening Update

Pressure still dropping - Galveston Jetty report winds about 50mph, less around the other Bay reporting stations. Power was out for about 10 minutes but came right back up. Still no rain the speak of, just some gusty norty winds. Since it's dark now, I probably won't be getting outside tonight, but I will keep checking everything until landfall or until I go to sleep or the power goes out or whenever I feel like it. Feeling pretty good about Rita heading a little east and probably going in up around High Island or Port Arthur. That's where all the initial flooding should be, although projections indicate that Rita might get tired of running and decide to just hang around a few days and dump rain like Allison did, in which case there will be mucho flooding over in east Texas. We'll worry about that later, since it isn't gone from here yet. More later.

Getting Dark - Rita Nearby

Well, it's cloudy and getting dark early. Galveston Bay winds are still increasing - now showing around 30mph with gusts to 45 - not quite as strong here but still gusty. Water level has declined a few inches but is still above normal. Ghost town around here, but there are a few idiots still hanging around in nearby complexes. Rita seems to be running out of gas sut is still a Cat 3. Haven't heard much lately about the traffic problems, so guess BossMayor Hoggwhite put a muzzle on that story. Power just went out, so bye.

Water level still dropping a little - winds now north about 30mph gusts to 44, getting a little dark, but you can see some board missing

Afternoon Update

Winds are picking up a little, and my wind gauges around Galveston Bay indicate 25-30 mph from the NE. Pressure is dropping as you would expect. Rita's eye is still about 100 miles SE of Galveston and has been rated Cat 3 now. Anticipated turn to the north has not yet occurred. According to weather gurus, we could expect the water in the Bay to be sucked out by Rita and pushed in front (NE side) as it goes ashore. That's why I keep watching the water level at the fishing pier. It's down about 1 foot from this morning, and hopefully it will just suck the whole lake dry - I need to recover some tackle from the bottom out there anyway and that would be a good chance to remove some other obstacles. No rain here at all, just some breeze. Conversely, if Rita jogs south a little, I'll write my social security number on both arms with a Sharpie so you can sort me out of the pile. More later as the situation develops.

Water level going down as Rita passes to the north.

Water level down a little at 11 AM

Collecting pond draining to Clear Lake - Surge water standing

NASA Road 1 bridge - Friday AM

Todville road bridge - Friday AM

Friday Storm Surge

Got up and about a little this morning. Looks like the surge is around 2' this morning. Winds are presently NNE about 12 mph. Radar shows one strong band offshore on the long range setting. I drove to my workplace but someone finally wised up and closed it, been nice if they had let me know so I wouldn't get up and get dressed to go, but oh well. Low lying roads like Todville are still dry, but the water is up and as soon as the wind starts to blow they will become impassable. Cat must know something's up because he sticking pretty close to home today. Got my ice, bathtub filled with water and all my bait buckets filled also. Roads around here are deserted, and all businesses are closed. Radio is only reporting traffic problems, exploding buses, people dying of carbon monoxide poisioning, and stuff you would expect - anything except something meaningful or useful. Think they are only broadcasting to an audience of about 200 because everyone else is gone - oh wait, there are still about 5 million people still circling loop 610 looking for gas and trying to get out of town. Will try to post a couple of pictures, and more later.

My fishig pier friday before Rita - about 2' storm surge preceeding Rita

Bamboozled

Well, some folks are figuring out that they've been banboozled all along about this evacution plan, at least according to some of the callers on a local news radio program. Several seem to want to know why they did exactly as they were told, left to get out of town town two days ago, still aren't out of town, are out of gas even though they started off for a 200 mile trip with full tanks, etc. BossMayor Hoggwhite says this is not the time to point fingers, but it's the Tx DOT's fault because they promised to stockpile gas strategically along the evacuation routes. TxDot says they have stockpiled gas along the evacuation routes at destination locations - not at the starting point and not inside the evacuation zone (meaning inside Loop 610 where most of the motorist seem to still be 36 hours later). Meanwhile Rita is still tracking a little more to the east, so most of the discussion centers on the traffic situation as if the storm threat is now over but no one can figure out how to turn around and go home. Headed to bed, so more later.

New Evacuation Plan for Houston

Just listening to a press conference on the radio, and it seems in listening that the problem now is no longer Rita but the fact that about 2,000,000 cars are stranded on Houston evacuation routes and are out of gas. That could explain why they are not moving very fast. Apparently the closest shelter now available is around Tulsa. To alleviate the traffic conjestion problems, Metro busses being dispatched along the major freeways to pass out water to stranded motorists. To their credit, the staff of Boss Hoggwhite (Houston's mayor) have apparently done the math and have concluded that the problem is that there are too many people on the highway. Logically then, they have further advised that no further evacuations are required, and unless you are in the A zone, to return home. Unfortunately, all the freeways have been designated contraflow, and no traffic can flow back toward the city. They further conclude that this has been a good exercise to plan for future evacuations should it actually become necessary to evacuate the city for some reason. All Houston, Beaumont, and Corpus Christi area refinerys have been shut down (mostly per local order dismissing employees last Wednesday) so no locally refined product is available. Can't import from outside the area due to the contraflow, etc. But Boss Hogwhite says no problem, he'll get it taken care of. Interesting.

My fishing pier before Rita

Getting Ready for Rita

Spent yesterday and today working and dealing with the biggest damn mess I've ever seen, trying to evacuate Harris and Galveston Co. Some of those people hadn't been to town in several years I think, if ever. Finally managed to get a little of my own stuff done, computers up off the floor, get supplies, etc. Watching the storm projections closely, but am concerned that since the politicians can't control the weather they just control the weather forecast. Cat decided to leave home last night, and since he mooches all over the neighborhood, I figured he had just hitched a ride and evacuated, but he showed back up a while ago looking for food and water. Reports from several friends who decided to leave indicated they are averaging around 10 mph, and best I can tell, there is no gas anywhere within a 60-80 mile radius of Houston, so many are just running out of gas and not getting anywhere. A few at the store said they gave up and used what gas they had left to return home. Figure I'm safer here than I am out on the highway with the loonie birds, so unless it looks like a direct hit, guess I'll stay put. Will put up pictures from time to time - before and after sort of stuff. More later.