Then Came Rita

Eva
I passed on your kind invitation. But I had to leave a message on their cell phone. Thay haven't called me as of now.

Good luck to everyone in Rita's path. I hope we will hear from all of you, soon after the hurricane passes.

To me, the radar picture looks like it is tracking to Beaumont, but, the guy on the TV disputes this. Hard to argue with the expert, but, we shall see.

from accuweather.com -

...sometimes our own judgement can work just as well as the experts

Now that the storm has angled north, forcasts in Austin are for 20 mph winds, 30% chance of rain (basically scattered thunderstorms). Had worse than that in Lubbock on a regular basis.

Good luck to (and prayers for) all those facing more serious cosequences.

I taped the windows yesterday. You gonna come and help me scrape off the masking tape residue on Sunday? It should be nice and baked on by then.

I'm nearly ready. Still have some re-arranging of things inside and want to take some trash out to the dumpsters now before the rain gets here. Preemptive refrigerator/freezer cleanout and such.

I baked batches of my famous cookies and brought them to my sister and brother and their families this morning. (We all live in the same part of town.) The kids were happy about the cookies. The grownups want me to stay with them. But I'll be fine, I'm sure of it.

I'm more worried about my car than I am about me. I hope it can weather the storm okay. I haven't even made the first payment yet!

Eva
Finally got her on the phone. My daughter found a place near OK City, with a kitchenette, next door to a Walmart. The people only charged $45 a night.

I hope that $45 was a special rate, given their circumstances. Will be crossing everything that all of you come through this safe and sound.

Keeping all of you in my thoughts.

The only hurricane I was in (many years ago) had been downgraded to a level one--I think that is about 75 mile an hour winds. Even so, seven trees on our property blew down; luckily, none of them were close enough to the house to do much damage. The power was out for three days for us, but it stayed out for eleven days in some areas.

When I called my mother in Colorado to tell her that we were all safe but that our yard looked like a bomb had hit, she gasped and said that she had stopped worrying because a level one hurricane was made to sound like it wasn't anything to worry about.

The point is, always be prepared. Even 75 mile an hour winds can do considerable damage.

Stay safe.

Many pages ago someone posted a map of Texas, showing the cities and towns. I have an atlas but I left it at my shop. A map of TX and LA would be useful if someone can do that. Thanks.
The National Hurricane Center does seem to indicate some weakening. But that is scant solace. What is new (to me, since last night) is the prediction that, after it hits land late tonight or early tomorrow, how it may stall, moving barely at all Sunday and Monday..
Yall take care and know that your extended A2K family wants to hear that you are all okay as soon as yall can contact us. -rjb

Here's one:

Latest satellite image:

ok, with that last image, most of the cities stated would be safe..

is it bad to hope it goes twords N.O ?
the city is empty and already destroyed..
safer for everyone..

of course, that subject was approached earlier..but?

I can't wish the storm on others; just hope we all get through it. It was downgraded to category three, but that's still enough to do severe damage.

A couple of human interest stories:
A family drove off, leaving their son at a convenience store while escaping the storm. They were reunited a short time ago.
A surfer in Galveston argued with police until they had to go in after him. They put the cuffs on him and took him off the beach.

The levees in the 9th ward in New Orleans have failed again, 3 breaks apparently and the area is flooding rapidly.



edited for spelling

This is a more detailed map of TX that sozobe posted. Would be cool to also get LA

[/quote]

Yeah; without major reconstruction or whatever, the levees will break at a drizzle.

Here's one, rjb:



(Ignore the red oval, just happened to be the first one I found off of Google.)