Hey guys,
If you don't already know it, I live in south east Texas... To be specific, Conroe. which is about 45 minutes north of Houston. Currently, i am at my Aunt's house in Tyler. Just to give you a traffic idea, It took me 8 and a half hours to make a 3 hour drive, because the traffic was so bad. Unreal, @ one point It took me 4 hours to drive 16 miles.......
prayers to everyone on the coast.
Keep them in your hearts.
-TINK
Replies (8)
swez on 09/23/2005 17:11:09
Glad you are safe from the coming frackus there Tink.
Many are watching this exodus from one of the largest cities in the US. (Houston is #4) The mayor and gov say they are prepared and had a plan. Question is... was the plan a good one or not? Time and the news reports will tell.
My concern is for the poor and infirm. Did they get the word in adequate time and methods to get out as well? If yes, the system can say it did work. If not, seems like the gap between the poor and infirm VS those with some means, are still an issue. Am sure we will hear more as time presses the state to ground Zero hour.
Swez
PS Doesn't Texas have many secondary roads that lead out of town? One would expect the main interstates to be jammed with vehicles in a situation like this. I hope they used all shoulders and even a few inbound lanes to accomodate outbound traffic???
Tinker18 on 09/23/2005 21:39:34
highway 45 is the main evac route from houston/galveston...it was packed. 1.8 million people in texas were leaving within a matter of two days. In my opinion the system didn't work simply because, the mandatory evac should've came a day earlier, and it took them 12 hours from the time of the first Galveston mandatory evac, before they closed the southbound lanes of 45/ and opened them to northbound traffic. To answer your question, yes there are other secondary roads out of town other than the main interstates, but bear in mind that you have 1.8 million people trying to get out of dodge. and maybe 200 roads. do the math...not very good. the other main evac routes are I-10, packed. highway 59..packed. highway 69 packed. highway 19...packed. everyone used the shoulders and the southbound lanes that were shut down, but it took the state too long to open up the southbound lanes to northbound traffic....not to mention, all the exits and entrance ramps on highway 45 from galveston all the way to buffalo are closed.......CLOSED! The police, while their intentions good have simply hindered the process, by 1) making people run out of gas...2) not providing access to alternative routes...and 3) the poeple in the northern cities, such as huntsville and conroe, which are not in the mandatory evac route were not allowed to get on the interstate, after wednesday @ midnight. While alot may have been learned in light of hurricane katrinas devastation to New Orleans, I don't quite think people in texas have taken hurrican rita as a threat. Most of the people in Conroe, willis, hunstville, beuamont, port arthur, victoria, all the slightly northern texas cities, think they are too far inland for rita to hurt them. moronic at best. naive. rita is 400 miles wide....enough to cover have of texas once the eye makes landfall...it amazes me how people can make such irresponsible decisions with their lives, simply by not using a little but of common sense and logic.
-what are your thoughts old man?
-TINK
swez on 09/24/2005 08:52:05
Your reporting is "way better" than the major news outlets!
Well, having to move such a large scale of people with limited access highways, makes for a long travel time, even if the miles are short. It is good that officials did open southbound lanes for northern traffic flow. (perhaps a bit slow to pull the trigger huh?)
Common sense and logic go straight out the window when things like this happen. I can see officials starting the exodus a bit sooner with a Stage 1 evac order. (not mandetory, but highly recommended) That gives systems time to ramp up, get emergency vehicles and manpower into strategic places to provide aid along evac routes. That means gas trucks, mobile water and food services, tow trucks and fire fighting teams with EMS services as needed. A bunch of military Hummers could provide emergency escorts/transports and drive down the center easements to shuttle supplies and people as needed. (not sure if that would work there though)
Having been to Texas several times on extended visits, I have noted hardcore Texans to be an innovative and self-reliant bunch. (read... pretty damn independent) They tend to make their own rules and know how to get things done, under the worst of situations. With all the PU trucks, 4x4's and SUV's on the road, they can be most helpful in matters like this. All one needs is an emergency scanner, gas and water supplies and perhaps some first aid training too. Not sure if CB radios would do much good in such conditions, but coordinating frequency bands could be very useful to find and extract stalled vehicles from the main flow of traffic.
