Post storm check in

[WestHoustonDem]

Lisa, punk and I are fine. No electricity, so I'm on dialup. We slept through most of it. No damage to the house. We're praying for our neighbors to our east who bore the brunt of it.

[gademocrat7]

1. glad you all are o.k.

please be careful.

[MSgt213]

2. I'm in Houston. All power to include SBC DSL still up. Can't get local

tv stations though I can get CNN and other national media as well as other national stations and cable. Still windy were I am between the 8 and the 59, but little rain. Not trees down or any major wind damage that I can see.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. glad you Houstonians are safe! eom

[madeline_con]

4. Are you using a generator?

Or a laptop?

Can you get gas for the car?

(I'm a FL resifdent who's been there, done that.)


I'm glad to hear from that area of the country. :hi:

[WestHoustonDem]

5. Thanks. I'm using a laptop

My neighbors have power so I'll be able to recharge it or maybe even borrow their generator. We have plenty of gas in two cars.

[madeline_con]

9. Cool. Be careful if you venture out.

:hi:

[merci_me]

21. We're just got home from the hotel and have electricity

I just e-mailed you.........so far, we still have electricity, but with all the trees around here and the wind still blowing, who knows. Lots of limbs already down around here and I imagine lots hanging by a thread, so if one hits the wires......

We have A/C and you can charge your laptop here.

Mary

[WestHoustonDem]

23. Just emailed you back. I think I'll let my republican neighbor

pay to charge my laptop. LOL

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. So glad you guys are OK!

It's threatening rain here. Getting kind of windy, and very overcast, but nothing yet. It's around quarter to 9 AM.

FSC

[WestHoustonDem]

7. Good to hear from you FSC. Hope you continue to be ok

[iamjoy]

8. Can Someone Tell Me About The Woodlands?

It is north of Houston. I have friends there.

[DebinTx]

10. I'm in Magnolia, a short distance from the Woodlands

and our power comes through the Woodlands. We lost power off and on all night but it's been mostly on. Winds have downed some trees, etc. but all in all, this has been a very mild hurricane for our area. We've not had any flooding either.

[texas_kos]

42. The Woodlands is good

i stayed up there with family. it was mostly spared expect for the few trees knocked over.

nothing too bad.

sporadic power outages & life is coming back to normal slowly.

btw, this is my first post here. i'm new. i'm the admin of Texas KOS, a group of Kossacks, Atrios bloggers. good to meet you guys.

[Stil]

11. SE Houston Zone "C"

Power on, just lost it a couple times. Only small branches down in our area.

I heard last nite, the Houston fire dept. went down to Galveston to help with the fires down there. Driving their trucks over the causeway while still having hurricane winds. Tell you what I can't say enough for fire fighters.

[DebinTx]

12. Yep. That would take a lot of guts

that's tantamount to driving a sail boat!

[WestHoustonDem]

14. Glad you're okay stil

I'm in total agreement with you on the firefighters. PDittie told me that even KBH was criticising the evacuation plan on CNN

[WestHoustonDem]

13. Just heard from PDittie

He's fine and wants to send a special thanks to Derby478 and ginbarn for offering to spend some time with Mrs. Dittie while she's stuck in Dallas without him. He rode out the storm at his inlaws house and will be heading home this afternoon.

[CitySky]

15. Safe & Comfortable

I evacuated to Cedar Park, northeast of Austin. The road trip was not one I'd care to repeat, but we are very comfortable and safe in a generous, hospitable, wonderful friend's house here.

We haven't quite figured out how/when to return.

Glad to hear folks are safe.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

16. We're fine too

We're in the 8-10-290 triangle, still have power, water, phone & gas. No damage other than a few small branches from the neighbor's trees, and just a light rain.

[lavenderdiva]

17. Checking in WestHoustonDem!

We are fine, still have power, TV, internets. Lost TV briefly about 1-2amCST, but it came back on. Very little rain, lots of wind, but no wind damage. Lots of leaves blowing about, and drizzly rain now. Thank goodness we had no damage!

