Hey T1, what are Canada's immigration policies for a pair of hurricane weary retired old folks from the beleagured Mississippi Gulf Coast?
Well here in central Texas where I live they are calling for bad weather. I already have a welding machine/generator in my truck. I am heading to GF's house after work tomorrow. So if we do lose power, I can supply the house with power. So I won't miss my NFL football on sunday. The bad thing is that , traffic leaving the coast is so bad, ,,,it took one lady 8 hours to travel 2 1/2 miles!!!!!!!!! Give me snow any day!! Good luck all fellow Texans, and anyone else affected by the storm. Adios Wyatt
Our school district just closed down today due to the large amount of evacuees (1900 are being housed in 3 schools so far) and that they're arriving earlier than planned. The traffic on I35N is horrible! This morning 3 shelters have opened and closed. It doesn't look like we'll recieve much precip. from Rita until Tues.-Wends., after it hits a frontal boundary, stalls over Tyler/Texarkana, and may head west/south. And what's not making it any better for the evacuees is that 65,000 people are in town for the Austin City Limits Music Fest!
To Hytec - You're more than welcome to join us. I'll clear some space in the freight yards for your rolling stock.
I spent eleven hours getting to my place in Central Texas yesterday. Normally takes 2 1/2 hours. Traffic was unreal. Once I got across Interstate 10 on an alternate route, I was able to take back roads north and make good time until I came to a junction between two major evacuation routes, State Highways 36 and 77. It took two hours to get through there. The irony of it all was that it was only 15 miles from my property. 102 degrees F in the shade out here in the woods but we have plenty of water and a good breeze on the porch. Better than sitting in a boarded up house waiting for a hurricane to pass.
I'm hearing it's now down graded to Category 3. Still very nasty stuff. But I keep hoping it will stall off shore, and somehow, continue weakening. The NOAA- National Hurricane Center web site currently has it's track almost going up the TX/LA border. And slowly swinging northeast toward Arkansas. Boxcab E50
Got a call from my daughter who lives south of Ft. SMith, AR- they got soaked from the remnants of Rita. Looks like quite a bot of LA and AR got tons of rain. And before anybody says anything negative about a mass evacuation for not much of anything, after Katrina, ain't nobody taking chances. Hope everybody gets back to the Gulf Coast OK (esp. back to Houston, Galveston and surrounding cities), and say a few prayers for those who suffered losses from Rita.
I made it home OK. The reverse mass exodus was not a problem. Took the normal time to dirve it. Lots of tree branches down in the yard and the fence layed over in a few places but the house was not damaged. Sure feel sorry for the folks east of here that took the brunt of the storm.
Glad you are OK Russ! How is the house inside? Get high water? Can you salvage anything? How can we help?
Hey Pete Nolan, I had a thought about a way of evacuating a lot of people out of an area during an impending emergency in a relative hurry. How about using empty auto rack cars? People could pack their important papers, family photos, kids and pets, drive to one of the load/unloading facilities, and go by train. This would relieve the highways allowing trucks, busses and Motor homes to move less congested, and would save many gallons of gas since the cars would not need to be running while in transit. A lot of cars and people would be moved a great distance with no congestion, and safer. With only cars on board, the train would run them to some debarkation facility like one of the new car distribution centers like the big one in north Irving, Texas, and everyone would drive off to scatter well away from the danger area. Each train load could be sent to a different facility, with an empty train of cars returning for another load, until no longer needed. It would utilize existing facilities in most large cities, and the railroads can be conscripted and are already in place connecting to the auto-rack yards. It would only take some planning, instruction, and training of local personnel in direction of "Evac-Traffic" of which route to take from one's home to the nearest loading facility assigned to his area. Like the old Air Raid Wardens of WW II. Cars without an Evac-Traffic sticker would have to wait, and no cars with an Evac-Traffic sticker would be allowed onto a highway. Divide the city up into zones, plan out and mark routes to all the loading facilities near by, and assign Wardens to handle an emergency evacuation. It worked for getting people to Air-Raid shelters rapidly! Each State Governor and Mayor should be in charge with enough authority to put it into action when necessary. A small fee could be tacked onto your license plate each year that would go into a "kitty" to defray part of the cost of train fuel and dimirge on the auto-racks etc. It should work as Patriotism did, just do it as your duty! At least the railroads wouldn't just sit idle by. Duck soup, (unless you have to get the government involved.) Then it would just be another SNAFU!
Watash Brilliant idea! Boston is going to spend way too much to put up signs to educate drivers on evacuation roughts around the city. Didn't AMTRAK have a version of this from Chicago to Orlando sometime in the late 70s? People could then take thier cars to Florida and not have to rent them? Is there any reason they could not use TOFL flat cars as well? < snip: political comment. >
We hardly even got any rain here on the dry side of the storm. Less than half an inch. The lawn is looking burnt from the 100 degree heat. It could have used more water, but I am not complaining. The wind stripped a lot of leaves and branches out of the trees that still need to be cleaned up. The poor folks without power are really suffering with no air conditioning. My neighbors who stayed here said the electricity was only out for a little while. Friends further north and those further east were out from 12 to 24 hours. I may go help my cousin clean up down near Galveston Bay. They did get water in the house.
I agree with everything you suggest. I even agree with the small fee, but there are people who would fight that safety tax with all their might. Example: Here in Denver people are very anti tax. But when the Broncos needed a new stadium they coughed up the dough despite the fact that it was corporate welfare from the git go. People like me who do not go to football games are pretty upset at having to pay a couple dollars a year for the broncos to play ten home games. By the same token, when it comes to school funding Colorado ranks almost as low as Texas when it comes to funding. Teachers actually steal each others printer paper. Basic supplies are not available. But we can build stadiums. So back to the great train escape system, I think it's awesome! But it will never happen because people don't like to pay a little up front, to be assured of a better reward at the back end of the deal. I agree with you that pre-planning for disaster is the most patriotic act one can perform.
Preparing for disaster is a smart move, but I believe it needs to start at the personal level as well. Take along changes of clothes, a little non-perishible food, ample amounts of bottled water, a simple first-aid kit. It's amazing that some folks flee storms with nada. Simply filling up cleaned-out milk jugs with water and grabbing some jerky, granola bars, or whatever is a step in the right direction. This can apply to all of us- we Midwesterners and Texians deal with tornadoes as well.