IMHO, the main news services are more a hinderance then of help. They tend to exploit bad news and create more problems (panic) then good. Getting a juicy scoop is more enticing than offering "news folks can use" to move them safely and rapidly to less vulnerable areas. If your regional news feeds are like ours, they are more like vultures searching for a fresh sign of disaster, rather than telling folks how to prepare and move out intelligently. The media seems to love ugly stories and this promotes panic. Local media does a better job at helping pass on needed news. But the mainstream press are more like vultures, looking for the worst case scenario scoop. (do you agree?)
A last thought here... the weather service does give updates and advisories on regular intervals. But, these initial storm tracker warnings can change in a matter of hours. Those in harms way, can be better prepared, more proactive and less prone to wait til the last minute to evacuate. Personally, after what we saw with Katrina, I don't think folks should rely too much on public officials getting things done in a timely and well coordinated fashion. This storm was tracked closely since what... Monday evening or so? If we have families in the target zone, it's probably better to err on the side of getting out of Dodge as soon as possible. That margin of safety will not hurt anyone and less congestion and panic will be evident too.
If one has the means to get out early, do so. That gives local,state and Federal services more time to focus on those who have little means to evacuate efficiently on their own. In short, if we take more responsibility for our own welfare in the early stages of a pending disaster, then those who are left in need, can be helped more efficiently by officials and disaster teams as they form ranks.
Got a hand? Lend a hand... would be a good way to deal with things like this. It's not like a "total surprize" event like 9/11/2001. Disaster can bring out the best and the worst of society. Know that and act accordingly.
Comments?
Swez
PS It's easy to see the bigger picture from a distance. That is why remote sites are used to coordinate disaster efforts. But, the folks at Ground Zero, have to keep the moment to moment details flowing too. This is how the military does things now. They are still not fully adept at crisis management details. (timely communications) But, they have more experience than any local or state organization can afford or muster. The manpower, communications network and hard goods transportation networks take more time to mobilize, but they can get a lot more done when civilians are out of harms way. Just my 2 cents.
Tinker18 on 09/24/2005 11:57:14
Yes i deffinitley agree with you about the press issue. I hate the media, simply for that reason, you can watch the news, such as CNN or FOX and have to watch it for 3 hours before you finally get the information you need. Such as yesterday...Rita is coming in at Beaumont, yet all the news channels were focused on the levees @ new orleans, and the bus that exploded, which granted are big deals, and i feel sorry for the people on the bus, but that news is not what they should be spending 30 minutes of airtime talking about.
-and yes, the other problem was that most texans waited too long to get out. The problem here being the media, and weather channel once again. People in general rely to much on forcasts and dont stop to think that they can change. Just like the people in Beaumont, didn't expect rita to come directly at them, it was SUPPOSED, to come in @ galveston, and that changed, and all the people in Beaumont suddenly decided "Oh we should probably leave"......I am also going to point the blame here at the federal level, because, they knew monday that Rita had a very good chance of making landfall on the texas coast. NOW, knowing that they should have started to take premptive measures to make the evacuation routs more succesful...number one, the southbound lanes of 45, 59, and i-10 should have been shut down and opened to northbound traffic by tuesday night. The mandatory evac should've come on wednesday morning, @ 6 hour intervals for the different counties instead of 4 hour intervals. Fuel trucks which were late to everyone shouldve already been setup along with emergency personel....In a lot of ways things could've/should've been done differently and they weren't....so much for relying on your government to do a good job in a time of need and crisis.
---this is just another prime example---
-TINK
swez on 09/24/2005 13:48:51
You nailed it all "spot on" Tink. Better planning and execution would have made for an easier evac.
