Damn, maybe we should have tried harder to evac haha.

Just watched an interview with a Houston City Council member who mentioned that they are working on some sort of plan to stagger the return. They'll announce something in the morning.

Difficulties they expect will be similar to the evac process - low fuel availability and traffic difficulties. Seems they will likely be reversing the contraflow lanes so that there is more bandwidth coming back.

Gas station resupply will occur from outward, inward. They expect those coming back on 45 and 59 to have the most difficulty, based on how much flooding occurs on the route back.They are asking that people delay their return of course (they don't know my boss though! She actually looked up my available vacation pool when I put in for a week's worth at the beginning of the week. Sheesh.)

I'll post what I hear tomorrow. I've had a crazy sleep schedule the last few days though, so no guarentees it will be @ 8am sharp.

 

Not bad at all, I slept through it. We got some rain and some high winds but it wasn't bad at all. We lost power about 4am but it came back on about 9am.
Traffic if getting heaver by the min coming back in to town; I'll try to keep you posted on the traffic situation.

 

We got hit from one side of it, it's about an hour away from here still with heavy winds, it's on a direct path towards us so hopefully it'll die down a bit by then, its still raining HARD still though.

 

highway 183 outside of Austin is starting to backup. They just shown live pictures on channel 2 news.

 

damnit. We could have stayed and been fine. But it really wasent worth the risk, houston got off pretty easy. From everything ive heard in spring, just some 20mph winds and light rain. Freeways are already backed up with return traffic? That sux. Well, folks, this thread has been very informative and I thank everyone who has posted info and offered services to fellow houstonians. I'll have to wait and see when i can get back in town and back to work.

 

No, don't feel bad for evacing at all. From the proper perspective, the 100 miles east or so that the hurricane slanted is nothing. It would be like bumping into the person on your right vs someone on your left in a crowded NY subway car at rush hour. We (in Houston) were VERY VERY lucky. It could have easily been that those that got stuck behind would not be here to be posting this. Next time, I'm not going to let my boss make me blink and wait one day like I did. No job is worth it.

There are reports of more damage on the east side of town, and I believe they have a few blocks downtown cordoned off for damage to one of the buildings.

Galveston is closed, and they are not letting people back in for the time being.

Reports as of 1pm is that hwy 71 (or is it 72?) south from Austin to i-10 is backed up, as is 290 south from at least Hempstead.

I-10 is closed both directions as Winnie, towards Beaumont.

There is no gas or food reported as far outside as Hempstead, and I know there is still no gas for pretty much all of Houston as of now. My guess is that all evac routes are still out of supplies as of now.

School districts in the Houston and surrounding area will be closed thru Tuesday, with Deerpark, Pasadena, and other school districts on the east/south east being possibly closed Wednesday as well.

Officials are asking businesses to stay close thru the next couple days (I will be giving them my boss' phone number in California haha)

Officials are stressing heavily for people to stay where they are, and I'm guessing this is wise for at least the next couple days. The fuel outage issues will be worse coming in, as that there is no fuel here. I live in mid-town and I'm fighting the urge to visit my home. I've got 2/3 tank, so I've got to make it last thru the next few days.

Ok guys, stay safe. Wish we were in Austin right now! I'll post again if there is something major.

 

This one did more damage to us then Katrina. Power is on again so I thought I send all my Texan friends a best of luck. Looks like idoesnt affect you as much as our tidel marshes with no elevation.
I hope you all make out OK.
We flooding around here.
See you on the board!

 

yeah, my boss got a call from the mayors office to keep the shop closed until thurs. I guess my vacation will last a little longer. Its all good though, Austin is cool as hell, i just got back from the pool where we had a little barbecue. Its nothing but a little wind up here, very nice.

 

well I'm not from texas I'm from the bad part lake charles, louisiana. I'm in Mississippi right now with sonic rat and they are telling residents of lake charles not to come back for 48hrs and even at that I'm not sure how my house took the wind and rain. Wish me luck guys. Also I have to go check out my 7 to see if it's still alive....

 

My heart goes out to people from louisiana, you guys have had a rough year, hang in there.
Brett

 

Yikes, yes our hearts go out to you. It's been said many times, but it's as true as ever - things can be replaced, but you and your loved ones can't.

