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September 24, 2005
One, two - pick up sticks
Three, four, pick up sticks; five, six, pick up sticks; seven, eight....
Thank goodness that is all our Chantilly neighborhood is having to do. Sticks, branches, and brown pine needles cover our yards and street. There are no big branches or trees on houses and when I step out the door to listen, I hear no telltale sound of power saws at work. My next door neighbor called us from out of town this morning, and we happily told her that her big pines were still erect and she has power and water. "Now you can relax and play cards for one more day."
The city and county governments are telling people who evacuated not to come back for a few days. They are asking large employers to keep operating with essential personnel only for Monday and Tuesday. Schools will not open on Monday and Tuesday so people won't have to hurry back. The reasons for not returning are:
* Some areas have live power lines down creating fire and electrocution hazards. In Galveston, the plan is to turn back traffic at the causeway because so many lines are down.
* Many residential areas don't have power. Just two neighborhoods over from us, Heights Hospital is having to run on a generator.
* The roads need to stay clear to move emergency equipment and FEMA resources to the areas that need them.
* Except for the weather, the same conditions exist today that existed yesterday and the day before: no gasoline or blocks-long lines for the few stations that are open; the grocery store shelves are still emptied and most of the stores are closed. Police had to break up fights at one gas station where people at the end of the mile-long line were paying people at the head of the line to let them in. The people in between took umbrage.
* The bayous are rising. It takes upcountry rain awhile to reach us down here, but gravity always prevails. Hopefully, the Braes, Buffalo, and White Oak bayous will stay in their banks, but if the storm stalls upcountry and rains continue, we could see the results here.
* The intense hurricane winds that drove down from the north for hours forced Lake Livingston waves again and again against the 2.5-miles-long dam on the south. That battering has compromised the integrity of the dam. To keep it from giving way, engineers have started releasing water from the lake into the Trinity River below the dam. They anticipate releasing 180,000 cubic feet per minute over a couple days. The downstream result will be the same scale flooding that occurred from Tropical Storm Allison a few years back. Liberty County, which was just evacuated, will probably be evacuated again.
Nevertheless, motorists are filling the highways on their way back to the Houston and coastal areas. Outside San Antonio and Austin, I hear reports of traffic gridlocks that match the ones that existed here in Houston day before yesterday, only in reverse. They say 183 is a parking lot. It is even going to be as hot as it was on Thursday and Friday. The high is moving back our way. Since gas still isn't available in the small towns along the way, I guess motorists will be stuck on the roadsides again in 100 degree heat. Talk about rode hard and put up wet.
Well, that is pretty much it for now. The tape is off the windows and I'm using some of the water we stored to water my plants. We are incredibly blessed and are grateful for it.
Posted by susan at September 24, 2005 02:51 PM