One thing we tend to do too often, is give officials on local, state and federal levels, more credit for clear thinking then they deserve. Somehow, the average Joe/Jane Q Public is lulled into passive behavior, thinking these people are smarter than many really are. The truth is, many aren't all that sharp at all.
See, Ol' Leroy gets elected to some position and then hires 6-20 of his "Bubba buddies" and family members to the payroll. These folks now call most of the shots. But, when crunch time comes, where'd the Bubba's go? They are outta Dodge and it's every man for himself. The thinking is... "I'm gonna save my butt a whole lot of trouble and the community that pays their salaries are left to their own devices. Even if Bubba's got their families out first, (good idea) stick around long enough to get all systems underway and then get air evac helicopters to move them to a centralized command posts, in the green zones.
I heard something very annoying about President Bush and the Katrina issues. The big news outlets made it seem like Bush was just sitting on his veranda, strumming a guitar and drinking Mint Jeulips. Well, maybe he was for a few minutes, (to clear his mind) from all the calls from various sources on getting things organized. The liberal press and such could have been covering the public warning systems and giving out information that people really needed to know. Not just bashing political figures. Heck, these political machines take a lot of guff that is not totally deserved. It takes a huge effort to get systems in place... especially if local and state levels did not react adequately and in a timely fashion.
Frankly, I'm not much into the blame game at the onset of such dire situations. Take action as we can. Help others who are less fortunate and get the hell out of the way early enough, so systems can swing into action with as little confusion and hinderences as possible. The main event is to get people mobilized and deal with snafus in the system later. That's the learning curve most people have to face anyway right.
In many ways, Katrina was a benchmark on how NOT to do the job. Lessons were learned and Texas is much better prepared then N.O. was. (thank God) But, if we really want to learn how to deal with these things, we have to go to the experts in Florida and such. They have been in this situation many times and have worked out many of the most glaring bugs.
Lastly, get the vultures out the red zones. Move CNN, Fox and other road kill hunters out of the picture. Easier said then done to be sure. But they add more fuel to the fire than anything else. Why? It's about RATINGS! IMHO, these vultures should have their cameras smashed, their mobile communications trucks should be conficated and put to good use like transporting and vital information announcements. The reporters should either be shot, put in quarantine or better still... "here stupid, grab a shovel and fill some sandbags. Make yourselves useful"!!! (be a part of the solution, NOT a big whining group of PITA's) Maybe they would be best used as video archivest. They document the situation as it unfolds and use that information later, to see what was done well and where improvements can be made. (sort of like game videos used by Pro spots teams... let's see what we did and what we can do better later)
Am I venting loud enough here? I sure hope so. Maybe we should take up a project to contact major media outlets and tell them what we think of thier services to humanity??? I am sick of the Grim Reaper reports they keep dishing out. I may well give them a piece of my mind anyway. Care to join me? (hehe... that could prove fun and useful too huh?)
Swez
lessismorespl on 09/24/2005 20:02:35
Sorry to here you are in the danger zone. My prayers go out for you and your family and lets all hope you do not end up losing everything. I just did a tip drive w/ all the drivers @ the pizza place I work at part time for Katrina, we donated all our tips from our shift. Best wishes to you and yours.
less
Tinker18 on 09/25/2005 00:17:39
Ty very much for your concern less....