In case anyone's missed it, the return plan is that Houston residents with houses west of 45 and north of i-10 (basically NW Houston) should make the trip Sunday, residents with houses in the SW should return on Monday, and residents inside the loop should do so Tuesday. Guess that means everyone else can do so whenever haha. I don't expect anyone to follow this though. :P

Galveston is now open to residents and emergency personnel, and will be open to the "world" Sunday morning.

Fort Bend school district will only be closed Monday.

 

thanks guys, I guess I'll go back sunday or monday. Anyways I know lake chuck got it bad but really the people and place I'm worried about is Cameron parish They don't have alot of people there so I guess it's not as high priority for news people to cover it but durring audrey that place got messed up and probably happened again.

 

Well, made it back to houston from austin in 3 hours! thats about normal trip time. On sunday night, the 290 was moving pretty well. My house is in good shape and so is my 7. Best of luck to anyone else re-entering the houston area. Now its time for a cold beer and some good sleep.

 

it's business as usual here at my work.. in fact they called me last night and asked me to come in at 5 AM.

Bastards.

 

Same here.... but 6am

 

glad to hear you guys are ok, looks like Houston/Galveston got tagged but not obliterated, originally Austin was supposed to get a shiitepile of rain but we didn't get a drop, hardly even a windy day Saturday at that. Maybe we can catch a break from these for a while, hope the LA people get their lives back to normal soon, Nawleans looked to be in even worse shape post Rita.

 

Glad to hear people's lives are on the way back to normal.

 

Glad to hear everyone is making it in OK. My boss is asking me today why I didn't stay. I was like, HELLO, it was category 5 coming right for us when I left with my wife and kids. He lives in Friendswood (in the flood plain) and didn't leave. Idiot!!! Even after all the bad things that happened during the evac I would do it again. I hope that he and everyone else sees the damage that this storm caused as a CAT 3 in East Texas and Western Lousiana. Those folks in are going to need our help. Beaumont/Port Author got it pretty bad. My wifes Aunt and Uncle live in Lake Charles and said the Casino's were torn to bits along with much of the rest of the town. I will be traveling back to Huntsville tonight to drop off a generator and food because my folks don't have power and may not for up to 3 weeks due to the major high lines that were taken down East of them. I think all of the Centerpoint customers are getting power back pretty quick but the Entergy customers are going to take a while before they get power back. They showed Huffman last night half the town has electricity (Centerpoint) and the other doesn't (Entergy).

 

I'm hearing quite a few people say they would stay next time. Fine with me, just makes it easier for me to get out. Mother nature is someone you do NOT mess with.

There are some that cannot seem to think in the proper scale. In human scale,- how far we drive to work, how far we run or bike in the morning, etc - 100 miles might seem alot, but with a 300 mile wide-load like Rita, it was a hiccup and a stumble to the right. I don't know if anybody else was hearing it, but the meterologists kept saying - the only person that knows where Rita is going...is Rita. All the meterologists can do is give us guide as to where it might land.

I just hope those that choose to chance it, should a similar situation come up next time, do not have children/elderly/etc that have to rely on their judgement.

 

Well, you've got to understand the old timers, they've been through hurricanes most times. When I live in Pensacola, FL when I was younger there were Hurricanes all the time, I saw the same dock get wiped out then rebuilt at least five or six times, just rebuild and move on.

This should however be a warning that its not the same anymore, they get more violent each year and if we neglect to do anything about evac then we're going to get screwed one day...guess what blame it on someone else.

We're still cleaning up Shreveport, it was bad enough to knock trees over. I drove in it just to see how bad it was, I only hydroplanned once while driving about 40 in a 45, the flooding got bad but I've learned how to handle my car so it was no big deal, clutch in smooth out the direction...

I loved the way the rain was going sideways, it was hitting both of my side windows on my car, usually its just hitting the front. I actually had to use my rear wiper because rain was going sidewas onto it as well...

 

LOL...I tried to stay home on Tuesday....since we had barely got in, and we werent even situated. The yard hadn't been cleaned, there was clothes to be unpacked and washed, and we still didnt have street lights, or fuel near by.

I figured, stay at home, clean up, the boss will understand.

AT 7:05 AM (I go in at 7am), HE HAD CALLED MY HOUSE AND PAGED ME 3 TIMES ALREADY!!!!

I told him I'd be there at 10....bastard.

His reason was, "The hurricane came and went, and all the responsible peopel need to get back to work...anyone who thinks they can have an extra day off definetly has something personally wrong with them..."

WTF....my job isnt my life, OK!!!

I work just enough to get the things I want that will make me happy.

"...the pursuit of happiness...."