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September 22, 2005
Thousands, thousands in the valley of decision
Every highway and interstate leading out of Houston is packed and cars are only inching forward. It has taken people 8 hours to get from Texas City to the lower reaches of Houston -- about 40 miles. TX DOT plans to open the southbound lanes of Highways I-45, 290, and I-10 to ease the situation. Fortunately, they have construction equipment and crews available on I-45 to move the concrete barriers and get started there to open the northbound lanes from 1488 all the way to Buffalo, Texas. They do not have the equipment and crew in place to deal with I-10 and 290, but will try to do something to make the lanes accessible to outgoing traffic.
Because they are flood prone, a huge swath of Houston and Harris County are now declared mandatory evacuation areas due to the expected storm surge. So thousands and thousands of more cars are expected to join the gridlock out there. We are well outside those areas.
We do not flood. Even in Allison, the water came up only about six feet into the yard and we are talking rain falling by the foot, not the inch. However, the wind could be a problem. A month ago, we had an arborist and his crew come and trim back our trees, removing the heavy limbs, bracing an oak, etc., in preparation for a hurricane. But our neighbors have trees -- seventy foot tall pines, and they have not had their trees trimmed and braced.
Mike does not want to leave the house although he admits, "I don't know what I think I can do if a tree falls on it." Scream bloody murder? Get real wet? Our neighbors are doing different things. Most are staying, some are going. My neighbor Cathy and her boyfriend are waiting until noon to leave, because the boyfriend is a judge and he wanted to arraign anybody who got arrested last night so they could get out of jail and leave, too.
We have set back gallons of water and will freeze more containers in our two refrigerator freezers. I've set back newspapers to line my bathroom floor to catch the inevitable commode backup that occurs when the sewers get too full. We have some food set back, and Mike has gotten out our propane camp stove so we can heat food and boil water. But if it looks like we're going to be without electricity for more than a few days, I'm coming to SOMEBODY's house after the storm -- with my cats. Fair warning. I've done this heat and humidity and no water or electricity thing for two weeks back in 1983. I was young and resilient then. Not now.
Yes, we have a contingency plan. Sarah lives 12 miles northwest of us in an area with few trees. She doesn't flood either. So, I may leave tomorrow morning with my yowling cats (or this evening, depending on the storm's progress) and go sit out the storm with her. Her neighbor left, so I can put my car in the garage. Hopefully, Mike will join me, but I am hearing of other families where the wife and kids are leaving and the husband is staying.
We have kept the car's tank full of gas. Mike went to top it off awhile ago, and he was the next to the last customer that they were going to serve.
I still have laryngitis and the more I talk, the worse I feel. So I am not going to be making many phone calls. I will continue to check email frequently, so if you want to tell me that I am crazy or whatever, please do it by email.
We are continuing to pray about this and appreciate your prayers as well. And please pray for the folks out in traffic, especially those who have run out of gas after sitting for hours and hours in standstill traffic and who are still in harm's way.
God is Sovereign. We will be careful to act wisely. The rest is just stuff.
Posted by susan at September 22, 2005 09:04 AM