------on another note. Recent updated from conroe tell me that things there were not so bad, and that while there are trees and power lines down everywhere, my house is still intact. However, with all good news comes bad, so here we go. My girlfriend's brothers brand new 06' explorer was crushed by a fallen 3 ft in diameter oak tree in beaumont, along with her parents house. The brand new 350,000 dollar home her parents were building is now in shambles. But they are alive, and that is whats important. Recent rumors from power companies in southern texas suggest that power in conroe may be out for up to a week. In beaumont, port arthur and lumberton it is suspected that power will be unavailable for almost a month. Which brings me to another note. While the politicians and what not still have a lot to do to be above PAR(pretty arrogant retards).....the electric companies, oil refining industry and everyone else still have alot if improvements that in my opinion still need to be made. Gas is projected to go up to 4-5 dollars per gallon after the wake of rita. REDICULOUS! and the electric companies should be better prepared for a natural disaster like this one. There is absolutely no reason for power to be shut off for more than one week after something like this. That tells me that the electric companies are more cocnerned about making money off of providing electricty to a wider area, than having the man power to sustain such electricity...if you can understand my point here......
-to everyone without a home....my condolences.
-to anyone who lost someone- you're in my prayers.
-TINK
swez on 09/26/2005 11:21:49
Sounds like Houston and parts west, missed the brunt of the storm. With some luck, Conroe just got some heavy winds and rain damage. Once services are back online, (electricity, water etc.) many will be ready to head back and clean up the mess. Break out your chain saw and snap on the tool belt. It's fixin' time for many in that region.
Hope you and the family can get back to your home soon. I read that they are slowing the return to give clean up crews time to remove trees and debris, then restore power as fast as possible.
The folks in the low lands seem to have been hit the hardest. Hopefully, they got out in time. There probably won't be much left except the hardiest homes on higher land. The rest were blown off foundations and storm surges probably finished what the wind did not destroy.
May God be with those who have lost their homes and properties. Let's hope there are places for these displaced folks to go for food, shelter and get a helping hand from FEMA, The Red Cross and such, to rebuild or relocate.
Swez
PS Many good things were done this time, as compared to Katrina. Not enough systems in place at the right time, but much better than what N.O. has to deal with now. Rita will be a good primer for future disaster plans improvements. It could have been much worse, if Rita landed at a Cat 4-5 hurrican. Rita could have been a real Mega-bomb. This time, Texas was very fortunate in all. God Blessed Texas this time around.
If you don't already know it, I live in south east Texas... To be specific, Conroe. which is about 45 minutes north of Houston. Currently, i am at my Aunt's house in Tyler. Just to give you a traffic idea, It took me 8 and a half hours to make a 3 hour drive, because the traffic was so bad. Unreal, @ one point It took me 4 hours to drive 16 miles.......
prayers to everyone on the coast.
Keep them in your hearts.
-TINK
Replies (8)
swez on 09/23/2005 17:11:09
Glad you are safe from the coming frackus there Tink.
Many are watching this exodus from one of the largest cities in the US. (Houston is #4) The mayor and gov say they are prepared and had a plan. Question is... was the plan a good one or not? Time and the news reports will tell.
My concern is for the poor and infirm. Did they get the word in adequate time and methods to get out as well? If yes, the system can say it did work. If not, seems like the gap between the poor and infirm VS those with some means, are still an issue. Am sure we will hear more as time presses the state to ground Zero hour.
Swez
PS Doesn't Texas have many secondary roads that lead out of town? One would expect the main interstates to be jammed with vehicles in a situation like this. I hope they used all shoulders and even a few inbound lanes to accomodate outbound traffic???
