A Note from A Hurricane Rita Evacuee

Alright all, apparently I live in a Class 4 evac area, so I'll be packing up and heading to Austin after noon. Unfortunately, there's only two drivers in the house and five cars... As much as it'd make more sense to take the Jeep in case of flooding and stick the Box in storage, the Jeep gets 8/13 mpg city and highway respectively, which is NOT good. Anyhow, I don't know if I'll have any computer/internet access, so just thought I'd let ya'll know the reason for my disappearance. Feels a bit weird asking this, but prayers would be appreciated... just moved into this house two months ago and we LOVE it, being in Clear Lake we're a mere 28 miles from Galveston, which is smack on the Gulf of Mexico. I just really don't want anything to happen to the house and the cars... Oh well, tis outta my hands now. I'll be seeing ya'll at some point in the future I hope.

M@

good luck and best wishes, my prayers are out for all hurricane victims past/present/future.

Good luck And let's hope all your property makes it through all right.

damn girl hurricanes...

if i didnt have family coming here youd have a place to stay in kilgore if you wanna drive 3 hours....

ProjectRAGE wrote:

damn girl hurricanes...

Yeah, it's a lot like a marriage...........

..........in the beginning, there's a lot of sucking and blowing, but when it's over, you've lost your house.

mccook8 wrote:

ProjectRAGE wrote: damn girl hurricanes... Yeah, it's a lot like a marriage........... ..........in the beginning, there's a lot of sucking and blowing, but when it's over, you've lost your house.

nice one.

Anyways good luck and hope everything turns out alright

good luck best wishes for you and your family

mccook8 wrote:

ProjectRAGE wrote: damn girl hurricanes... Yeah, it's a lot like a marriage........... ..........in the beginning, there's a lot of sucking and blowing, but when it's over, you've lost your house.

that was awesome Owen

Good luck and hope you have the hatches buttoned down.....Just upgraded to a Cat 5 hurricane...landfall they are saying it will be a Cat 4, so sustained winds well into the 105-110 range with gusts up to 120-130 I believe....Going to hit just north of Houston into Galveston....Good luck and I hope everything makes it out with minimal damage

sustained winds 165MPH DAYUM

This will be handled better than Katriina though....if not, Bush is going to have some SERIOUS critiques after him

I don't get why people blame the president for the damages huricanes do.

Any ways, best of luck with you. I hope nothing gets damaged.

good luck. hope you and your family make it through ok.

sorry to hear that you have to go through this. goodluck man.

good luck hope every thing is going to be ok. my uncle might have to move 100 animals from around that area. (these are not like horses they are very EXPENSIVE deer and zebra's) but good luck. i will miss you

I called him today. He was in slow-ass evacuee freeway traffic, talking about how his cat wouldn't shut up for a while

my aunt is stuck in houston.

Rita now stronger than Katriina....3rd strongest Storm in Atlantic Ocean History....if you are in the way and thinking about staying....HIGHLY rethink that....there isnt going to be anything to come back to

mccook8 wrote:

ProjectRAGE wrote: damn girl hurricanes... Yeah, it's a lot like a marriage........... ..........in the beginning, there's a lot of sucking and blowing, but when it's over, you've lost your house.

Thats some funny stuff right there.

I heard today they are expecting it to be a 3 maybe 4 when it makes landfall since its hitting cooler waters right now.

Aken wrote:

I called him today. He was in slow-ass evacuee freeway traffic, talking about how his cat wouldn't shut up for a while