Glad to hear everyone else faired well too!!!:hi:

[WestHoustonDem]

19. Glad to hear it lavenderdiva!

We'll have to have a great big DU survivors meetup soon!

[WestHoustonDem]

18. Just ran an extension cord accross the drive from my

republican neighbors' house so I have DSL back and we're streaming the DC Rally on CSpan. It's almost heaven!

[libpunkmom]

20. any info for Evadele, Buna, Kirbyville Jasper? Me in Portland Or

Entire family lives in this area. All Family safe in Arkansas (Thanks Randell!! You rok) One cousin still in Kirbyville (works at the Co-op)My family hasn't been able to get any info on conditions in the above named areas. Any help would be much appreciated!!

[WestHoustonDem]

22. We haven't heard of anything drastic happening in those towns

which is probably good news. If we hear anything, we'll PM you. Think good thoughts, your cousin is probably fine.

[libpunkmom]

24. Thanks so much! Very hard to get info

this far away from home!! For the last 24hrs home has felt further away than ever!

[lastliberalintexas]

56. Jasper County got hit *very* hard

My dad lives at the lake and he was lucky that his house was spared, though both his neighbors have trees through their roofs. But the city of Jasper wasn't as lucky as the lake, and my brother told me that Kirbyville looks like a bomb went off. Check the Bmt Enterprise site at southeasttexaslive.com and you can find out more information.

My brother is still there since he and my dad rode the storm out at the lake. He talked to a trooper in town who told him that they'll be without power for at least a couple of weeks, and that it might be November before some areas get power again.

I'm hoping that they are telling people this as the worst case scenario and that power is restored much sooner, but I don't know. I was told by a Jefferson County official that the power structure sustained quite a bit of damage and that they are trying to repair more than just downed lines, so who knows.

Unfortunately for your family, many homes in the area were destroyed or severely damaged, but it just depends on whether treees fell on the house or in the yard, so there really isn't any way of knowing until someone sees it. I'm just glad that they are all ok and safe.

And sorry for the late response- I've just gotten to a place where I have limited internet access.

[johncoby2]

25. Johncoby is in Blanco. At my parents cabin.

We ought to have a democratic gathering there. It is a cool place!

Someone bring beer!

[fudge stripe cookays]

26. Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

She just hit here about an hour ago.

Our winds have kicked up to MAJOR force. Stuff is flying around the backyard, and we have some serious black roiling clouds outside our back window.

I'm more worried about tornadoes than I am anything else. I'll keep checking in when I can....

FSC

[WestHoustonDem]

30. Keep us updated FSC. Haven't heard of any tornados yet. n/t

[TexasThoughtCriminal]

33. Been watching the radar. Looks like your county is on the edge of rain.

Looks like we won't get any rain in Dallas. :( Just real cloudy and blustery, like in the Spring.

Glad to hear all the Houston folk are fine. :hi:

[muse]

27. Fine here.

In Fort Bend County. Woke up to no power. Just came back on around 2 p.m. We just have leaves and twigs blown down in the yard. That's it!

[fudge stripe cookays]

28. Glad you're OK!

Our power has been going in and out the last hour or so.

FSC

[WestHoustonDem]

29. Good deal muse! Glad you're okay n/t

[Sweet Freedom]

31. Sugar Land checking in

WHEW! My home was just west enough to miss almost all of Rita. Just some wind and a little rain. We have power and all is well. Just waiting to hear about work and school...

[WestHoustonDem]

34. Hi dist22dem. Glad you're ok. n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

32. Glad to hear that everyone is doing okay.

I live near Spring and last night I finally fell asleep around three-ish. We lost power at 6 or 7 this a.m. but it returned at 2pm (thank the lord!) My parents, sister, nieces and nephew all returned hom today....all is fine.

I do hear we should be prepared for a lot of rain the next few days.

[Scooter24]

35. Ok here as well...

in Greenville (Hunt County). It's been pouring all afternoon and is still pouring :( And the wind is still blowing pretty hard; blowing things across property, and it also took our screen door which is probably a few blocks down the road by now.