Tinker18 on 09/23/2005 21:39:34
highway 45 is the main evac route from houston/galveston...it was packed. 1.8 million people in texas were leaving within a matter of two days. In my opinion the system didn't work simply because, the mandatory evac should've came a day earlier, and it took them 12 hours from the time of the first Galveston mandatory evac, before they closed the southbound lanes of 45/ and opened them to northbound traffic. To answer your question, yes there are other secondary roads out of town other than the main interstates, but bear in mind that you have 1.8 million people trying to get out of dodge. and maybe 200 roads. do the math...not very good. the other main evac routes are I-10, packed. highway 59..packed. highway 69 packed. highway 19...packed. everyone used the shoulders and the southbound lanes that were shut down, but it took the state too long to open up the southbound lanes to northbound traffic....not to mention, all the exits and entrance ramps on highway 45 from galveston all the way to buffalo are closed.......CLOSED! The police, while their intentions good have simply hindered the process, by 1) making people run out of gas...2) not providing access to alternative routes...and 3) the poeple in the northern cities, such as huntsville and conroe, which are not in the mandatory evac route were not allowed to get on the interstate, after wednesday @ midnight. While alot may have been learned in light of hurricane katrinas devastation to New Orleans, I don't quite think people in texas have taken hurrican rita as a threat. Most of the people in Conroe, willis, hunstville, beuamont, port arthur, victoria, all the slightly northern texas cities, think they are too far inland for rita to hurt them. moronic at best. naive. rita is 400 miles wide....enough to cover have of texas once the eye makes landfall...it amazes me how people can make such irresponsible decisions with their lives, simply by not using a little but of common sense and logic.
-what are your thoughts old man?
-TINK
swez on 09/24/2005 08:52:05
Your reporting is "way better" than the major news outlets!
Well, having to move such a large scale of people with limited access highways, makes for a long travel time, even if the miles are short. It is good that officials did open southbound lanes for northern traffic flow. (perhaps a bit slow to pull the trigger huh?)
Common sense and logic go straight out the window when things like this happen. I can see officials starting the exodus a bit sooner with a Stage 1 evac order. (not mandetory, but highly recommended) That gives systems time to ramp up, get emergency vehicles and manpower into strategic places to provide aid along evac routes. That means gas trucks, mobile water and food services, tow trucks and fire fighting teams with EMS services as needed. A bunch of military Hummers could provide emergency escorts/transports and drive down the center easements to shuttle supplies and people as needed. (not sure if that would work there though)
Having been to Texas several times on extended visits, I have noted hardcore Texans to be an innovative and self-reliant bunch. (read... pretty damn independent) They tend to make their own rules and know how to get things done, under the worst of situations. With all the PU trucks, 4x4's and SUV's on the road, they can be most helpful in matters like this. All one needs is an emergency scanner, gas and water supplies and perhaps some first aid training too. Not sure if CB radios would do much good in such conditions, but coordinating frequency bands could be very useful to find and extract stalled vehicles from the main flow of traffic.
IMHO, the main news services are more a hinderance then of help. They tend to exploit bad news and create more problems (panic) then good. Getting a juicy scoop is more enticing than offering "news folks can use" to move them safely and rapidly to less vulnerable areas. If your regional news feeds are like ours, they are more like vultures searching for a fresh sign of disaster, rather than telling folks how to prepare and move out intelligently. The media seems to love ugly stories and this promotes panic. Local media does a better job at helping pass on needed news. But the mainstream press are more like vultures, looking for the worst case scenario scoop. (do you agree?)
A last thought here... the weather service does give updates and advisories on regular intervals. But, these initial storm tracker warnings can change in a matter of hours. Those in harms way, can be better prepared, more proactive and less prone to wait til the last minute to evacuate. Personally, after what we saw with Katrina, I don't think folks should rely too much on public officials getting things done in a timely and well coordinated fashion. This storm was tracked closely since what... Monday evening or so? If we have families in the target zone, it's probably better to err on the side of getting out of Dodge as soon as possible. That margin of safety will not hurt anyone and less congestion and panic will be evident too.
If one has the means to get out early, do so. That gives local,state and Federal services more time to focus on those who have little means to evacuate efficiently on their own. In short, if we take more responsibility for our own welfare in the early stages of a pending disaster, then those who are left in need, can be helped more efficiently by officials and disaster teams as they form ranks.
Got a hand? Lend a hand... would be a good way to deal with things like this. It's not like a "total surprize" event like 9/11/2001. Disaster can bring out the best and the worst of society. Know that and act accordingly.
Comments?
