Subj : Hurricane Rita
To   : Sam Alexander
From : richardw
Date : Thu Sep 22 2005 10:10 am

  Re: Hurricane Rita
  By: Sam Alexander to richardw on Wed Sep 21 2005 10:57 pm

 >  > Well, I just spoke with my father.  He lives in Pasadena, TX.
 >  > Pasadena is about 20 miles from Houston.  He's packing.
 >  >
 >  > They're going to stay with some friends in Austin, TX until the storm
 >  > passes.  They're supposed to be evacuated by 6pm today, but he said
 >  > they're not gonna make it.  They will be leaving in the morning.
 >  >
 >  > He said the line of cars is already incredible.
 >  >
 >  > Rita is now a category 5, one of only 3 to ever hit the US mainland, or s
 >  > I've read.  Sustained winds of 165mph, and likely to grow stronger before
 >  > it makes landfall late friday, or saturday.
 >  >
 >  > It's good to know my father will not be in it's path.  I only hope he wil
 >  > have a home to come back to.  Their home is fairly close to the ocean, an
 >  > he has no flood insurance.  The "surge" just might submerge the place.  I
 >  > not the water, I can't imagine what 165mph winds would be capable of.
 >  >
 >  > It's certainly good to live in an age when we can see these storm comming
 >  >
 > 
 > My dad and step-mom are heading back to Waco from houston as I type, and my
 > dad said traffic is stopped.  My step-mom's mom was in Houston with cancer
 > and passed away this afternoon.
 > 
 > My dad left the Houston medical district at 3:30pm and as of about 9pm he
 > wasn't even to highway 6 yet.  This is normally an hour drive, but it's
 > taken them over 5 hours, plus he said it took 45 minutes just to get gas.
 > 
 > This is crazy, and to be honest I'm kinda scared to see what happens over
 > the weekend when Rita slams into Texas.  I have some family (great-grandma
 > and great-aunts and uncles) in Beaumont who aren't willing to leave.  As for
 > us in Waco, we're stocking up on everything.
 > 
 > Anyone else in the path of this monster?

I heard on the radio this morning... It's usually a 4 hour drive from 
Houston to Dallas.  If you left now, it would take you 24 hours to get to 
Dallas.

I bet my father is having a wonderful time... :-/

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