Swing is in Houston as is a great deal of my family. The phones are
locking down as they are swamped... so are the cell phones.
Communication is spotty at best. We will probably not hear from him
for a while.
Sadly, my people there just got their lives together after their 5
Billion dollar flood about 5 years ago. It took 2 1/2 years to
finalize their insurance claim no their house loss.
Voluntary evacuation of non ambulatory people started yesterday, and
continues. According to my sister, they are thinking mandatory
evacuation for everyone in Houston by tomorrow night. I am not sure
how they will get out; many stations are out of gas, many cars are out
of gas, and there is gridlock everywhere.
The run on food started at the first of the week, and now the banks
are closing as they cannot manage their lobbies and hundreds of
customers. ATMs are out of money in some areas. All the bottled water,
batteries, flashlights, radios, etc. are pretty much gone. The plywood
ran out yesterday and the particle board today... so no more "boarding
up". Realistically, if you are in the path, nothing will help anyway.
Plywood is only good for the perimeter areas of the storm.
If the roads are passble, my family will be coming here to San Antonio
(210 miles inland from them) as soon as they can get out.
>From our experience her with Katrina evacuees, we are expecting about
20,000 or more people here by the end of the day Friday (we are one of
the emergency plan evacuation cities for the southern coastal towns),
which is when it should start hammering the coast. We have just had as
many as 12,000 here in our shelters with Katrina and can handle more on
a short term basis, so at least the lights are on in our shelters and
we know where they can be put for a few days.
Everyone seems to be pitching in.... those like me that have seen Carla
'61, Beulah '67, and Celia '70 first hand, up front and personal
remember the profound damage. No one that has seen the damage or knows
anyone from those storms is staying anywhere near the coast, so all of
us in the surrounding cities (200 miles away in Texas isn't considered
far) are collecting food, pillows, blankets, toiletries... all the
stuff we were getting together about 10 days ago.
If you have never seen it, you cannot imagine what a 15 - 20 foot tall
solid wall of hard driven water can smash to pieces. On the coast, the
rain starts, then the wind and flying debris, small tornadoes pop up,
the hurrican proper smashes into you, then in comes that gdamn tidal
surge. It smashes down buildings and uses the debris as super grinders
to chop down other buildings, trees, houses, anything that gets in its
path as long as the wave has steam.
Sorry... I just realized I am beginning to ramble more than normal.
They verified a couple of hours ago that they were now seeing sustained
winds of 175 mph... no matter what, this storm will be a violent
killer.
We are fine here as they are only expecting 4 - 6 inches of rain on
Saturday and maybe winds of 45 with some gusts of 60 mph. Not a spot
on the ass of what our neighbors are facing.
I know many are "given out" with Katrina funds and charities, but I
know these folks will need the same kind of care and concern to make it
through this. Kind of ironic to think that Houston was one of the
largest refugee shelters for Katrina; now when the Houston residents
are through this, many of them will be faced with nowhere to live, and
will in fact be refugees themselves.
I think I'll go hug the LOML, and call my elderly parents and tell them
their grandkids will be here soon.
Robert
Norman D. Crow wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Swing is in Houston as is a great deal of my family. The phones are
> > locking down as they are swamped... so are the cell phones.
> > Communication is spotty at best. We will probably not hear from him
> > for a while.
>
> <mass snippage>
>
> >
>
> Got an e-mail from my cuz yesterday. His daughter and SIL are in
> Rockport(near Corpus Christie) helping them get the sailboat out of the
> water and then all head back to San Antonio to ride it out @ daughter's
> home.
>
> God bless all in peril.
>
> --
> Nahmie
> The greatest headaches are those we cause ourselves.
Hope you all are out of Harms way and in safe areas. Our hopes and
prayers are with you as we hope it will not be as bad as it loks right
now.
STAY SAFE and hope hope for the best!!!!!!!
All of the people on the Gulf Coast need help and prayers now.
Special prayers to the families who have lost loved ones.
Dave
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
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Swingman wrote:
> "Charlie Self" wrote in message
>
> > Take care.
>
> You betcha ... thanks for the thoughts, Charlie.
>
> Finally finished what has basically been a 36 hour preparation marathon and
> came in to check the e-mail while the links are still up. Tough on these old
> man bones ...I spent half the morning on a 24' extension ladder with one of
> my carpenters boarding up a house we are supposed to be closing on next week
> ... ouch.
>
> I guess we'll see how I build'em ...
>
> In any event, I've done all I can do at this point ... the rest is up to
> mother nature. Time now to seriously consider a Tom Watson cocktail, on what
> may be the last peaceful, cool evening, with electricity, for some time.
>
> Since we are not in the mandatory evacuation areas, and there is little
> sense in stampeding with the herd (which is basically out of gas and stuck
> on the freeways), SWMBO and I are going to do what we've done through quite
> a few similar situations ... bunker down and ride it out.
>
> This FF on this house is 3' 6" higher than the one we lost in Allison, so,
> except for the shop, I am not too concerned with high water, but the wind is
> always a danger, especially with a New Orleans style house with porches and
> balconies, which tend to peel roof's back in real high winds. I did build
> the downstairs bath more or less as a bunker, so we have that option if
> things really get bad.
