From several sources, including the Houston Chronicle:
Nagin said he wanted residents of the Algiers neighborhood, which has electricity and water, to start returning as early as Monday or Tuesday, followed by people in other ZIP codes.
And while a cautionary note has been sounded several times in the past by Thad Allen, this time he said,
“The […]
Since Reuters ran the story about “Ft. Pelican”, there have been any number of queries and emails, both for and against what happened. Unfortunately – like all news stories – the story is incomplete, leaving room for speculation and interpretation.
When events were unfolding, thousands of people on the outside (and some very afraid people on […]
I am sooooo ready for a party. What a month! But what’s the point of having a party when the hosts aren’t at home yet?
Yes, I know - many folks went into Algiers over the last couple of weeks. Some even stayed! But nasty Rita managed to confound officials all over again, and folks were […]
The constant influx of floods, storms, death, and destruction is taking a toll on my normally good humor.
In stressful times, some people eat chocolate, while others gorge on cherry pie (my personal favorite). This works really well on a short term basis, but in the face of nearly five weeks of non-stop stress, even the […]
It was good and noisy here about 2 a.m. The wind finally got more serious, and for about 3 1/2 hours, it was howling. It’s still blowing blue blazes, but from the NNW now. As far as I can tell, the power didn’t even flicker.
The worst casualty here was sleep, particularly for our 4-month-old labrador […]
It feels as if I’ve been waiting for Rita for years, not days. At last, she’s starting to make an entrance. Wind predictions for our area, tonight, are for gusts 50-60 mph. So far, I’d estimate them at about half of that.
We’ve been watching the storm’s progress on our local radar as the outer […]
The wind is just starting to pick up a bit now, although in general I’d still describe this as a brisk breeze. Still sunny, too, though the clouds are increasing.
Most of my neighbors who hit the roads for points west and/or north returned home this morning. They all had horror stories to tell. One of […]
I can’t believe this. I feel positively schizophrenic at the moment - focused on my own backyard, and fully aware of/integrated with Algiers. Decidedly odd…
Odder still (for me) - the situation there is apparently rather a lot worse than where I am. Certainly this is much different from the early Rita expectations.
From the email:
My cousin […]
I was worried about this last night, finally posting about it earlier this morning. Apparently, things are already breaking in New Orleans. (That didn’t take long, did it?)
MSNBC.com is running this story, which says in part,
“Dozens of New Orleans blocks were underwater after rain poured over a patched levee in the form of a waterfall […]
Since I can’t distinguish the panic surrounding Rita from the psychological horrors of Katrina, I’ve started thinking of this whole debacle as the “Katrita” Phenomenon. The entire Texas coastal region is suffering from its effects, and it’s absolutely astonishing.
I’ve been reading through my blog entries over the last week, and can easily see my own […]
I’m feeling fairly secure, here in Katy. Rita has gone off to the NE of me, and our forecast looks less dangerous by the minute. My home (and those around me) can easily withstand the currently predicted gusts to 65 mph. Obviously, like everyone else, I’m still alert. It’s pretty unlikely at this […]
The Citizens of the Gulf Region of the State of Texas have shown themselves to have astounding generosity of spirit. Since Katrina, I have (for the first time I can remember) been proud to live here. Truly, the people here are wonderful. Before I say anything else with this post, I really wanted to emphasize […]
The NHC/NOAA has updated its information. Rita is a Cat 4, with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. That’s good news. However, the projected track is fundamentally unchanged, and it hasn’t weakened much further than it had a couple of hours ago.
For everybody watching in fear for New Orleans, though, I found this statement (from […]
Things are changing minute by minute. Rather than try to paraphrase these, I think on this post I’ll just give you the links I am looking at right now:
Jeff Master’s Wunder Blog has an excellent discussion and graphic about the coastal flooding potential.
This morning, Eric Berger’s SciGuy blog gave very helpful info regarding when […]
Well now – isn’t this dandy? Rita is really becoming a problem all the way around, yes?
This is from my email:
“We are staying in a trailer in Lafayette. At this point they are calling for voluntary evacuation of mobile homes here. Is there a chance we can go to our home in Park Timbers […]
I went to bed very late last night (early this morning, really) full of anxiety. The 10 pm update from the National Hurricane Center had shifted Rita’s track to the north, across Freeport, and put Katy just NE of the center. That projection scared me so badly, I couldn’t even blog about it.
So I went […]
I’m feeling much better, now that I’ve polished off the last of the cherry pie and had a drive around Katy. It’s wondrous what a home-made pie can do for the soul! Best thing I can think of for Hurricane Anxiety!
The drive around Katy was interesting. It’s an absolute zoo out there […]
In… and out…. Breathe, Polimom…. relax….
lol - sort of.
If anyone had asked me a week ago whether Katy was a good place to be (in this area) for a hurricane, I’d have said yes. I may even have had the conversation with a few of you! But that was in the abstract, and […]
In the midst of the post-Katrina madness, when the city of New Orleans was descending into madness, gunfire, and explosions, Algiers rallied to help the neighbors who stayed behind.
For those MANY of you who responded during that crazy week, with support, messages, and offers of direct help, this article is for you:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9426745/
While the people involved […]
The worst part about hurricanes is not knowing where they’ll hit, and Rita is no exception. Decisions can only be made on a “best guess� basis, knowing things can change right up til landfall.
For those who have written, asking what I’m going to do: I’m staying. I say that, knowing we’re on high ground, and […]
FEMA and the Red Cross are no doubt standing ready - again - to swoop into a hurricane-devastated region. Since parts of Texas are likely to be faced with some of the same issues as LA and MS, there are some things to know about how that might look.
A Washington Post article, “By Hook or […]
Wow. Rita is picking up strength at an astonishing rate. A Cat 4 already???? She’s still 2 ½ days away!
Now we start the parental dance with our children – walking the fine line between discussions grounded in reality and reassurance that no matter how it plays out, it won’t look like New Orleans after Katrina.
It […]