Earlier, a huge tree branch fell onto the car port under which my new car was parked. It was a few feet away from falling right on top of it :scared:

Overall though, things aren't too bad. Roads are slightly flooded in certain areas, and power has been going off and on.

Thank god for my laptop and its battery :)

[fudge stripe cookays]

36. Glad you're OK sweetie!

I was worried about you!

As far as I know we still haven't gotten any rain. I was getting pretty tired (naps are a regular weekend thing for me now). reprehensor just walked the dog and said he could tell it was pouring out your way.

So your car is OK too? Glad it wasn't a couple of inches the other way!

I'm wondering the rain demarcation line is.....

FSC

[Scooter24]

37. Thanks :)

:hug:

Yeah, thankfully, the car ok. I went out when the rain died down to check it out and move it, and all is good.

We are just getting a light rain now, but wind is still pretty strong. The news is saying gusts around 45-50mph.

Right now I see an ambulance and fire trucks out my window checking out what appears to be a power line that is down.

The one good thing about this weather is how I can finally turn off the AC and open the windows. I must have saved $5 today :woohoo:

Good to hear you are safe as well. Have fun cleaning the yard :P I think I'm going to open the box of fudge stripe cookies I bought yesterday.

[babylonsister]

38. We're back home...

We left Friday a.m. at 5:00 with a full tank and headed for Corpus Christi. We zoomed there and found a hotel room easily. Why this wasn't suggested by the local stations is beyond me, though selfishly also made our ride easier. Turned the news on Saturday a.m. and saw the storm had moved on so, once again, back into the truck to head home. There was sufficient gas to be found so we cruised on back to beat the rush. Again, no problems and no traffic snarls.
Got home to A/C, water, no broken windows, no damage other than a fence in the backyard that went down. I'm elated! 'Fuzer/cable came back on overnight, so we're damned lucky. I hope everyone else is as well, and thanks for all the offers of help from everyone!
I wish to never experience another week like this last; just the anxiety alone was nervewracking!
As for the evacuation, I think the city's plans really need to be improved.
:hi:

[WestHoustonDem]

40. Great to hear from you babylonsister!

And even happier to hear everything is ok with you.

[babylonsister]

41. Thanks for your kind offer, WHD.

I'm most grateful Rita decided to spare us, and frankly shocked that we didn't have more damage. I'm now praying for a cool/cold front to scatter these dreaded 'canes. Glad you are all well!

[PDittie]

39. Came back home yesterday afternoon

Roof was still on and so was the A/C.

WHD and Lisa0825 went out to the tavern on their side of town and called me to join them, but I gratefully declined their invitation.

My dad and stepmom rode out the storm in an RV at Lake Sam Rayburn (just north of Jasper). They said they had a rough ride but that their biggest complaint was no A/C.

No word from Mom yet (she's holed up with some friends in Nacogdoches).

[theboz]

43. Went to San Antonio, going home on Monday

The trip to San Antonio was a grueling 20 hour fiasco where we nearly ran out of gas and had a Mad Max type experience waiting in line in some town with a name like Lulin or something, but we found rooms available at the Residence Inn, stayed there, and now are prepared to go back to Houston tomorrow. I've heard that our area may or may not have power, it's sort of amazing that they would allow Westheimer not far from the Galleria to be without power for long, but it sounds like that area may still be out in sections. We'll see when we get back.

[WestHoustonDem]

44. We just got our power back today

Came home from Fox & Hound to a pleasant surprise. Hopefully your drive back won't be as grueling as the drive out.

[merci_me]

45. Hooray!!

Glad you got the A/C back. As you know, we were lucky and never lost ours but the 30 minutes before Desperate Housewives our cable went out.

Ssshhh, don't tell PDittie. Don't need to endure his laughing.

Mary

[WestHoustonDem]

46. Us too. We had the DVR set to record DH and Grey's Anatomy

but the cable went out while we were partying at the neighbors. :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[merci_me]

47. Then I guess I don't need to call them.....

I just tried a couple of time in the last half hour and the line was busy. I didn't try before, but then thought maybe it was a straggler branch that fell somewhere around here, so maybe I should report it.