15 HOURS worth actually. And the cat finally shut up after around 3 hours and went to sleep, so it got a bit better. The first 12 hours we averaged a whopping 10mph, so you can imagine just how much I wanted to rip out my hair and strangle people with it. Unfortunately I had to leave the Jeep at home in the garage, due mainly to the fact that the ignition is starting to go out, so the spark isn't as hot as it needs to be, so a lot of fuel goes un-burned. Aaaand considering that it gets around 11-13mpg running properly, it's averaging a little over 7mpg at the moment. Every single gas station from Houston to Sealy (approx. 110 miles from our starting point) was out of gas, so even with all my jerry cans filled I wouldn't have made it. But it does make more sense to leave behind the higher, stronger vehicle in case it floods... the xB is a whopping 4.2" off the ground, so it probably would have floated away. The drive did, indeed suck HUGE nuts, but out around Columbus things cleared up and we managed to actually hit the posted speed limit of 70, which was insanely fast after 13 hours of 5 - 10mph. On the plus side, I a mere half-tank the entire trip, so about 6 gallons for 270+ miles with a loaded car. Right now we're chilling in my aunt's fiance's sister's house about 20 minutes outside of Wimberely (on a normal day's traffic schedule). Around 6pm yesterday they made I45 fully northbound, so at 10am this morning Galveston was a ghosttown. We've got state and local troopers on all the exits and entrances to help with the congestion, although most of the traffic is now from downtown Houston and the surroundings, everything south of that is pretty much gone. I've got a few acquaintances that are staying behind to ride it out despite the mandatory evacuation, but then again they're fairly crazy so we'll see how that stuff goes. Anyhow, I've gotta split and finish unpacking the cars.. we got in at 445am, so my friend owes me a quarter because they bet me we'd get in before 2... lies. Obviously I have access to internet, I just dunno how often I'll be able to get on, but I'll try to as often as possible and keep ya'll posted or answer questions, blah blah. Thanks to everyone for the wishes of luck and kind words, they're much appreciated

M@

Well, i traveld 30 miles in about 3 hours so i was going about 10 mph also. I got to my moms house, it turned more our way... i'm on the east side(bad side) and i don't know if i'm leaving here. Its only gonna be me and my brother. I had originally planned on staying here, but its not getting better. It really just all depends on traffic. Its a manditory evacuation where i'm staying also.

One of the risks you take of buying a house in hurrican terriroty :-P

And if I was you, I'd fling back there before it hits and get the rest of your ****. Cause otherwise you will never see it again. And those vehicles are gonna be worth bank when you go home and everyone fiends their cars under water, you can can sell them for grocerie money atleast

Even though I think the mandatory evacuation is a fantastic idea, I don't think it's going to be as bad as everyone is making it out to be.

Obviously yes, there is going to be a fair share of destruction - because, uhh, it's a hurricane. But I think most of the hype/paranoia is coming from Katrina.

these ladys got some real pms this month

^ huh??

edit: i get it now d'oh!

damn russia and their artifically hurricane machine

^they are being pains in the ass this month the hurricanes

Ya, im in houston as well, and I'm riding it out. I'm not in an evac zone, so I don't HAVE to leave, nor will I. The traffic is hellacious, so fck that!!! I'm holed up in my parents house. Civic is in the garage, and I'm laughing in the face of all this destruction. And I think as well that this isn't going to be as bad as everyone thinks it'll be. All the Katrina **** has gotten everyone scared for their lives. Galveston and Houston have survived many a hurricane and tornado. So, I'm not worried. So the general populace can kiss my ass. hehe Toastr, you had to do what you had to, and I'm not gonna hold it against you. I just hope you got everything out ok. Well, I'll check in after the storms over.

Take it sleazy,
DarkestGlow

Aight, we're back in town... only took 6 hours this time. For any peeps in the Austin area heading back to Houston, take 183 to 95, then 95 to 90. 90 is pretty slow up until the intersection of 71 due entirely to the stopsign some genius decided to place there instead of an overpass, but there's police directing traffic. After 71, we cruised up to about 85mph since everyone was in a hurry to get home. No accidents, and it was rather humorous to watch traffic while taking a break as everybody flew by at 70 - 80mph in a 55, lol. Anyhow, most of the roads were clear when we got back into town... Clear Lake in the Middlebrook and Brookforest regions (clear lake high school) has power and water and internet, so all is good.
Luckily there was NO damage to any of our property... just TONS of naked trees, leaves, and branches everywhere. Only one big tree (oak) was down in the area, and I walked the four blocks to the house and drove the Jeep back and yanked it out of the way... but everything else is good. Still no gas in the area, but the Walmart in Pearland off Dixiefarm and 518 had gas when we got here an hour ago. I'll post up more later, but right now I gotta go unpack and start cleaning the yard. Later peeps.

