Final Rita Post

Well, Rita has come and gone. We did a bunch of precautionary work and in the end didn't need to. I'm very glad that we didn't need to in the end, as opposed to not doing it and needing to. Today was clean up day. Rather Corri spent a great deal of time cleaning today. I was out very late last night trying to find a place to charge my cell phone as we weren't sure if we were going to have power restored to us today. Luckily, power came back around 11:30am today.

Updated the last bit of PICTURES to the Rita album. That should be the last. This is basically the damage we got up to. Several peices of fencing blown down, large portions of the big Oak tree taken out, but the house is in tact luckily.

The kids had a hard time sleeping last night as we didn't have power... just candles and hopefully a small breeze from time to time. But tonight, all seems back to normal and I'll hit work in the morning.

Ashton doesn't have school until Wednesday as many teachers and students evacuated and are still trying to get home.

I went to Krogers tonight to try (once again) to find milk, and was able to pickup some 1%. They were trying to clean out their butcher shop as power kept going on and off, so I was able to pick up three huge, perfectly cut, top sirlions for $9!!! That is about 50% off. So we had steak tonight for dinner which was great!

Anyway, all's well that end's well, and we ended well I suppose here in Houston. Now it's pretty much back to business as usual.

Morning After

we are all ok. outside is a mess. lost lots of our fence and about 1/3 of a big oak tree. pool and hot tub are a huge mess. we had power all through the storm then lost it about 11 am... go figure. p

Rita Moved On

4:30 am here now and the worst is over. It really didn't get bad at all. We are still getting some gusts of wind, but it's pretty light. All in all we did a ton of prep work for very little. Well, better to be prepared than not.

My backyard is trashed, leaves and branches everywhere of course. Power flickered a few times, but never really lost it. The kids have not woken up at all, Corri crashed around 2.

Now what we have to make it through is flooding.

All in all, the Huff House made it through just fine I'm happy to report.

And now, I will be getting to sleep. I'll have to sleep in the office here because my bedroom is full of kids, Corri, and the cat (outside cat at that!).

1:30 am

I'm pretty tired at this point. The next 2 hours we will get the worst part. Rita has decreased a good deal. We are about to get the highest winds we should see. Right now outside, there is just some rain and some real heavy gusts. I could walk through it without too much problem, but I'm not going to test it :)

12:30 Update

The eye is about 40 miles from landfall. It's starting to get a little bit more ugly out there, but still nothing like was expected. There were massive fires in Galveston, three buildings completly burned. Over here it's much better. I'm having a rum and coke, Corri is having a Corona, and I'm watching Star Trek. So pretty much a usual night really. We are expecting more wind and rain during the next four hours.

Power, Cable, Phone, Internet are all still on here, however there are reports all over town that it's out. Just heard a big bang outside, however I can't pinpoint it. The power has flickered and dimmed a good deal several times, but still holding.

Gonna Miss It

almost 11 pm now and we are going to be spared for the most part. It's windy outside, and it's raining a little bit, but nothing much. We will get some more wind and a ton of rain starting around 1 am or so, but NOTHING at all like was originally predicted. Hell, I poured a drink and toasted good ol Rita.

The big worry now is that the stearing currents (high winds in the upper atmosphere) are almost non-existant. These are the wind currents that typically push a storm like this farther inland and cause it to dissapate. Well, the current conditions are the exact same or slightly worse than with Allison that hit us a few years back and devestated the city with flooding. We'll know more around Sunday as far as that goes, but as for the Hurricane hitting us hard, we're spared.

Pictures Updated

More pictures added to the Rita Album

The winds are holding around 20 now and gusting up to 30 or 35 mph. The sky is beautiful out right now.

First Signs

The first signs are here. Winds are about 20 mph now, the Stop Sign outside my house blew down already. Rain is starting to fall in a few places. Basically from here until late tomorrow it will just get worse. Poor New Orleans, they are getting a strong hit from it already. Levee's leaking, 9th ward underwater again. My gosh, that poor town. I'm so glad I got to enjoy it for so many years when I did because I can't see it ever being the same.

Going to try to update each hour just so I have a record of everything going on.

Friday, getting ready

Luckily, we will be spared the real ugly side of things. Rita should be a catagory 3 when it hits, which is much better than expected. Also, she is moving farther East up the coast, so again, we are lucky. Winds here tonight should be around 70 mph, about 10-15 inches of rain, and of course the rest of the junk that comes along with a Hurricane.

We're ready here at the Huff House, or as ready as you can ever be. The only thing we are lacking is more milk. The kids will just have to do without their normal amounts. This morning, I went out to try to find some and failed. I went ahead and drove around Houston just to see what things look like.

I took a few PICTURES each are commented and show what things are like here right now.

We will start to get rain within the next few hours and things should be ugly around 10 pm or so. I expect to loose power or internet connection sometime around then.

All Asleep

9:15 PM and the kids are asleep. I did the normal nightly routine that we do each and every night which consists of reading one or two stories then playing the guitar for them until they fall asleep... they are my biggest guitar fans :) Had a talk with Ashton about the storm and what it will be like and what we will need for them. It's going to be rough having them here riding it out. This is not the situation that I wanted them in *sigh*.