If you lost your's too, then it's more widespread, so they know about it AND maybe it's widespread enough that they'll actually get around to fixing it soon. SBC is looming over the horizon, which ought to finally, after all these year, might shake up Time Warner's customer service.

[WestHoustonDem]

48. Our DVR finally rebooted, so we can watch recordings

but we still get no channels.

[theboz]

54. It was an easy drive

Less than 3 hours I think, and I could average between 75 and 85 mph pretty much all the way until just after Katy.

[north houston dem]

49. power finally came back up

but the ac is shot. This is sooooo much fun :)
other than broiling to death...we're ok.

[merci_me]

50. Check with your insurance company..............

Our neighbor lost his central air unit after a power outage, when it came back on and there was a power surge. His insurance company paid for a whole new central system, which included having to replace the furnace.

We also have very large room unit (for a 500sf room) on the roof of our family room addition and a few months ago, we lost electricity while we were gone for the day, so we weren't able to turn it off to avoid a surge. Anyway when we got home the A/C in the family room wasn't working. We asked the repairman if it could have happened with the surge and he said it sure could, so we checked with the insurance and they paid the repair bill (minus the deductible), which was $1,100. I don't know if they would have replaced the unit, because we had already had it repaired and paid the bill.

[sonias]

51. Glad to hear that everyone here is safe!

Everyone out there get some rest. We're thankful you made it safe.

No doubt that our TX evacuation plan for major urban areas sucks! Hopefully the clueless perry et al, will learn a bit more. Like for example open those contraflow lanes sooner. Get gas tankers in the area when you order mandatory evacuations. Direct traffic if you have to. Shift resources to making sure people get out smoothly and quickly. Based on so many of the nightmare traffic gridlock stories we've heard about, I'm afraid that if we have another call for evacuations, we'll lose half the participants next time. We'll just get lulled into that false sense of security that you can ride out a storm. And people just won't want to go through the frustrations of the evacuation.

Sonia

[theboz]

55. Socialize the oil industry

I know socialism isn't always the most welcome type of thing in the U.S., but I think that we need to take the oil industry out of the hands of the corporations. They're the ones who created the gasoline shortage in the first place by reducing refinery output and shutting refineries down. If they hadn't done that over the summer in order to raise their profits, more gasoline may have been available and would be available now.

[texanwitch]

52. Just wondered how many here stayed at home for Rita and rode out

the hurricane. After watching the mess on the roads, I am glad I stayed, besides my house didn't even shake.

[sonias]

53. texanwitch I'm glad you're safe

Glad that you had no damage. You were lucky. I know hurricanes are unpredictable to a large extent. And I guess by Friday the cone had moved quite a bit, where Galveston and Corpus and even Houston looked like they wouldn't be hit as hard. You made the right call, but 2 million people can't respond that quickly, so sometimes you have to make those calls for evacuation. Better to be safe than sorry.

Take care and let's get through the rest of hurricane season without another major storm.

Sonia

[last_texas_dem]

57. Glad to see so many here made it out O.K.

I ended up evacuating and staying with my aunt's family in Mesquite for a few days. Now I'm back at school in Huntsville (no real damage here- just rolling blackouts), but the rest of my family is staying up in Mesquite likely until power is restored back home (Orange County) which could take as long as a month. Most of them are teachers, and many districts look to be postponing school indefinitely. I visited Orange the other day and it looked truly surreal, especially in places with a lot of trees. There were houses with eight trees down in the yard, etc. It will never look the same again, but I guess I should be glad as it could have been a much worse situation. (Still, it was quite frustrating spending days waiting for the news to actually cover my county and seeing no more than a couple of minutes of coverage on CNN, where a meteorologist later said it was "mostly marshland, few people" between Beaumont and Lake Charles!) I'm hoping things improve for everyone quickly, but there's a lot of work to be done in SE TX and SW LA.