Swez
PS It's easy to see the bigger picture from a distance. That is why remote sites are used to coordinate disaster efforts. But, the folks at Ground Zero, have to keep the moment to moment details flowing too. This is how the military does things now. They are still not fully adept at crisis management details. (timely communications) But, they have more experience than any local or state organization can afford or muster. The manpower, communications network and hard goods transportation networks take more time to mobilize, but they can get a lot more done when civilians are out of harms way. Just my 2 cents.
Tinker18 on 09/24/2005 11:57:14
Yes i deffinitley agree with you about the press issue. I hate the media, simply for that reason, you can watch the news, such as CNN or FOX and have to watch it for 3 hours before you finally get the information you need. Such as yesterday...Rita is coming in at Beaumont, yet all the news channels were focused on the levees @ new orleans, and the bus that exploded, which granted are big deals, and i feel sorry for the people on the bus, but that news is not what they should be spending 30 minutes of airtime talking about.
-and yes, the other problem was that most texans waited too long to get out. The problem here being the media, and weather channel once again. People in general rely to much on forcasts and dont stop to think that they can change. Just like the people in Beaumont, didn't expect rita to come directly at them, it was SUPPOSED, to come in @ galveston, and that changed, and all the people in Beaumont suddenly decided "Oh we should probably leave"......I am also going to point the blame here at the federal level, because, they knew monday that Rita had a very good chance of making landfall on the texas coast. NOW, knowing that they should have started to take premptive measures to make the evacuation routs more succesful...number one, the southbound lanes of 45, 59, and i-10 should have been shut down and opened to northbound traffic by tuesday night. The mandatory evac should've come on wednesday morning, @ 6 hour intervals for the different counties instead of 4 hour intervals. Fuel trucks which were late to everyone shouldve already been setup along with emergency personel....In a lot of ways things could've/should've been done differently and they weren't....so much for relying on your government to do a good job in a time of need and crisis.
---this is just another prime example---
-TINK
swez on 09/24/2005 13:48:51
You nailed it all "spot on" Tink. Better planning and execution would have made for an easier evac.
One thing we tend to do too often, is give officials on local, state and federal levels, more credit for clear thinking then they deserve. Somehow, the average Joe/Jane Q Public is lulled into passive behavior, thinking these people are smarter than many really are. The truth is, many aren't all that sharp at all.
See, Ol' Leroy gets elected to some position and then hires 6-20 of his "Bubba buddies" and family members to the payroll. These folks now call most of the shots. But, when crunch time comes, where'd the Bubba's go? They are outta Dodge and it's every man for himself. The thinking is... "I'm gonna save my butt a whole lot of trouble and the community that pays their salaries are left to their own devices. Even if Bubba's got their families out first, (good idea) stick around long enough to get all systems underway and then get air evac helicopters to move them to a centralized command posts, in the green zones.
I heard something very annoying about President Bush and the Katrina issues. The big news outlets made it seem like Bush was just sitting on his veranda, strumming a guitar and drinking Mint Jeulips. Well, maybe he was for a few minutes, (to clear his mind) from all the calls from various sources on getting things organized. The liberal press and such could have been covering the public warning systems and giving out information that people really needed to know. Not just bashing political figures. Heck, these political machines take a lot of guff that is not totally deserved. It takes a huge effort to get systems in place... especially if local and state levels did not react adequately and in a timely fashion.
Frankly, I'm not much into the blame game at the onset of such dire situations. Take action as we can. Help others who are less fortunate and get the hell out of the way early enough, so systems can swing into action with as little confusion and hinderences as possible. The main event is to get people mobilized and deal with snafus in the system later. That's the learning curve most people have to face anyway right.
In many ways, Katrina was a benchmark on how NOT to do the job. Lessons were learned and Texas is much better prepared then N.O. was. (thank God) But, if we really want to learn how to deal with these things, we have to go to the experts in Florida and such. They have been in this situation many times and have worked out many of the most glaring bugs.
