My roommate and I are staying. His parents tried heading south and then west, but traffic was so bad they decided to turn around and come stay with us. Their house is one block from Braes Bayou, so they cannot stay there. My parents also live a block from the bayou and left this morning at about 4. By 9 am, they had covered approximately 40 miles. That is to say, they’re still more or less in the Houston area (Kingwood to be more specific). I just tried calling them to see where they are but I can’t get through.
The weather guys say the hurricane will weaken by the time it gets to the coast. Winds will still exceed 110 mph. We live about 60 miles inland so the storm will probably be a tad weaker by the time it gets to our neighborhood (Rice University area), which is a little higher than other parts of Houston (Bellaire, West U, the southwest side) so the flooding shouldn’t be too bad. The next door neighbor is a Geologist and told us we’re on good land here. He started talking about the microtopography of the area and completely lost me. All I know is he’s staying and he’s confident the water will stay out of the house. The guys across the street have lived here over 20 years and said that the street will flood and the water may reach the steps, but it has never come in the house.
They did say that the power will definitely go out and will take one to two weeks to be restored. The phones will probably go too. With that, the cell phone system will be overloaded with callers and I can’t imagine the cell towers will survive anyway, not to mention they’ll need power.
The word is that the storm will be overhead for about 12 hours and will move up north, so it’s not as bad as the other common Houston storms that dump rain for one to two days and then linger for one or two more. Hopefully the floodwater will drain out once the storm leaves.
The windows are taped, we’re stocked on water and canned goods, and we’re making sure the electronics are unplugged and away from the windows. I’ll try to post continuous updates until the power goes out. If you live in the area and are reading this, be sure to get your car off of the street.
Comments (2)
URL: http://www.cherz.com
ehn. 110mph isn't that bad. ;) if you don't have a radio, i'm sure your can make one out of the spam can. stay safe doodski.
Posted by cherz | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16
URL: http://www.stuffthatbugsme.com
if i see your corpse floating in that water on tv, I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!! my sister left houston at 2am headed for San Antonio, and we still haven't heard from her. do you have one of those emergency radios? ...and matches? ...and a first aid kit? ...and spraypaint to mark your house in case you need to be rescued? it looks like it's going to keep angling further north, so hopefully it won't be as bad as they thought. still, i worry about you. take care. i'll keep checking on you.
Posted by v | February 10, 2007 8:16 PM
Posted on February 10, 2007 20:16