>
> If I still had kids at home, then would have been no question of _not_
> "getting out of Dodge" ... and trust me, I will have a fond look around at
> the shop again about dark tomorrow evening. ;)
>
> .. and I hope to see it, and all you guys and gals, on the sunny side.
>
> --
> www.e-woodshop.net
> Last update: 9/17/05
Keep your heads down, your spirits up and may you not need that bunker.
We'll pray for you.
Charlie Self wrote:
> I don't know whether to hope you guys keep your heads waaaaaaaaaaaay
> down, or simply get out of Dodge now.
>
> That's one mean storm they show headed your way, and predictions are
> the 70MPH winds may last as far north as Oklahoma City.
>
> Take care.
>
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/e/t/eternalf.htm
Blessings and good luck,
jo4hn
Charlie Self wrote:
>
> I don't know whether to hope you guys keep your heads waaaaaaaaaaaay
> down, or simply get out of Dodge now.
>
> That's one mean storm they show headed your way, and predictions are
> the 70MPH winds may last as far north as Oklahoma City.
>
> Take care.
Amen. Talked to family from Brownsville north last night--most are
heading north and west. Looks like a nasty. I don't wish the disaster
on anyone but hope it brings us some much-needed moisture eventually if
it has to be anyway--a mixed bag, for sure.
"Charlie Self" wrote in message
> Take care.
You betcha ... thanks for the thoughts, Charlie.
Finally finished what has basically been a 36 hour preparation marathon and
came in to check the e-mail while the links are still up. Tough on these old
man bones ...I spent half the morning on a 24' extension ladder with one of
my carpenters boarding up a house we are supposed to be closing on next week
... ouch.
I guess we'll see how I build'em ...
In any event, I've done all I can do at this point ... the rest is up to
mother nature. Time now to seriously consider a Tom Watson cocktail, on what
may be the last peaceful, cool evening, with electricity, for some time.
Since we are not in the mandatory evacuation areas, and there is little
sense in stampeding with the herd (which is basically out of gas and stuck
on the freeways), SWMBO and I are going to do what we've done through quite
a few similar situations ... bunker down and ride it out.
This FF on this house is 3' 6" higher than the one we lost in Allison, so,
except for the shop, I am not too concerned with high water, but the wind is
always a danger, especially with a New Orleans style house with porches and
balconies, which tend to peel roof's back in real high winds. I did build
the downstairs bath more or less as a bunker, so we have that option if
things really get bad.
If I still had kids at home, then would have been no question of _not_
"getting out of Dodge" ... and trust me, I will have a fond look around at
the shop again about dark tomorrow evening. ;)
.. and I hope to see it, and all you guys and gals, on the sunny side.
--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/17/05
In article <[email protected]>,
"Charlie Self" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I don't know whether to hope you guys keep your heads waaaaaaaaaaaay
> down, or simply get out of Dodge now.
>
> That's one mean storm they show headed your way, and predictions are
> the 70MPH winds may last as far north as Oklahoma City.
>
> Take care.
*reading through my Guide Emergency Evacuation Knowledge (GEEK)*
Canadian Issue...oh.. here it is ...page 12, paragraph 2
"What to do when a Cat 5 Hurricane approaches?"
"Get the fuck out of its path!"
Swingman et al, sorry I won't have time to send you a copy of this
guide, so please take my word for it..it says right here...page 12..
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Swing is in Houston as is a great deal of my family. The phones are
> locking down as they are swamped... so are the cell phones.
> Communication is spotty at best. We will probably not hear from him
> for a while.
<mass snippage>
>
Got an e-mail from my cuz yesterday. His daughter and SIL are in
Rockport(near Corpus Christie) helping them get the sailboat out of the
water and then all head back to San Antonio to ride it out @ daughter's
home.
God bless all in peril.
--
Nahmie
The greatest headaches are those we cause ourselves.
On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 09:15:59 -0700, jo4hn <[email protected]> wrote:
>Charlie Self wrote:
>> I don't know whether to hope you guys keep your heads waaaaaaaaaaaay
>> down, or simply get out of Dodge now.
>>
>> That's one mean storm they show headed your way, and predictions are
>> the 70MPH winds may last as far north as Oklahoma City.
>>
>> Take care.
>>
>
>http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/e/t/eternalf.htm
>
Thanks for the link jo4hn, very good.
> Blessings and good luck,
> jo4hn
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:23:18 -0700, Charlie Self wrote:
> I don't know whether to hope you guys keep your heads waaaaaaaaaaaay
> down, or simply get out of Dodge now.
>
> That's one mean storm they show headed your way, and predictions are
> the 70MPH winds may last as far north as Oklahoma City.
No, no. They need to head _into_ Dodge.
--
"Keep your ass behind you"
vladimir a t mad {dot} scientist {dot} com
"Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
>
> .. and I hope to see it, and all you guys and gals, on the sunny side.
>
Ditto. Login and give us an "I made it..." when you can.
Got family in Corpus and South. Looks like they're going to miss the brunt.