I'm watching this thing close, just as everyone else is. These are the sites that I am using:
NOAA Sat. Loop (Click the following check boxes: LatLon, MSLP(2), and Trop Fcst Pts)
Projected Path Cone
Computer Models
and I'm streaming the audio from AM 740 KTRH from HERE

Right now, the eye is expected to land around Beaumont, however, if you have been watching the sat loops, you'll notice over the past hour it's moved due west, no northward movement at all, which of course bodes ill for us. Keep in mind that there is still 24 hours until landfall and this storm can do anything... just this morning it was still landing south of Houston.

The big trouble right now of course is the fuel situation. There are now thousands of motorists stranded on the freeways heading out of town. The national card is moving tankers in with fuel to give out 5 gallons of gas per car. That's going to get people moving a few miles, but wont solve the problem. Of course, they were supposed to have this fuel early this morning. That's the reason I "recalled" Corri and the kids.

Nick is just about to leave downtown Houston. He and Erin have been down there packing up his stuff all day. He uploaded a bunch of data to my server in Atlanta to protect it. I sure am glad to have that resource. He is heading to Tomball to Erin's house, which will be a quick easy drive as everything inside the city is pretty much dead. After that, they are going to decide to head to Henderson or not.

Here at the house, we have the windows taped up and protected with sheets and comforters in the event they break. Everything from outside is gathered up and the pool water is as low as we can have it. Corri has taken the family pictures off the wall and put them in plastic then into an interior closet, along with anything else we don't want to loose.

Keep in mind, I'm not expecting us to loose anything. I don't think the roof will blow off, or the house will fly away and land on some witch. We are just trying to take all the precautions that we can.

I'll keep posting here until we loose power sometime tomorrow.

Milk Hunt

Corri and the kids got home, took them 5 hours to travel 25 miles, and 30 minutes to get back.

We have 1 gallon of milk and a few bottles of it. The plan was for them to be out of town, so I didn't get any last night. Well, I tried to go find some... no go. Not a single grocery store open, no gas stations have any. Stopped in a Texaco, line all the way out the door. Two idiots got in a fight over a bag of chips.

City is a ghost town up and down 1960... only place open now are bars.

Turning Around

Confirmed, Corri will be turning around at 1488 (she hasn't made it there yet). It's basically a parking lot from Houston to Brenahm now, no gas to be had. Highway 6 heading North is just as bad. Reports say no gas at least up until Texas A&M University, and Corri wont make it that far on the half tank she still has. So they are heading back. Ironically, it will only take about 30 minutes to get home.

So we are all going to ride this out. Luckily, it has made a good North East turn and will be hitting towards the TX/LA border, which means we should only see 80-95 mph winds which is much better than the 120 plus predicted.

Family Coming Back

Looks like Corri and the kids will have to head back. Found and a half hours to go 25 miles, and that's not even 1/4 of the way. They have used half a tank of gas so far and there are no gas stations along the way that have any gas. So, they will most likely be turning around and heading back shortly. Better to weather it out here, than stranded on the road with no gas.

Corri says there are people pulled over everywhere. Either stranded or simply taking a break. Every overpass has people under it pretty much just hanging out having a party.

What a mess. The problem is not going to be the storm, it's already the roadways.

Thur Rita Update

Corri and the kids got out of the house around 1 pm here. They sat on highway 290 for 2 hours before they actually got moving. Just talked to her on the phone and they are coming up on Hempstead, which will be thier turn-off towards Bryan College Station. They should be up at the farm around 8 pm tonight.

Looks like the storm is turning a little more North than orginally thought. At this point, Houston appears to be either right within the path, or just west of the eye of the storm. That is a really good thing for us here. The east side is the messiest.

Since the family took off, I have taped up windows, brought things in the house, cleaned up some, and have begun putting up comforters over windows. Found out I don't have nails, so I'm having to screw them into the wall... *sigh*, means there will be a lot of patching and painting next weekend cleaning up the holes, but that is better than glass going everywhere in the event a window blows out.

I got lucky late last night and found water... went to Krogers to get Corri some stuff for a tooth-ache and was wondering around looking at the completly trashed out store and in the back was a large pallet of Ozarka! Ha! Grabbed a 24 pack and headed on. We already had a buch of water here for cooking and such, but this is good drinking water. So no worries there. They also had a sale on Beef Jerky, which for me is a great staple food :)

Still not sure what I'm doing just yet. Highway 290 WAS supposed to have both directions of traffic opened to outbound flow, but they just announced that they are NOT going to do that... 290 will be the only main route left open for inbound traffic for emergency vehicles. That changes things up a little for me. They did open I45, I10, and I59, outbound both ways, so that is good.

Will update again later.

Rita

Just to let everyone know, Corri and the kids will be leaving on Thursday to head to the farm. I'm 50/50 myself right now myself, will decide Friday morning if I'm heading out. Will wait and see on that. But we have stocks of everything and are prepared.

Took me an hour to find gas for my car tonight. I was one of the lucky ones... as of this time, all stations in Houston are dry.