glad to hear everything is ok. it could have been much worse.

watch out for the giant crocodiles

glad to hear everything weathered the storm well....how did everyone else do out there?

well, as for me.... electricity went off here so i couldn't get on the cable modem and they don't have a phone line working here in Baton Rouge at my friends apartment. We finally got electricity today. Lake Charles (i live next town over and so does cerwin) was imo the hardest hit from what i'm hearing. There were rumors of an overpass blowned down, but that was false. Much much flooding. We have three casinos (boats) and one came unattached and was floating in the lake. A bardge came loose and hit a bride and might have done some damage to it. A neighbor that stayed went to my house and we were just missing shingles. My parents when back today and hasn't called me so i think my jetski is fine. I know we will be out of electricity for a while. I'm guessing a week. One town over from where my parents live there were multiple tonadoes. Where i stay at (my g/f parents) i haven't heard of anything, but city officials said that damage wasn't that bad so i'm hoping nothing happened b/c they don't have insurance. My g/f was told that FEMA would be covering the cost of the hotels they had to stay at.... whoop whoop for that. Can't think of anything else right now.... Hope to hear from cerwin soon and i hope he's ok. I havent heard anything about damage to the University and on the website it says we will have school wed. but i doubt it b/c i think the electricity will still be out.

p.s. Me and my friend filmed some fake/funny vids of the storm, like he was a reporter out on the field. I'll put them up when i have time, but i have to get them hosted first.

Well so far I've filled five 42 gallon contractor bags to the brim with leaves and other vegetation debris and I've only done the backyard and about 10 feet of driveway... Driveway's 50ft and the front yard is way worse than the back. Still, the labor is a miniscule price to pay compared to what other people are going through. I hope everyone else is doing alright... chime in if you haven't yet and let us know what's happening.

Well, i'm worried about cerwin b/c the little city he's in did suffer damage. I might pass by his house tuesday(when i go home) to see if he' ok. My g/f's house was safe (thank god), but their shed was damaged and trees were down in their yard. When i go home tues. i won't be on for a very very long time. Estimates of 4 weeks for electricity, so i guess we won't have school for that long either.... or work. With that said, do ya'll think that i should get relief from the govt.?? Unemployment help? I pay taxes right? I should get some relief to pay for my bills? If some of you think no.. just think about being jobless with no money having to pay for food, gas(generator and vehicle), and bills. I hope they get it up and running by the end of the week. We prob. won't be able to take baths either.... and i'm a clean freak so i don't know what i'm gonna do b/c i can't live with my friends. And we have to boil water(for god knows how long) Alrighty, over and out.

jol102001 wrote:

With that said, do ya'll think that i should get relief from the govt.?? Unemployment help? I pay taxes right?

It's not just taxes.....you paid into unemployment, and so did your boss.

I've got no problem at all with unemployment and (regular) Social Security, because people EARN it.

Well, i disagree and my g/f contacted fema and bush said that every household in certain parishes are getting $2,000. This is only per household and is considered house displacement. The reason we are getting it is because they aren't letting ANYONE (except those permitted) into the parish. I know of atleast three parishes and the one we live in is one of them(also cerwin) If you get on the interstate you can't get off at any exits. So, once you leave you get on the interstate you can't go back to your hosue so you have to just leave the parish and can't get back in. I think its fair that everyone is getting the money needed for room and board elsewhere if they are keeping us away from our homes. I'm in West Virginia right now staying with my g/f's aunts house and she/her family shouldn't have to foot the bill of feeding us and letting us stay here. We pay taxes just like everyone else. I don't think anyone can talk unless they have PERSONALLY seen the damages done. I passed by a part that was lightly hit and it was crazy. My g/f took pics and i'll get them uploaded once i get back to my house which they (officials) are saying is about 4 weeks minimum. It's gonna cost me just 300 in gas to get here and back home. I talked to cerwin for a little while and he said that he was ok and they had a generator, but i don't know how he's gonna get gas for it b/c the army is taking over gas stations to use for emergency vehicles.