Lastly, get the vultures out the red zones. Move CNN, Fox and other road kill hunters out of the picture. Easier said then done to be sure. But they add more fuel to the fire than anything else. Why? It's about RATINGS! IMHO, these vultures should have their cameras smashed, their mobile communications trucks should be conficated and put to good use like transporting and vital information announcements. The reporters should either be shot, put in quarantine or better still... "here stupid, grab a shovel and fill some sandbags. Make yourselves useful"!!! (be a part of the solution, NOT a big whining group of PITA's) Maybe they would be best used as video archivest. They document the situation as it unfolds and use that information later, to see what was done well and where improvements can be made. (sort of like game videos used by Pro spots teams... let's see what we did and what we can do better later)
Am I venting loud enough here? I sure hope so. Maybe we should take up a project to contact major media outlets and tell them what we think of thier services to humanity??? I am sick of the Grim Reaper reports they keep dishing out. I may well give them a piece of my mind anyway. Care to join me? (hehe... that could prove fun and useful too huh?)
Swez
lessismorespl on 09/24/2005 20:02:35
Sorry to here you are in the danger zone. My prayers go out for you and your family and lets all hope you do not end up losing everything. I just did a tip drive w/ all the drivers @ the pizza place I work at part time for Katrina, we donated all our tips from our shift. Best wishes to you and yours.
less
Tinker18 on 09/25/2005 00:17:39
Ty very much for your concern less....
------on another note. Recent updated from conroe tell me that things there were not so bad, and that while there are trees and power lines down everywhere, my house is still intact. However, with all good news comes bad, so here we go. My girlfriend's brothers brand new 06' explorer was crushed by a fallen 3 ft in diameter oak tree in beaumont, along with her parents house. The brand new 350,000 dollar home her parents were building is now in shambles. But they are alive, and that is whats important. Recent rumors from power companies in southern texas suggest that power in conroe may be out for up to a week. In beaumont, port arthur and lumberton it is suspected that power will be unavailable for almost a month. Which brings me to another note. While the politicians and what not still have a lot to do to be above PAR(pretty arrogant retards).....the electric companies, oil refining industry and everyone else still have alot if improvements that in my opinion still need to be made. Gas is projected to go up to 4-5 dollars per gallon after the wake of rita. REDICULOUS! and the electric companies should be better prepared for a natural disaster like this one. There is absolutely no reason for power to be shut off for more than one week after something like this. That tells me that the electric companies are more cocnerned about making money off of providing electricty to a wider area, than having the man power to sustain such electricity...if you can understand my point here......
-to everyone without a home....my condolences.
-to anyone who lost someone- you're in my prayers.
-TINK
swez on 09/26/2005 11:21:49
Sounds like Houston and parts west, missed the brunt of the storm. With some luck, Conroe just got some heavy winds and rain damage. Once services are back online, (electricity, water etc.) many will be ready to head back and clean up the mess. Break out your chain saw and snap on the tool belt. It's fixin' time for many in that region.
Hope you and the family can get back to your home soon. I read that they are slowing the return to give clean up crews time to remove trees and debris, then restore power as fast as possible.
The folks in the low lands seem to have been hit the hardest. Hopefully, they got out in time. There probably won't be much left except the hardiest homes on higher land. The rest were blown off foundations and storm surges probably finished what the wind did not destroy.
May God be with those who have lost their homes and properties. Let's hope there are places for these displaced folks to go for food, shelter and get a helping hand from FEMA, The Red Cross and such, to rebuild or relocate.
Swez
PS Many good things were done this time, as compared to Katrina. Not enough systems in place at the right time, but much better than what N.O. has to deal with now. Rita will be a good primer for future disaster plans improvements. It could have been much worse, if Rita landed at a Cat 4-5 hurrican. Rita could have been a real Mega-bomb. This time, Texas was very fortunate in all. God Blessed Texas this time around.
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